ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews how the United States Patent and Trademark Office database is being used to operationalize specific constructs in research, and to evaluate the extent to which strategic management researchers have been consistent in using patent data in reliable, valid ways. Innovation as a process is widely believed to be the key to growth and economic success for companies, geographic regions, and societies as a whole. The patent system, which grants inventors the right to forestall imitation of their ideas for a specified period of time, is designed to enhance knowledge creation through two primary mechanisms. First, the financial incentives associated with innovation are enhanced by the time-limited monopoly that the patent system permits. Second, the patent process requires that the details of the invention be published, which allows others to build on the work and accelerate future progress.
