Edison in the Boardroom: How Leading Companies Realize Value from Their Intellectual Assets

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LEVEL TWO—COST CONTROL

LEVEL TWO IS the second level of IP management evolution for firms involved with intellectual property. (See Exhibit 2.1.) Companies at Level Two are in defensive mode, just as they were at Level One. The difference is that Level Two companies have realized that IP is an expensive form of defense and they are looking for ways to manage the cost-benefit relationship so that they get greater results for their IP investment dollars. Indeed, companies at this level have come to realize that IP is an investment and it is one that requires management. Getting a real (or even a perceived) return on that investment requires that the costs be controlled as well as the outputs. For this reason, companies at Level Two find themselves interested in activities that reduce cost, increase efficiency, increase effectiveness, and raise productivity.

According to Joe Daniele, Senior Vice President of IP and Technology Commercialization at SAIC,

What you find is, if the work is well organized, there's actually less work to do and more output. It's a matter of efficiency—less in and more out. If you're going to be competitive, and you're spending millions of dollars a year to support your portfolio, you want to make sure that portfolio is doing something for you. It's not just sitting there gathering dust. It's there to allow for licensing, cross-licensing and trade, to protect your products, to allow proprietary positions, and to allow you to do partnerships and various ...