AIMS 2011
Attarça, M. and Corbel, P. "La complémentarité des différentes approches des relations entre stratégie et environnement : illustration par le cas des patent trolls", Proceedings of the 20th conference of the AIMS (Association Internationale de Management Stratégique), Nantes, June 2011
Abstract:
This article aims to show the complementarity between the different theoretical approaches that deal with the link between a company's strategy and its environment. In this contribution, we focus on three main theoretical approaches: strategic positioning (Porter, 1982), resource dependence (Pfeffer and Salancik, 1978) and strategic intent (Hamel and Prahalad, 1994). This complementarity is illustrated through a case study of the emergence in the United States in the early 2000s of so-called patent troll companies. These companies developed on the basis of a business model described as predatory, consisting of buying up patent portfolios and suing - or threatening to sue - potential infringers. This opportunistic business model has overturned the legal strategies of major companies in the IT and telecommunications sectors, the main victims of patent trolls. The analysis shows that the three theoretical models used provide a complementary interpretation of the strategies adopted by the players. The strategies developed are simultaneously adaptive, reactive and pro-active. The case of the patent trolls illustrates the value of thinking in terms of a combination of possibilities rather than necessarily incompatible options, of 'both/and' rather than 'either/or' as Brown and Duguid (1998) put it.
Lien :
The paper can be downloaded from the website of the conference.