Ecai 2018 Paper 115 [629134]

ECAI 2018 – International Conference – 10th Edition Electronics, Computers and Artificial Intelligence 28 June -30 June, 2018, Iasi, ROMÂNIA The correlation between intellectual property management and quality management in the modern knowledge-based economy Alina Bianca POP SC TechnoCAD SA, Vasile Alecsandri no. 72, code 430351, Baia Mare, România [anonimizat] Ștefan ȚÎȚU The Oncology Institute "Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta", Republicii Street no. 34-36, 400012 Cluj Napoca, Romania [anonimizat] Mihail Aurel ȚÎȚU Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Victoriei Street no. 10, code 550024, Sibiu, România [anonimizat] Abstract – The aim of this research paper is to highlight the intellectual property place and role within an industrial knowledge-based organization which performs design activities. The research begins by presenting the importance of integrating intellectual property policy implementation with quality policy. The research is based on the setting of objectives in the intellectual property field. This research also establishes some intellectual property strategies, and improvement measures for intellectual property protection management. The basis for these activities is correlation of the quality policy with an intellectual property policy, as well as the points of strength identified in the studied organization. The issues discussed in this scientific paper conclude on the possibility of the implementation of standards in the intellectual property field. Keywords- organization; management knowledge based economy; intellectual property; quality policies; intellectual property policies; intellectual property management I. INTRODUCTION This current historical moment represents the moment when a large amount of information that no human being or group of people would be able to process and recall. The economy, the organization and knowledge-based management are commonly used concepts when talking about new economic trends. This is mainly due to the 21st Century Knowledge Revolution, which has brought "knowledge" to attention, which is seen as a key element of ensuring organizations’ functionality and efficiency. The knowledge-based society's characteristic is not that we have a great deal of information, but that we need to learn more through this process of transforming information into knowledge (new products, technology, etc.). II. KNOWLEDGE BASED ORGANIZATION The Knowledge-based Organization represents a group of people in their own structure who work together to achieve their objectives [8]. Knowledge-based organizations highlight not only a new perspective, but also a different view on how to develop and apply the management practice. In more general terms, competencies designate what an organization knows and is capable of doing, in relation to its own objectives and under predetermined environmental conditions, based on the individual abilities of its members, systematically articulated, and mobilized strategically. Currently, quality is one of the most debated. The most important issue is the way in which industrial organizations are able to build a competitive strategy based on quality products and services in increasingly competitive conditions [11]. Today's organizations, adapting their development strategies, take a new vision of how to conceive and practice a different view, and the differences between the classical organization, the control and authority-based organization, and the new knowledge-based organizational model are large and can create some difficulties on the long-term success of the organization. In the new current and future context, understanding the meaning of resources is fundamental. Their knowledge is beneficial and can lead to avoiding dangers of prognosis; their approach leading to improvements and efficiency. Knowledge-based organizations are probably, through their specific culture, focused on promoting conceptual value in society as an influence and a source of competitiveness. Table 1 presents a comparative analysis between the classical and the knowledge-based organizations.

TABLE I. COMPARISON BETWEEN CLASSICAL AND KNOWLEDGE BASED ORGANIZATIONS Comparison Criterion Organization Based on Control and Authority Knowledge Based Organization Action objectives Tangible Resources Scheduled Activities Systems and processes based mainly on intangible assets Dominant Logic Workstation and formal organization Organizational skills as a performance source Time orientation Retrospective Future Action nature Predominantly improvement based on the continuity of existing systems Predominantly constructive, with emphasis on change Action Path Routine Creative Behavioral pathway Behavioral reactions Behavioral progress Sursa: Dragomirescu, H., Economy, organizations, society in the information age, vol I. Information economy, Editure ASE, Bucarest 2009 The passage to the knowledge-based economy, through the construction and functioning of knowledge-based organizations, cannot be accomplished without a knowledge-based management [8]. Knowledge Management also is treated by Brătianu in Knowledge Management. Fundamental Concepts [3]. This author also debates aspects regarding strategic thinking in his book with the same title [4]. To the organizational level, knowledge is found at the human capital level, in the requests and preferences of the clients, more than the client’s capital, in the products, processes, its capabilities and systems that builds the structural capital. As a result, the value of the knowledge assets can increase in great number the value of intangible assets. The intellectual property assets and their value most of the times are not adequately appreciated. But in the knowledge-based organizations, intangible goods represent the major interest point when decisions are required. What must be taken into consideration by the organizations, generally speaking, is the speed by which new products, brands, models and the results of creativity come out on the market as a result of innovation and of the daily process of creation, rightfully appreciated. The term “applications of knowledge and information technology” indicates one of the key driving forces that has triggered dramatic changes within the operational structure of various companies. These changes, in conjunction with increased customer