How do patent assets affect firm performance? From the perspective of industrial difference

In the era of technological innovation, some companies own similar patent assets but capture different profits. The paper aims to explore whether and why there are different effects of patent assets on firm performance across industries. The listed corporations in the Growth Enterprises Market (GEM) of Shenzhen Stock Exchange, China, are taken as samples, which are categorised as three industries: the technology-intensive industry, capital-intensive industry, and labour-intensive industry, in light of the production factors. Moreover, the multiple stepwise regression and the fixed effects model are utilised. This paper highlights the effects of patent assets on firm performance are different across industries. Patent quality strongly influences firm performance in the technology-intensive industry, while patent count increases firm performance in the capital-intensive industry and labour-intensive industries. Notably, technological knowledge stock owned by companies plays a moderating role in influencing patent assets on firm performance in the technology-intensive industry. Our findings enrich the research on patent assets influencing financial performance from the industrial difference perspective and suggest that companies in different industries should take differentiated patent strategies to improve firm performance.