Technology Licensing With Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility in a Vertically Differentiated Duopoly

Bibliographic Data

ID21287540
AuthorsDongdong Li (0000-0001-9000-7158, School of Public Policy and Administration Northwestern Polytechnical University Xi'an Shaanxi China), Wenyao Lin (School of Public Policy and Administration Northwestern Polytechnical University Xi'an Shaanxi China), Chenxuan Shang (0000-0002-5350-841X, Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy Tsinghua University Beijing China, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume84
Issue3
Pages547-566
Publication date2025-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Economics and Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9246 • E-ISSN: 1536-7150
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ajes.12620
OpenAlexW4407981202
LanguageEN
References cited41

In this paper, we study the impact of strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities on the optimal licensing strategy for cost‐reducing technology in a vertically differentiated duopoly. We compare three types of licensing strategies—fixed fee, royalty, and two‐part tariff—under three CSR strategy structures: ST model (only firm 1 adopts a CSR strategy), TS model (only firm 2 adopts a CSR strategy), and SS model (both firms adopt CSR strategies). The results show that the licensor prefers fixed‐fee licensing when it adopts a CSR strategy (i.e., ST and SS) but opts for two‐part tariff licensing when it does not (i.e., TS). We also find that the optimal licensing contract leads to higher social welfare under the CSR compliance strategy than under the mixed CSR strategy. Finally, we show that firms endogenously choose the CSR compliance strategy

Business · Corporate social responsibility · Cournot competition · Duopoly · Economics · Industrial organization · Microeconomics · Political science · Public relations · Intellectual Property and Patents · Marketing · Open Source Software Innovations · Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access