A patent portfolio-based approach for identifying technological threat from competitors

ABSTRACT

Effectively identifying technological threats from competitors and assessing their possible impact directly affects the company’s interests and security. This study proposes an early identification approach for technological threats based on patent portfolio analysis. The approach measures and aggregates three dimensions of analysis – technological maturity, technological similarity, and the technological capability gap between a company and its competitors – in a range of technological fields. The novelty of this approach is that it uses patent portfolios to evaluate the level of technological threats faced by companies and to identify technological fields associated with high threat levels. The empirical research results show that this approach has the following advantages (1) it can address the shortcomings of previous studies that identified technological threats on the basis of a single dimension. (2) It is possible to evaluate the level of technological threats faced by the company in a variety of technological fields at the same time. (3) This approach is capable of determining the causes of technological threats faced by a company in each technological field and of providing effective decision-making support for companies that need to formulate reasonable response strategies to counter technological threats.

KEYWORDS:

• Technological threat
• technology similarity
• technology capability gap
• patent portfolio

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editor for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (grant number: 19CTQ020).

Notes on contributors

Shiyu Zhang

Shiyu Zhang is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the School of Economics and Management in Dalian University of technology, China. He received Ph.D. from Jilin University in 2018. His research interests include patent analysis and technology forecasting. Email: [email protected].

Kun Ding

Kun Ding is currently a Professor at the Institute of Science of Science and S&T Management in Dalian University of technology, China. She received Ph.D. from Dalian University of technology. Her research interests include patent analysis and technology forecasting. Email: [email protected].

Wenfei Liu

Wenfei Liu is currently a doctoral student at the Institute of Science of Science and S&T Management in Dalian University of technology, China. His research interests include technology intelligence and data mining. Email: [email protected].

Hao Zhang

Hao Zhang is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Greater Bay Area International Institute for Innovation in Shenzhen University, China. He received Ph.D. from Jilin University in 2019. His research interests include patent analysis and technology forecasting. Email: [email protected]