Inventors are not alike: The distribution of patenting output among industrial R&D personnel

From theoretical work, as well as from empirical findings on the distributi on of scientific performance, we can deduce that there are also great varia tions in the output of industrial research and development personnel. By an alyzing the patenting output from research and development personnel, we ar e able to measure their technological performance. The inventor portfolio p rovides a method to measure and identify key inventors. Key inventors are c haracterized by a large number of patent applications which are of high qua lity. This paper presents the results from an empirical study that analyzes the distribution of the patenting output of inventors working in the chemi cal, electrical, and mechanical engineering industry in 43 German companies . The findings of this study suggest that the technological performance of inventors defined by the number and quality of Wed patents is highly concen trated. In particular, a very small group of key inventors is responsible f or the major part of the company's tec technological performance, and thus for the company's competitiveness. These findings, in turn, have major prac tical implications for human resource management in industrial R&D departme nts.