This publication-based dissertation explores how complex technological organizations strategically manage their intellectual property (IP), how their IP capabilities, as dynamic capabilities, change over time, and how the dynamic capability of an IP function and that of a technology function within the same organization coevolve. This dissertation comprises four independent research papers prepared for publication in academic journals with a double-blind peer review process. It consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the knowledge gap in the field of strategic IP management in the context of complex technological organizations, provides an overview of the four research papers, and outlines their current publication status. Chapter 2 presents the first research paper, which involves a systematic literature review and empirical insights from practitioners. It is focusing on the IP capability in business development and operations. Its key finding is contextual factors and strategic approaches for patent licensing provisions in bilateral collaboration agreements between a technological organization and its collaborator. Chapter 3 presents the second research paper, which is an empirical study based on public patent data analysis of Airbus and Boeing. It is related to the IP capability in the legal domain. Its main result is our hypothesized generic evolutionary patent application strategy schema tested by patenting behaviors of the two major competing firms in the commercial aircraft industry. Chapter 4 presents the third research paper which is a single longitudinal case study of Airbus. Its primary findings are a method of taxonomizing and visually presenting dynamic organizational IP capabilities based on a case study of Airbus, and a framework of four generic IP strategies based on the main approach an organization appropriates value from its IP assets. Chapter 5 presents the fourth research paper, which is also an empirical case study of Airbus. Its main results are the IP function's roles, capabilities, interactions with the Technology function, and their three coevolutionary phases. Lastly, Chapter 6 provides a summary of the research theoretical and practical outcomes and contributions, discusses limitations, and suggests potential areas for future research.

In this paper we combine insights from two streams of literature within the broad academic domain of strategic management - namely intellectual property management and dynamic capabilities - to advance our understanding of the dynamics of competition and innovation in technology-intensive industries dominated by large companies with highly complex products and businesses, large operational scale, and broad international reach. We argue that a firm's IP management capability ought to be viewed as a dynamic capability, as propounded by Teece et al. (1997) and Teece (2007), and we accordingly propose a generic competition-influenced evolutionary pattern of patent application strategies, embodying three development phases: 1) passive strategy, during the early phase; 2) aggressive strategy, during the growth phase; 3) sophisticated strategy at the maturity phase. We test our ideas through a study of the patenting behaviour of two major competing firms in the commercial aircraft industry.