Long-lasting appropriation success of an innovation? : a comparative case study of Bayer’s Aspirin and Roundup

Abstract

Changes such as expiring patents and shifting environments challenge a firm trying to reach long-lasting appropriation success of an innovation. To understand how appropriation can be continued over time, this study investigates and compares Bayer’s two innovations, Aspirin medicine and Roundup herbicide. Whereas for the first, appropriation success has been continued through decades, for the latter, such a continuum has not realised. Our findings suggest that long-lasting appropriation success lies in adjusting the appropriation strategy by identifying the most substantial appropriability premises for innovation (appropriability mechanisms and complementary assets) and the ways to use them in different situations, paying specific attention to the shifting appropriability conditions. For long-term success, it is critical for firms to recognise that isolating appropriability mechanisms and complementary assets can have varied and distinctive implications depending on the pertinent contextual factors at innovation level and to strategise accordingly.