Purpose

The purpose of this study is to identify and characterize the role of both original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and module supplier (MS) knowledge in the smartphone industry. In particular, this study aims to evaluate which of the two actors possesses the knowledge that has the greatest impact on the market satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

This study explores and combines the concepts of modularity and knowledge management by investigating the patent portfolio of 16 leading smartphone OEMs and 144 MSs. The applied methodology is based on the content analysis of patent data to extract information on both OEM’s and MS’s component knowledge.

Findings

The results show that, although its components are purchased from external MSs, the OEM should preserve both a general and specific concentration of component knowledge, as well as on the end product, to achieve a greater market satisfaction. Moreover, a positive direct relationship was found for the MS between the general concentration of component knowledge and the market satisfaction.

Originality/value

The novelty of this study is to segment the knowledge of both the OEM and the MS on multiple levels. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies that investigates the end product and component knowledge of both actors by filtering patent data using text-mining techniques. The originality of this work is to intercept the relationship between the different shades of knowledge of each actor and the market satisfaction.

中文翻译：

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智能手机行业的OEM与模组供应商知识：对市场满意度的影响

目的

本研究的目的是确定和描述原始设备制造商 (OEM) 和模块供应商 (MS) 知识在智能手机行业中的作用。特别是，本研究旨在评估两个参与者中的哪一个拥有对市场满意度影响最大的知识。

设计/方法/方法

本研究通过调查 16 家领先的智能手机 OEM 和 144 家 MS 的专利组合，探索并结合了模块化和知识管理的概念。所应用的方法基于专利数据的内容分析，以提取有关 OEM 和 MS 组件知识的信息。

发现

结果表明，尽管其组件是从外部 MS 购买的，但 OEM 应保持对组件知识以及最终产品的一般和特定集中，以获得更大的市场满意度。此外，MS 在组件知识的一般集中度和市场满意度之间发现了正向的直接关系。

原创性/价值

本研究的新颖之处在于在多个层面上对 OEM 和 MS 的知识进行细分。据作者所知，这是首批通过使用文本挖掘技术过滤专利数据来调查双方参与者的最终产品和组件知识的研究之一。本作的独创性在于截取了每个参与者的不同知识深浅与市场满意度之间的关系。