Samenvatting

Draft research proposal; 20 JAN 2013. Preliminary proposal for a 3 (max 4) year research project leading to a PhD. In preparation for the WION workshops on Advanced Purchasing Research and to be worked out in more detail as a PhD research proposal before MAY 2013. The research objective is to find out: How innovating SMEs can best use Industrial Property Rights (patents) within value chains with their (SME) suppliers and their (SME) customers, what are best practices and improvement areas, what is a suitable theoretical framework, how can enterprises, business researchers & practitioners benefit from applying this framework.