Title: Will Huawei surpass ZTE? Analysis of patent data

Authors: Zhiying Liu; Lina Bao; Yi Xu

Addresses: School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Jinzhai Road 96#, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China ' East Campus of University of Science & Technology of China, No. 96 Jinzhai Road, Hefei, Anhui Province, China ' School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China, Jinzhai Road 96#, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China

Abstract: In the era of knowledge economy, critical knowledge and technologies are key to enterprise competition. Huawei and ZTE are well known as top Chinese communication equipment suppliers. Both have paid great attention to intellectual property protection, and have applied a great amount of patents in information and communication technology. In this article, patent analysis is used to figure out whether there exists difference between Huawei and ZTE in technology research and development. The results show the patent portfolios of them are similar but difference exists. During the period 2006-2012, ZTE performed better than Huawei on the whole.

Keywords: patent data; patents; Huawei; ZTE; telecommunications equipment suppliers; telecoms; knowledge economy; China; intellectual property protection; intellectual property rights; IPR; IPP; ICT; information and communications technology; information technology; technology R&D; research and development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTLID.2014.064700

International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, 2014 Vol.7 No.1, pp.1 - 18

Received: 08 Feb 2014
Accepted: 12 May 2014
Published online: 13 Sep 2014 *

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