Back
 AJIBM  Vol.7 No.6 , June 2017
Lean IP-Management—Savings Costs for IP Management Based on a Paradigm Change in Assessing Inventions
Oliver Baldus1*, Christian Heckmann2
Show more
Abstract: Conventional lean production aims at organizing and structuring a firm in a way that waste is minimized and available resources are used most efficiently while keeping overall productivity. By adopting lean strategies, firms can produce more efficiently, economically, and ecologically for their customers, thereby increasing their own profitability and competitiveness. The “lean” concept has become well-established in the domains of production and management. However, these lean strategies have never found their way to the management of intellectual property rights, like patents. This article argues that firms stand to realize significant efficiency gains by adopting lean principles when managing their intellectual property. Lean IP Management not only has the potential to reduce inefficiency in the form of wasted economic and human capital; it can also facilitate a more coherent business strategy by leveraging IP rights only where they stand to have the greatest impact.
Keywords: IP Management, Lean IP Management, IP Strategy, Strategic Patenting, Assessing Inventions, Saving Costs
Cite this paper: Baldus, O. and Heckmann, C. (2017) Lean IP-Management—Savings Costs for IP Management Based on a Paradigm Change in Assessing Inventions. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 7, 760-770. doi: 10.4236/ajibm.2017.76054.
References

[1]   Shah, R. and Ward, P.T. (2007) Defining and Developing Measures of Lean Production. Journal of Operations Management, 25, 785-805.

[2]   Charron, R., Harrington, H.J., Voehl, F. and Wiggin, H. (2014) The Lean Management Systems Handbook. CRC Press, 95.

[3]   Needles, B. and Crosson, S. (2013) Managerial Accounting. 10th Edition, Cengage Learning, 139.

[4]   Krafcik, J.F. (1988) Triumph of the Lean Production System. Sloan Management Review, 30, 41-52.

[5]   Womack, J.P., Jones, D.T. and Roos, D. (1990) The Machine That Changed the World: The Story of Lean Production. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1-352.

[6]   Bartenbach, K. and Volz, F.-E. (2013) Arbeitnehmererfindungsgesetz ArbEG. Carl Heymanns, 952.

[7]   Baldus, O. and Heckmann, C. (2016) Increasing Profits by Strategic Patenting—A Change of Perspective from Bottom-Up to Top-Down. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 6, 958-966.
https://doi.org/10.4236/ajibm.2016.69093

[8]   Baldus, O. and Heckmann, C. (2011) Horizontal Patents, Commercial Benefit, and Sophisticated Patent Strategies. Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, 6, 401-408.
https://doi.org/10.1093/jiplp/jpr028

[9]   Baldus, O. (2010) Patent-Based Cooperation Effects. Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, 5, 111-115.
https://doi.org/10.1093/jiplp/jpp216

 
 
Top