How the magic happens: Patenting work at a multinational manufacturing company

Abstract

Patents have become increasingly important in the global economy in recent decades. Today, patents are used for various purposes, far beyond the initial role of preventing imitation of new inventions introduced into society. In the work to develop solutions for more sustainable societies, patents have the potential to facilitate the necessary collaboration and sharing of technology. To complement the many studies on using patents for these purposes, this paper examines the intra-organisational practices with which patent strategies are implemented. The concept of boundary objects is introduced to analyse patenting work and its coordination across different sites. The paper makes three contributions to the literature. First, strategy work is a necessary but not a sufficient part of patenting work; implementing a strategy relies on all patenting work in the organisation. Second, In the organisation of patenting work, the focus should be on identifying relevant communities of experts and not simply organisational units. Third, "patents" as boundary objects can coordinate discourse around patents, which creates motivation and commitment to engage in patenting work. It is, however, not strong enough to coordinate the work itself; this is instead coordinated by patent-related artefacts that travel between the nodes.