Of late, patenting as a phenomenon has been gaining the traction of researchers and policy makers, given its potential economic benefits. Failing to withstand the intense market competition, imitator firms tend to misuse the unintended knowledge diffusions in a cluster, especially in a high-tech cluster, to their advantage. This has prompted the innovator firms in a cluster to protect their inventions from imitation, by obtaining patents. However, the role of patents in further strengthening the innovation propensity of these firms, and enhancing their firm performance has not been adequately explored. It is in the context of Bengaluru (erstwhile Bangalore) high-tech cluster which houses densely interconnected network of high-tech manufacturing firms that this paper probes the role of patents in driving differential innovation and firm performances in a cluster.
Bengaluru, Cluster, Firm Performance, High-tech firm, Innovation, Manufacturing, Patent
