Effectiveness of innovation protection mechanisms in Malaysian high-tech sector
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effectiveness of innovation protection mechanisms in four high-tech industries in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire survey is administered to 339 managers working in four Malaysian high-tech industries.
Findings
The authors find that in most industries, patents are considered as the most effective innovation protection mechanism, while lead time is considered as least effective. In firms with private and foreign ownerships, patents and in firms categorized as “others” “moving quickly down the learning curve” are considered as the most effective protection mechanisms. It also emerges that “being first to market (lead time)” is considered as the least effective protection mechanism under all ownership structures. Further, young and middle-aged firms report patents, while old firms report secrecy as the most effective innovation protection mechanisms.
Research limitations/implications
This paper restricted analysis to the high-tech sector in Malaysia, and thus, the findings are not generalizable to other industries. Second, this paper took into consideration only four innovation protection mechanisms. The authors suggest that future research should investigate the issue at hand in other industries and consider other innovation protection mechanisms to have a holistic view of how Malaysian firms view different innovation protection mechanisms.
Practical implications
In addition to providing inputs for policy-making, the results of this paper are expected to help practitioners in deciding on the right kind of innovation protection mechanisms for their innovations based on their industry, ownership structure and firm age.
Originality/value
This paper is the first of its kind conducted in the Malaysian high-tech sector and as such is expected to help policy-makers to design and implement effectively innovation protection policies.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The paper was written while the first author worked at University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur. Revisions were carried out at the first author ' s current workplace, University of Dubai. The authors express appreciation for the research assistance provided during the nascent stage of this paper by Tariq Ahmed, University of Malaya. Editorial comments and help by Professor Joseph Sarkis are heartily acknowledged. All errors remain ours.
Citation
Naqshbandi, M.M. and Kaur, S. (2015), "Effectiveness of innovation protection mechanisms in Malaysian high-tech sector", Management Research Review, Vol. 38 No. 9, pp. 952-969. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-01-2014-0002
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited