Technological Strategies and Quality of Invention: The Role of Knowledge Base and Technical Applications

In this article, we define four technological strategies by analyzing two dimensions in the exploitation versus exploration choice: knowledge base and technical application. The relationships of technological strategies with the quality of invention are investigated. The operationalization of strategies through patent data is provided, using knowledge field combinations as the unit of analysis. Patents filed by worldwide top R&D spending technology hardware and equipment companies are analyzed. A 2 × 2 matrix is suggested, defining four strategies: strengthening, enrichment, resettlement, and venturing. Mixed effects regression models are used to investigate the effects of such strategies on invention quality, providing positive relationships in relation to the first two strategies.