How to better empower enterprise strategy with patent strategy

The classic answer to how to manage well is: doing the right thing and doing things right. Among them, doing the right thing is relatively more important.

For our enterprise patent management, doing the right thing means not just burying oneself in work, but having a right patent strategy that can effectively empower the enterprise strategy.

The formation of a patent strategy mainly includes analysis of the external environment, analysis of internal resource capabilities, SWOT analysis, and the formation of strategic plans.

The analysis of the external environment includes macro environment analysis, industry environment analysis, competitor analysis, and industry and competitor patent analysis. The analysis objective is to identify opportunities and risks for the enterprise’s patent strategy in the environment.

Macro environmental analysis can be conducted using PESTEL analysis to analyze and identify opportunities and risks from six aspects: political factors, economic factors, socio-cultural factors, technological factors, environmental factors, and legal factors (PESTEL). Factors such as the impact of political deglobalization on patent regional layout, the impact of macroeconomic cycles on patent competition and patent asset costs, the impact of environmental carbon peaking on green technology patent layout, and the impact of the operation of the European Court of Justice on European patent layout are all opportunities or risks for patent strategy.

Industry environment and competitor analysis can be conducted using industry lifecycle analysis, industry value chain analysis, Porter’s Five Forces model analysis, etc., to understand the overall stage of the industry, including germination, takeoff, maturity, and decline, the competitive structure within the industry, key nodes, and identify opportunities or risks that can be utilized for patent strategy in the industry.

Industry and competitor patent analysis can use commonly used patent analysis in the industry to understand the industry patent map, the distribution of industry patent layout, and the opportunities and risks presented. It is best to conduct a correlation analysis between patent analysis and industry/environment analysis. Industry and environment are largely the underlying constraining factors of the patent situation, and their trends and changes will determine the changing trend of the patent situation. The analysis of industry and competitor patents directly presents our patent strategy, the opportunities we can leverage, and the risks we need to avoid.

Analysis of Internal Resource Capability

With the rapid changes in the external environment, the internal resources and capabilities of enterprises are relatively stable, and their analysis is more important and reliable for strategic planning. Analysis of internal resources and capabilities, including resource, capability, technology, and patent analysis (as we are developing a patent strategy and patents are derived from technology, special analysis is required for the resources and capabilities of technology and patents). The analysis objective is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the enterprise in terms of resources and capabilities that support patent strategy.

Resource and capability analysis begins with an inventory of the company’s various resources and capabilities, such as research and development technology resources, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company’s resources and capabilities. Among them, it is necessary to specifically identify the strategic resources and core capabilities of the enterprise.

Strategic resources are the source of a company’s competitive advantage. Companies that have long-term access to unique strategic resources are more likely to achieve sustained excess profits and competitive advantages, and they will also focus on cultivating and developing strategic resources to the greatest extent possible. Under the leadership of the knowledge economy, strategic resources are no longer limited to minerals, customers, etc., but are increasingly directed towards knowledge and capabilities. Undoubtedly, this is the focus of our patent strategy to assist in development, and it is also a place where patent work can rely on to develop itself.

Core competence is the ability to help enterprises establish a sustainable competitive advantage, and one of the core competencies is core technical competence. Assisting in the development of core competencies of enterprises and relying on core competencies to develop patent capabilities are undoubtedly the focus of patent strategic work planning.

Another important tool for resource and capability analysis is value chain analysis. By analyzing various activities along the value chain, it is helpful to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, its core competencies, and the strategies that the organization should adopt to gain a competitive advantage. Through value chain analysis, it is possible to identify which factors are the main drivers of value creation activities and which value creation activities contribute the most to the organization’s competitive advantage. Through value chain analysis, we can see where the overall focus of the enterprise is, and more importantly, in our patent strategy, we can plan the points where we need to play an important role based on this.

Technology and patent analysis mainly refers to the analysis of technology and patent resources and capabilities, including research and development facilities and R&D investment, industry key technology analysis, technology lifecycle analysis, product structure analysis, technology structure analysis, etc. Combined with the relevant analysis of the external environment and competitors, the advantages and disadvantages of technology and patents are obtained.

Based on the analysis of opportunities and risks in the external environment, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of internal resources and capabilities, we can use the SWOT matrix tool to combine our knowledge and experience to form strategic measures for SO, WO, ST, and WT. So we can use patents to make the strong stronger, form effective moats, and widen the gap in time and space; We can use patents to leverage our strengths, create time gaps to compensate for our weaknesses, and use patent strategies to prevent risks; We can use patents to combat the weaknesses of competitors and expand market space with our own advantages; We may have strategies to reduce resource allocation or relocate the battlefield. Based on the specific situation of the enterprise, make good use of various patent measures to form the above strategic matrix. Then, after merging and streamlining the SO, WO, ST, and WT strategic measures, we will form our preliminary patent strategy plan.

In this way, the patent strategy is formed from the fundamental factors that determine the enterprise strategy, and then returns to the calibration and alignment with the enterprise strategy. It can form the patent strategy from the inherent laws and logic of patent work, and be consistent with the enterprise strategy, thereby supporting the enterprise strategy, empowering the enterprise strategy to be better implemented, and integrating the patent strategy into a part of the enterprise strategy.