A survival analysis of patent examination

INTRODUCTION The transistor was an American invention, and American firms led the world in semiconductor production and innovation for the first three decades of that industry's existence. In the 1980s, however, Japanese producers began to challenge American dominance. Shrill cries arose from the literature of public policy, warning that the American semiconductor industry would soon share the fate of the lamented American consumer electronics business. Few dissented from the implications: the only hope for salvation would be to adopt Japanese-style public policies and imitate the kinds of capabilities Japanese firms possessed. 1 But the predicted extinction never occurred (see Figure 1). Instead, American firms surged Key words: semiconductors; international competition; capabilities *Correspondence to: Richard N. Langlois, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut, U63 Storrs, CT 06269-1063, U.S.A. 1 A contempora

Conceding a part of property rights appears counter-intuitive in regards to the Porterian and RBV frameworks. However industrial economics literature and recent examples suggest that this strategy is fruitful to develop network externalities and consequently to impose a standard in network industries. Drawing on the empirical data collected from 193 firms in the U.S. Roleplaying Game industry, we shed light on the role of the sponsor and on the impact of an open property rights strategy on the industry structure.