Trademarks as an indicator of innovation implementation

: evidence from the German Pharmaceutical and IT-Service Industries

Abstract

This paper examines the potential application of trademarks as a complementary indicator of innovation. Recent innovation literature finds a correlation between innovation and usage pattern of trademarks. Especially for the service industry this new approach offers potential since R&D and patents indicators do not capture innovation in these sectors. To understand the relationships between trademarks and innovation the German pharmaceutical and ITservice industries were studied. As a proxy for innovation sales and employment growth were introduced. The impact of filing a trademark was then compared with a control group and correlations with patents examined. The results show that trademarks indeed can be used as an indicator of innovation; however, with some limitations. While IT-service companies show a strong relationship between trademarks and growth, the results for the pharmaceutical industry are ambiguous and need to be further examined.

Date of Award	22 Mar 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Franco Malerba (Supervisor)