GBUS 8440 - Patents & Corporate Value: An Exploration of Public Policy, Business Strategy, & Financial Reporting Issues

This course explores the current state of affairs and aims to present a set of principles to guide the practicing manager and investor with respect to the effect of the intellectual property on strategic decisions. Changes in domestic and international policies toward granting patents have triggered massive shifts in managerial and investor behavior. Many companies now actively manage their patent portfolios as an extension of competitive strategy by engaging in risky, litigious, or otherwise aggressive actions. Still many others have yet to realize the importance of the changing patent environment and make suboptimal strategic decisions. Investors, striving to estimate the intrinsic value of firms, often face limited information and thus struggle with evaluating the importance of intellectual property to the overall strategic objectives of the company. In consequence, both corporate and investor decisions can vary dramatically from the optimum. The course will be conducted as a one-week course at Darden and in Washington D.C. and surrounding suburbs. It will entail speakers from and/or visits to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Senate, venture capital firms, and IP-intensive firms in Maryland and Northern Virginia. This course will be relevant to students anticipating careers in technology management, business strategy, consulting, venture capital, business development, financial reporting, and securities analysis. (Y)

Credits: 1.5