demands, are constantly challenging companies to shift their attention from tangible to intangible resources. These intangible assets have always played a limited role in the past, and now their systematic handling is seen as being an essential factor for competitiveness [5]. In the new economic reality, the change of knowledge at the tactical or strategic level, together with the change of intangible values and benefits becomes the main source of values creation. The currency of change is represented by the knowledge or other intangible values such as the prestige or the loyalty of the clients. In such an environment, the old models used to describe the bookkeeping system, the organization and the economy cannot capture the reality of today. This is the reason that leads to a new manner for reporting of the intellectual property assets that represent the competitive advantage which most organizations do not take knowledge of and values even less. Intangible assets including knowledge, information, intellectual property, and experience represent future growth opportunities and important profitability considerations, which are critical to increasing the market-based value of a firm. Actually, intangible assets have prevailed as measures of core competency and competitive advantage, which can be used to explain the gap between the market-based value and book value of an organization at a time of decreasing usefulness of current financial reporting [6]. The study of the historical evolution regarding the different types of societies emphasizes the fact that high societies reach and maintain those societal levels by investing in their innovation activities [9]. The knowledge-based economy is a new type of economy that is functioning in the developed countries for the last decades. This is totally different compared to the industrial economy or its post-industrial version. The passage to the knowledge-based economy, to the construction and functioning of the knowledge-based organizations, cannot be accomplished without a knowledge-based management [8]. In the case of organizations, especially with small and medium enterprises that do not own internal sources of financing and a necessary portfolio of success for attracting external investors, patents are considered a manner of attracting and assuring investment. Owning a strong portfolio of intellectual properties can signal to the investors that the company has a technological advantage against its competitors – one that can be protected by patent law [12]. Innovation is on an ascendant trend and some organizations are trending better compared to others, being capable to compete on innovative themes on a global level. Nevertheless, the big challenge for the business environment will be the capability to maintain this innovative spirit and to retain value from the creative process, from the perspective of the intellectual property and also of the afferent financial resources. Therefore, there must be taken measures of supporting the innovation, or continuing with already existing measures, even more aggressively compared to the present; measures that can be taken in the educational, financial and fiscal environment, but also to the level of every company in order to support innovation and creativity. In practice, since fewer regulations and less disclosure of intangible capital is the norm, financial reporting cannot actually be utilized to reflect the value of intangible assets or recognize intangibles. The issue of recognizing intangible assets is the subject of active debate in the current literature from the conventional statistical point-of-view [2].

III. POLICIES AND STRATEGIES IN THE KNOWLEDGE-BASED ORGANIZATION In the literature there are different views on defining policy and strategic concepts. Some specialists speak only about policies and politics, and others only about strategy. For some specialists, policies have a more comprehensive semantic sphere, so strategies emerge as an application of policy. For professionals, the problem is solved. Finally, there are specialists who do not make any semantic differentiation between policies and strategies, using the two concepts interchangeably [7]. An organization's policy is a generic option, harder to explain and argue by senior management decision-makers. It reflects the motivational field of major decisions in accordance with a values system that contains more philosophical elements than performance indicators. The policy reflects the ineffable benefits that managers obtain through education, culture and talent. It is anchored to the past and it directs decision-making more by preserving the organization’s values rather than by generating new values. The policy of an organization and, in particular, the quality policy is intrinsically linked to the institutional culture of the organization, while the strategy is related to Strategic Management. The development of new policies is not only a desideratum but also a necessity. The strategy represents the organization’s overall objectives, generally in the long term, the main ways of objective realization, together with the allocated resources, in order to obtain the competitive advantage according to the organization’s mission [7]. Intellectual property is a legal term which allows the owner to control the use of certain intangibles such as ideas or phrases. According to the Romanian Copyright Office (ORDA), "Intellectual Property, abbreviated IP, refers to creations of the mind: inventions (patents) literary and artistic works, symbols, names, images and designs used in commercial activities. The owner of intellectual property can control and be rewarded for its use and so, this encourages innovation and creativity for the benefit of humanity." [13] In the same year, in the work Management of tertiary activities Andone D. and Muntean, N. claim that "Intellectual property refers to the result of a creative activity of man, and unlike property that indicates the possession of material goods, intellectual property establishes an objective reality, given the so-called spiritual goods indicating the belonging of the work, no matter its character, to the one that actually created it, its real author, no matter whom and by what means the right of exploitation or capitalization was transferred to." [1] In practice, intellectual property is divided into two main