Cross-Competitor Analysis: Case Study for RFID Patent Mining

Cross-Competitor Analysis: Case Study for RFID Patent Mining 1Q. 2009

1. Introduction to Cross-Competitor Analysis
According to Dr. Benjamin Gilad at the Academy of Competitive Intelligence, the
goal of the cross-competitor analysis is to enable you to simplify predictions of
competitors’ moves and countermoves when multiple competitors are involved.
Through the cross-competitor analysis, we can understand that:
Competitors’ behavior when there are several significant competitors.
Paradigm shifts in industries undergoing rapid change or transition.
Entry of new competitors into the competitive landscape.
Future directions in strategic move among industry contenders.

2. Strategic Map
According to Dr. Benjamin Gilad at the Academy of Competitive Intelligence, the
strategic map is a tool used in the cross-competitor analysis for visualizing
the competitive landscape:
A chart for a strategic parameter No.1 (e.g. product/service portfolio, distribution channel etc.) vs. a strategic parameter No.2 (e.g. product/service price, quality, brand etc.).
The map is static (for dynamics, we can use arrows).

3. RFID Patent Mining Process
Step 1. Getting Patent Data:
Patent Data Base Used in the Research: USPTO PAIR, WIPSGlobal, and Delphion
Searching Method: keyword search for RFID and its variations such as IC tag, RF card, and RF label etc.
Field of Search: front page (title, abstract, references etc.) and the first independent claim of a patent issued before January, 1, 2009
Step 2. Cleaning: review the keyword searched patent data for excluding design patents and patents whose subject field is not directly related with RFID (e.g. CallerID)
The number of patents reduces to 2559 from 3703 initially keyword searched patents in this step.
Step 3. Statistical analysis: analyze the bibliographical information
Step 4. Customized technology classifications: classification by RFID expert
Step 5. Analytical analysis: quantitative and qualitative analysis for patent data categorized by the customized classifications

4. Strategic Parameters for RFID Strategic Map
Activity Index (AI) is a measure of a company’s innovation activities in a specific technology field:
AI = share of a specific sub-class in a company/share of a company’s patent in total patents, where
share of a specific sub-class in a company = patents(sub
class)/patents(company)
company/share of a company’s patent in total patents = patents(company)/patents(total)
Product Portfolio: Tag, Reader, Sub-system, Application
For further analysis, we can classify each product into a sub-product portfolio:
e.g. Reader: IC/Module, Protocol SW, Antenna/RF, Design/Platform,
Control/Operation.

5. Strategic Map for RFID Strategic Map Fig. 5.1 shows the AI vs. Product Portfolio strategic map for the top 6 RFID IPR contenders. The size of the circle represents the total number of the issued patents for each product. Key interpretation: as for the tag, the map show a intensive technology innovation competition among contenders except IBM as for the application, IBM is the leader in technology innovation

Fig 5.1 AI vs. Product Portfolio strategic map for RFID

5. Strategic Map for RFID Strategic Map -2 Fig. 5.2 shows the AI vs. Reader Product Portfolio strategic map for the top 4 RFID IPR contenders. The size of the circle represents the total number of the issued patents for each product. Key interpretation: Micron Technology shows a competitive advantage in reader protocol SW Motorola shows a competitive advantage in reader design/platform and reader control/operation

Fig 5.2 AI vs. Reader Portfolio strategic map for RFID

Thank you!
If you have any questions
please contact
Dr. Alex G. Lee
at alexglee@techipm.com

Cross-Competitor Analysis: Case Study for RFID Patent Mining

by Alex Lee on May 30, 2009

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Cross-Competitor Analysis: Case Study for RFID Patent Mining — Presentation Transcript