Drivers for Companies’ Entry Into Standard-Setting Organizations

Abstract

Globalization has been a main driver for firms' entry into standard-setting organizations (SSOs). These global multifirm settings have caught attention due to tensions arising from simultaneous collaboration and competition among firms as well as due to the increasing geographical complexity of the standardization process. SSOs present one form of a multifirm environment, where companies proactively and voluntarily collaborate to develop a new standard. Although a growing body of literature has tried to understand firms' underlying rationales for engaging in SSOs, we know little about firm-level characteristics influencing the propensity to enter a standard-setting organization. For this purpose, data of the Community Innovation Survey 2011 for Germany are merged with data of companies' participation at technical committees of the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) between 2010 and 2013. Using these unique data, we can observe the moment when firms enter a technical committee of a formal SSO and, hence, tackle the problem of simultaneity. Our results show that the likelihood to enter a technical committee of an SSO increases for firms that introduce new products or services into the market, while absorptive capacity does not have a significant positive influence. Finally, the protection of innovations by patents further enhances the likelihood to enter a technical committee of an SSO.

Paving the path: drivers of standardization participation at ISO

“…This finding is in line with findings of the very few studies on the sector level (e.g. Blind, 2002) and the several studies at the company-level (Blind & Mangelsdorf, 2013;Wakke et al, 2015;Blind et al, 2021) revealing a close relationship between R&D intensity and involvement in standardization.…”

Technological Uncertainty and Standardization Strategies: A Coopetition Framework

“…Firms with high intensity of R&D investment hesitate to participate in the standardization process to prevent their knowledge's unintended disclosure [22]. Recent panel data find convincing evidence that firm join official standardization after they introduced new products or services into the market [26].…”

The Interplay between Product Innovation, Publishing, Patenting and Developing Standards

“…In that sense, contributing knowledge to standard-setting committees and technological know-how submitted to patent offices are substitutes. However, patents claimed in advance of entering technical committees can protect at the same time companies against unintended knowledge leaks in standardization processes, which is confirmed by higher patent intensities of entrants (Blind et al, 2021). In addition, in the long run, contributing firms might align their R&D activities, their patent portfolios (e.g.…”

“…The same is the case for the development of standards. Early literature studied the engagement of firms in developing standards (Blind, 2006;Blind et al, 2021;Blind and Mangelsdorf, 2013;Blind and Thumm, 2004;Wakke et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2020a). Then, studies started to analyze its impact on innovation (Wen et al 2020;Zhang et al 2020b) and commercial performance (Wakke et al 2016).…”