categories: industrial property and copyright and related rights is one of the basic levers of economic, social and cultural needs of the nation. Thus, we can say that the protection of intellectual property rights is of great importance, essence, scope and its purpose is to protect human intelligence product and at the same time ensuring consumers benefit from the use of this product. The main objectives of an intellectual property policy include: • Providing legal certainty; • Promoting scientific research and technological development; • Encouraging researchers to consider the possible opportunities of exploiting an invention to increase the potential flow of societal benefits; • Providing an environment that supports and encourages innovation and development; • Balancing various conflicts of universities interests, industry and society; • Ensuring compliance with the applicable national laws and regulations. Based on the above considerations, a case study will be presented in a knowledge-based organization where the implementation of an intellectual property policy plays an essential role. IV. CASE STUDY After the text edit has been completed, the paper is ready for the template. Duplicate the template file by using the Save As command and use the naming convention prescribed by your conference for the name of your paper. The actual case study is based on the Company's Quality Policy, set out below. The main objective of the organization where the implementation of an intellectual property policy was proposed is engineering and technical consultancy. The main services offered are computer-aided design in the mechanical engineering field. Currently, thanks to a skilled management team, using an active and operational management system, the company has a state-of-the-art technical endowment, software, graphics stations, networks, file and data conversions, communications, etc. In the company where the study was conducted, the implementation of its own quality and information security policy, as an overall policy for the organization, enjoys particular attention from the management team. In view of the increasingly fierce competition in computer-aided design, top management is aware that in the coming period, the most important feature of the products and services offered must be quality. Information is also an important resource of the company in conducting its work on products and services design. The management's vision is to impose the company as a regional leader in computer aided design, and at the same time it wants to be a design school to train high-class engineers in assisted engineering. The intention is to maintain its status atop the IT companies' rankings and continue to be the promoters of innovative solutions. In the circumstances and business environment of the present and especially for the future, any unforeseen situation

can have a major and sustained impact on the company's activities, employees, and infrastructures; information that is essential to customers, shareholders and suppliers. This is why the company is committed to protecting both its own information as well as its customer’s information. The company's mission is to develop professional and competitive design products and services and, to ensure the company’s confidentiality, integrity and availability, and customer information as well as maintaining and continuously improving the effectiveness of the quality management system in accordance with SR EN ISO 9001:2015 and the effectiveness of the information security management system in accordance with SR EN ISO 27001:2013. Lately, the company has undergone an industrial property prediction study, following which it has received several recommendations. The first one is that the organization should consolidate the marketing tools that underpin its products and services and allow consumers to differentiate the company's products from those of their competitors. Therefore, the company should protect its own design products or partnerships through patent registration, utility models, or designs to protect the original design. The firm should contact an industrial property counseling agency to initiate procedures for patent development and registration, trademark documentation and the international or community system when there is expansion into the international market. Regarding the organization strategy and objectives, the following strategic actions must be taken: • Maintaining a sustained rhythm by the company's development and a high level of quality for the products and services provided, thus ensuring the retention and growth of its customer base; • Improve resource management and the reinvestment of profits; • Become a regional leader in assisted design; • Establishment of a design school for the specialist training class in assisted engineering. Regarding industrial property knowledge at the enterprise level, the company management is not sufficiently aware of the importance of holding industrial property titles for the business it manages. Until now, no employee has been trained in industrial property and there is no permanent collaboration agreement with a specialized industrial property counseling agency. The company gives importance to the existing departments but there is no legal department involved in the industrial property protection business. The company owns a technical library, catalogs, technical file, and conducts documentary research on the internet. Up to now, the organization has not turned to external specialized documentary services. Ownership of an industrial property portfolio by the firm would allow the manufacture, sale, export of its own products prohibition by third parties and may also constitute a good asset for competitors or partners negotiating in the industry. In addition to being a marketing revenue source, industrial property also offers the advantage of increasing competitiveness, bringing the company indirect benefits. The sale, acquisition or licensing of industrial property rights can generate substantial profits. The lack of information on the commercial opportunities offered makes these opportunities largely unused. In order to help the current or future consumers to recognize a particular product or service created or provided by the organization on the Romanian market, it is necessary to develop and register with OSIM the product mark