ABSTRACT
The work is centered on the effect of IP management on Performance of selected
Manufacturing Firms in South East Nigeria. The objectives of the study are; To
determine the extent to which protection of intellectual property through trade mark
affects the market share in manufacturing firms in the south east Nigeria; To
ascertain the degree to which patents induce creativity in manufacturing firms in the
same zone; To establish the level to which intellectual property protection fulfills its
mission in manufacturing firms; To analyze the various risks involved in intellectual
property registration to see if they are higher than expected benefits; To find out the
extent to which corporate managers are involved in the management of intellectual
property portfolio in their firms and the implications of their involvement especially in
the south east Nigeria.
The location of the study is the South East Nigeria comprising
of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states. Seven selected firms were used for
the study and they consist of a population of 2258 employees. Exuastive sampling
technique was applied to the managerial cadre of the population. Out of the total
population, the managerial staff is made up of 644 employees out of whom 604 were
qualified to be used for the empirical study. The companies are; Pittasson Industries
Ltd., Alo Aluminium Manufacturing Industry Nig ltd, Hardis and Dromedas Ltd,
General Cotton Mill Ltd, Ofali Rural Industries Ltd, and Jacobs Wine Nigeria Ltd.
Primary data were collected through questionnaire structured in 5 point Likert scale
and were complemented with oral interview. Again, secondary data were collected
through findings from available literature from works of other authors. Analysis of
the data was done using statistical tools of Chi Sq, Pearson Product Correlation
Coefficient and Z test used to compare the sample and population mean. Other tools
like frequency tables, percentages and statistical package for social science research
(SPSS) were also adopted. Hypotheses 1 and 5 are to be tested with Friedman Chi
square. This tool is commonly used to compare observed data and expected data.
Hypothesis 2 and 3 are to be tested with Pearson Product Correlation
CoefficientHypothesis 4 will be tested with the z-test. The z-test tool compares sample
and population means to determine if there is a significant difference between the
variables.This is seen in the statistical significance of (X2
c =19.016, p,< .05).
Secondly, patents rights induce creativity in manufacturing firms, (r =. 955,
P<.05).Intellectual property fulfills its mission in manufacturing firms r = .728 >
r= .195 Thus (r =.728, P<.05) It was also discovered that management of intellectual
property is usually done by legal practitioners, (xc2 = 213.932>xt2 =26.30). Also
discovered is the fact that, when intellectual property rights are used together with
other forms of protection, it yields maximum benefit. Lastly, the benefits that are
accruable by the use of intellectual property are higher than the risks involved in IP
registration, (Zc =11.517>Zt = 1.96). The study then concludes that contrary to the
seemingly believe that protection of IP through the use of IPR does not contribute to
an organizations success, it does actually positively impact on the organizations
performance to a significant level. The recommendation therefore is that firms should
in addition to other strategies, recognize their intellectual properties, and adopt the
use of IP rights to protect them. Another recommendation is that IP should be
managed strategically by the right personnel which from the findings of the author
are the corporate managers.
