Using intellectual property to map the organisational evolution of firms: Tracing a biotechnology company from startup to bureaucracy to a multidivisional firm

Iraj Daizadeh

DOI:https://doi.org/10.5912/jcb184

Abstract:

The concomitant rise in the number of technology firms, US issued patents, and patent communications has forced researchers to investigate how such publicly known information can reveal characteristics and/or verify predictive models to describe the R&D-intensive firm. Here, we propose viewing the Boisot Information Space model through the lens of intellectual property as a means to describe and trace the organisational evolution of a technology firm. We map the model's dimensions – viz., codification, abstraction, and dissemination – onto publicly available forms of tangible (eg, patents, publications) and intangible (eg, trade secrets) knowledge assets to show that the model may accurately describe the social dynamics of a biotechnology company as it evolved from a 17-person startup to a >500 person multinational drug development company. This result relates to the firm's abilities to manage both tacit and explicit knowledge. A discussion of the limitations of the proposed model is described.

Keywords:I-Space ,intellectual property ,knowledge asset ,en ,