Title: Patents as Pipes and Prisms: Opportunities for Strategic Management Research
Time: 09:00 AM(Beijing Time)
Date: Apr 28, 2021
Language: English
Speaker: Tony Tong,University of Colorado

Abstract:
Patents provide powerful data for studying innovative activity at inventor, organization, and other aggregate levels (industry, region, country). Patents can be seen as “pipes and prisms”: they are not only pipes that carry technological knowledge, but also prisms that provide information clues to others (employers, partners, investors, or even government officials). In this seminar, I will illustrate many opportunities of using patent data for strategic management research, in particular highlighting Chinese patent data.

Speaker bio:

Tony Tong is Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship in the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado. Currently he serves as Chair of the Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Operations Department. Previously, he was Professor of Strategic Management in the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University. His research studies how firms structure external relationships and internal organization in contexts of interfirm relationships, multinational investments, patents and IPRs, and digital platforms. He has published in AMJ, JEBO, JEMS, JIBS, JOM, OS, RP, SMJ, SO, and SS, among others. He was a Winner of the SMS Best Paper Prize, and a PI of two NSF awards. He is a cofounder of the Chinese Patent Data Project (https://sites.google.com/site/sipopdb).

Tony teaches Strategic Management, Global Strategy, Corporate Strategy, and Technology & Innovation Management in undergraduate, MBA, Executive, and Ph.D. programs. His teaching has received awards and recognitions from Colorado, Purdue, Ohio State, and CKGSB. He has published in Harvard Business Publishing several popular case studies of high-tech companies, including Huawei, Xiaomi, Didi, and Uber. His work on AI, innovation, and digitization also appears in practitioner outlets including Harvard Business Review and California Management Review.

Tony is currently Program Chair for the SMS’s Corporate Strategy Interest Group. In the AOM STR Division, he has served on the Research Committee, organized three Annual Patent PDWs, and mentored junior faculty and doctoral students in various consortia and workshops. He has served on the editorial boards of AMJ, GSJ, JIBS, JOM, SEJ, SMJ, and SO, and was a coeditor of the Advances in Strategic Management – Real Options Theory.