Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • March 2011 (Revised June 2012)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Office of Technology Transfer - Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences

By: Willy Shih, Sen Chai, Kamen Bliznashki and Courtney Hyland
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:28
ShareBar

Abstract

Gordon Zong is trying to teach Chinese universities and research institutes how to do effective technology transfer and IP licensing, but he is trying to do it in an environment with weak property rights and an underdeveloped support infrastructure. As the managing director of the Office of Technology Transfer at the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, he works with researchers at the forefront of biology and biotech, yet he faces seemingly insurmountable obstacles to getting the technology commercialized within domestic Chinese companies, so he has turned to global multinational pharma companies, for now. The purpose of the case is to help present and future managers at global multinationals who have responsibility for R&D strategy to understand some of the complexities of the Chinese intellectual property environment so that they can build effective participation strategies for their organizations. Understanding the misaligned incentives that result in the production of junk patents and the challenges of patent enforcement, as well as the direction of change are vital, because as the Chinese system evolves quickly, the implications of those changes will have important commercial consequences.

Keywords

Multinational Firms and Management; Patents; Knowledge Management; Law Enforcement; Business and Government Relations; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; China

Citation

Shih, Willy, Sen Chai, Kamen Bliznashki, and Courtney Hyland. "Office of Technology Transfer - Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences." Harvard Business School Case 611-057, March 2011. (Revised June 2012.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Willy C. Shih

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

Related Work

    • March 2011 (Revised June 2012)
    • Faculty Research

    Office of Technology Transfer - Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences

    By: Willy Shih, Sen Chai, Kamen Bliznashki and Courtney Hyland
Related Work
  • Office of Technology Transfer - Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences By: Willy Shih, Sen Chai, Kamen Bliznashki and Courtney Hyland
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College