"Corporate Patents and Technology Transactions in Japan Before WWII: How did organizations facilitate the technology market?"

When discussing the role of technology in the development of the modern economy, the question arises as to by whom it was done. Mowery (1983), Teece (1988), and Chandler (1993) argue that organized R&D within firms, beginning in the early 20th century, contributed to economic growth. On the other hand, Lamoreaux and Sokoloff (1999, 2003) argue that efficient technology markets already existed in the U.S. at the end of the 19th century and continued to contribute to economic growth even after the emergence of large corporations. Industrialization and economic growth in Japan have likewise been studied using two approaches. Nicholas (2011, 2013) and Nicholas & Shimizu (2013) traced the formation and development of the technology market in Japan from the end of the 19th century. However, markets and organizations are not in a relationship of opposition and mutual exclusion. Corporations also conduct transactions in the marketplace.
This paper explores the relationship between markets and organizations by looking at the transactions of companies from newly excavated Japanese patent transaction data. Before World War II, analysis of patent transaction data revealed a correlation between the increase in corporate patents and the number of patent transactions. In other words, the more a company promotes R&D within itself, the more it increases its transactions with external parties. Elucidating the relationship between the two will also contribute to understanding patent management, which connects the internal technology market (organizational R&D within a company) and the external technology market.