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Innovation and Appropriation: Insights From the Chinese Patent Survey

Dong Cheng et al.

Journal of Economics & Management Strategy2025https://doi.org/10.1111/jems.12636article
AJG 2ABDC A
Weight
0.41

Abstract

Using comprehensive microdata from the Chinese Patent Survey, we examine the appropriation strategies that firms use to capture value from their innovations and assess the motivations underpinning these strategies. Although Chinese firms exhibit a robust overall preference for patents, we find that firms often use patents for reasons other than directly protecting intellectual assets from competitors. In particular, our results suggest that firms utilize patents to secure external financing and negotiate third‐party production contracts, while relying on secrecy and/or first mover advantage to protect against competitor imitation. Furthermore, we find that firms pursuing the most expensive R&D projects exhibit a relative preference for secrecy over patents, consistent with theories that predict the use of secrecy to protect a firm's most valuable intellectual assets. Our results provide novel insights into China's recent patenting surge and help inform policy efforts to encourage domestic innovation in developing economies.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/jems.12636

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@article{dong2025,
  title        = {{Innovation and Appropriation: Insights From the Chinese Patent Survey}},
  author       = {Dong Cheng et al.},
  journal      = {Journal of Economics & Management Strategy},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/jems.12636},
}

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Innovation and Appropriation: Insights From the Chinese Patent Survey

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Evidence weight

0.41

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.25 × 0.4 = 0.10
M · momentum0.55 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.