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Finding Fertile Time: A Temporal Investigation of Opportunity Using Patent Citation Data

Meldrum, Mark Brent
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1248046746

Abstract Details

2009, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Management.
It is a well-accepted consensus in the literature that technological change is a key source of entrepreneurial opportunity. This work investigates the nature of the relationship between opportunity and the business cycle by examining the relationship between technological change and the business cycle. We use the application dates of the top 1% of US patents in terms of citations received and match these to a monthly series of economic expansions and contractions as defined by the NBER for the time period January 1973 to December 1992. The opportunity literature identifies two broad schools of thought; counter-cyclical arguments that suggest economic contractions are fertile times for the emergence of opportunity due to the release of resources previously employed or due to the opportunity cost of redirecting productive resources in times of economic expansion to new projects, and pro-cyclical arguments that suggest that access to financing or access to markets is enhanced during economic expansions thereby facilitating opportunity emergence. We find a strong pro-cyclical relationship for technological change in the private sector but a clear counter-cyclical relationship when considering the public sector. Further, the industries of focus between the two are quite different. If we accept, as Schumpeter argues, that technological change is the most significant source of entrepreneurial opportunity, then the resulting temporal pattern of technological change implies a temporal pattern for the emergence of entrepreneurial opportunity. Implications for both the entrepreneur and government are discussed.
Bo Carlsson (Committee Chair)
Leonard Lynn (Committee Member)
Susan Helper (Committee Member)
Nicola Lacetera (Committee Member)
147 p.
Economics; Management
patent citations; patents; innovation; opportunity; entrepreneurship; business cycles; supply-push; demand-pull

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Meldrum, M. B. (2009). Finding Fertile Time: A Temporal Investigation of Opportunity Using Patent Citation Data [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1248046746

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Meldrum, Mark. Finding Fertile Time: A Temporal Investigation of Opportunity Using Patent Citation Data. 2009. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1248046746.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Meldrum, Mark. "Finding Fertile Time: A Temporal Investigation of Opportunity Using Patent Citation Data." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1248046746

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1248046746
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© 2009, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.