Title: Using patents to orchestrate ecosystem stability: the case of a French aerospace company

Authors: Jamal Eddine Azzam; Cécile Ayerbe; Rani Dang

Addresses: TSM-Research, University Toulouse Capitole, 2, rue du Doyen Gabriel Marty France, 31000 Toulouse, France ' Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Économie et Gestion (GREDEG), CNRS, 250 rue Albert Einstein, Bât. 2, 06560 Sophia Antipolis, France ' Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Économie et Gestion (GREDEG), CNRS, 250 rue Albert Einstein, Bât. 2, 06560 Sophia Antipolis, France

Abstract: In this paper, we focus on how focal firms influence business ecosystem stability through patent management. We present and discuss a case study of Thales Alenia Space, a leader in the aerospace industry, and its ecosystem partners. We make two counterintuitive insights about ecosystem management. First, a focal firm can use patents in a new way in order to ensure the stability of its ecosystem. Second, patent licensing facilitates an inverted pattern of knowledge creation and commercialisation between large and small firms, in which small firms are able to commercialise innovations created by large firms in unexpected markets. Furthermore, this article contributes to the literature on patent management by providing new evidence on the external leveraging of knowledge.

Keywords: business ecosystem; patent management; stability; focal firms; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2017.085695

International Journal of Technology Management, 2017 Vol.75 No.1/2/3/4, pp.97 - 120

Received: 03 Nov 2014
Accepted: 01 Feb 2016
Published online: 08 Aug 2017 *

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