Private–collective innovation, competition, and firms’ counterintuitive appropriation strategies

Abstract

We extend theory on private–collective innovation by studying the role of exclusion rights for technology in the competition between private–collective and other innovators. We argue that private–collective innovators both pledge their own and invest in orphan exclusion rights for technology as a subtle coordination mechanism to compete against firms proposing alternative proprietary solutions. We discuss implications of our findings for theories of innovation, particularly appropriation strategy, ownership and control, and coordination and industry self-regulation.