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.

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