Corporate strategies to protect software innovation: Empirical evidences from South Korea

The purpose of this study is to determine whether there are blind spots in decision making to protect innovation by examining how formal and informal protection systems affect software innovation. We empirically compared the innovation activities of 218 software companies with 261 information and communication technology (ICT) manufacturing companies in South Korea. Our results confirm that formal protection system alone is insufficient to protect software innovation, but its effect may vary depending on the corporate size. While, combination of patent with complicated designs is effective. More sophisticated policy to complement informal protections for small and medium-sized enterprises with less than 100 employees is needed.