Message strategies in smartphone patent battles: Ownership and innovation capability
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of message attributes on public opinion in regards to corporate reputation and communication intention.
Design/methodology/approach
It conducted a 2×2 between-subject factorial experiment, manipulating media messages in terms of which company owns the patents, and the level of innovation emphasized through the companies’ marketing communication efforts.
Findings
The two-way analysis of variance results showed that, for Samsung, the main effects of the two independent variables (ownership and innovation) were found on the perceived corporate reputation; while only a main effect of innovation capability attribute was found on the perceived secondary communication intention for Apple.
Research limitations/implications
One main theoretical contribution of this current study is the exploration of the attribute level of agenda setting in the context of a business communication setting with an experimental study.
Practical implications
This result would suggest that practitioners should focus on their marketing strategies as well when they are involved in a lawsuit case. When a company loses a lawsuit, the company’s perceived reputation is dropped; however, the dropping gap can be reduced when the company has been portrayed as an innovative leader in the market.
Social implications
Combined together, market shares of the two companies exceed more than half of the smartphone vender sales, and they have set the standard in the smartphone industry. Hence, media and public pay great attention to the patent battles. Court rulings are not only survived in the courtroom, but the fight also took place in their marketing, communication, and public relations.
Originality/value
This is an empirical experiment exploring a causal effect of message attributes on public opinion. The two companies in this study are the industry leaders and the case is current.
Keywords
Citation
Kim, J.Y. (2016), "Message strategies in smartphone patent battles: Ownership and innovation capability", Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 255-267. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-10-2013-0072
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited