A global technology manager's policy agenda: intellectual property

The current era of globalization is characterized by rapid, unpredictable, and discontinuous change. To a large degree, the fast pace of change is set by the speed with which knowledge diffuses around the world and is integrated into advanced products and processes. Yet, many legal and managerial aspects of knowledge creation, diffusion, and appropriation-as in intellectual property rights-(IPRs) are now the subject of intense policy debate, perhaps because they play such an important role in our innovation-driven, global economy. Topics to be explored here include: (a) managerial implications of trade debates on competition and IPRs, (b) antitrust as related to innovation (e.g., network externalities and first-mover advantage); and (c) operational IPR matters of daily concern to technology managers.