and to continue to use the organization brand as a recognition element. Due to the fact that the company's strategy is to improve the quality of products, it is recommended to protect new technical creations, possibly in partnership with customers or partners. In order to create an industrial property portfolio for the company and to use these new creations to prohibit third parties from manufacturing, selling, exporting their own products, the following steps are recommended: • The inclusion in the concluded contracts of advantageous clauses regarding the future property rights of the products made; • Protecting the aesthetic aspect of different products, by registering with OSIM design applications, depending on the type of project executed. Any technical invention that leads to the constructive and functional promotion of improved products also involves providing protection against counterfeiting. If the products life time on the market is rather low, one can opt for product protection if the products are considered to be new in relation to what is known on the world market. This protection title allows the organization to prospect the market segment of the resulting products and may limit the counterfeiting risk, especially when the startup is fast. The technical invention protection by a utility model registering has the advantage that the protection time of obtaining the title is relatively low and the procedures from the deposit date to the granting of protection are relatively simple and few. If the organization opts for the technical improvements protection to invented products, it could bring a number of advantages: • It could form the basis for structural funds accessing, as support of innovative SMEs; • Funds intended for those SMEs with development and internationalization potential who invest in the economic exploitation of economic research results and innovation; • In this activity field, the technical solutions can be copied by competitors, but the invention patent allows them to prohibit the products manufacture or sale of which the organization is a holder;

• An exploitation monopoly of these technical solutions can be achieved; • It could help strengthen the company's position on the market compared to the competition. For patenting purposes, it is recommended that prior to the submission of patent applications, a documentary research should be commissioned for each technical solution. Given that the offered products and services are dedicated to international sales markets, it is advisable that in the future that the organization considers new, original technical solutions rather than those known worldwide, to apply for industrial property titles benefit from international protection, countries in the European Union or other countries, depending on the markets to which the organization is targeting. V. CONCLUSIONS Intellectual property, regarded the two components under its industrial property, on the one hand and copyright and related rights, on the other hand, is one of the basic levers of economic development, social and cultural needs of the nation. In this context, one can appreciate that the protection of intellectual property rights is of great importance, in essence, the aim and purpose of which is to protect the product of human intelligence, and at the same time, guarantee the benefit to consumers to make use of this product. Closely related to this field is research-development and innovation which constitutes a strategic component, critical to economic development and social progress. Thus, science, technology and innovation represent the areas that generate constant technological progress, ensuring the sustainability of economic development and competitiveness perspective. At the same time innovation and technology transfer are economical solutions for solving problems and for permanent renewal of the necessary technology by connecting the Romanian research to the demands and pressures of a free market, expanding in the globalization context. In this conducted study in a knowledge-based organization, given the issues highlighted by the industrial property pre-diagnosis of the company, it appears that the intellectual property policy implementation plays an essential role. Since the organization often has technical solutions for new products or new aesthetic shapes, due to the carried-out work nature, the organization should ask whether these ideas are really new if they have not already been protected or these ideas are already being used by someone who has secured their protection. Another argument implies the need to protect the mark by international or community registration, given that the services of the organization are broadcast or marketed on foreign markets. Consideration should be given to the possibility of obtaining patent protection or a utility model of the results of technical design concepts for the new products that the organization produces or is about to carry out. Consideration should be given to the possibility of design protection at least at the national level, the aesthetic aspect of the products made, especially the original design of these products. Confidentiality on the made innovations must be ensured and should be set up some methods to provide evidence of the legal action until a decision on the property protection titles is made. Given that the organization has the potential to develop a management strategy that takes into consideration the industrial property component with all the protection forms as well as the valorization of these protection forms through the eventual transmission of property rights in whole or in part through licenses, it is proposed to implement an intellectual property policy. REFERENCES [1] Andone D., Muntean, N., “Managementul activităților terțiare”, Timișoara, Editura Politehnica, 2011. [2] Basu, S. & Waymire, G., “Has the importance of intangibles really grown? And if so, why?”, Accounting and Business Research, 38 (3), 171-190, 2008. [3] Bratianu, C., “Knowledge Management. Fundamental Concepts”, Universitary Editure, Edition I, ISBN 978-606-28-0199-1, 2015. [4] Bratianu, C., “Strategic Thinking”, Pro Universitaria Editure, ISBN: 9786062603991, 2015. [5] Durst, S. & Gueldenberg, S., “The meaning of intangible assets: new insights into external company succession in SMEs”, Electronic Journal of Knowledge Management, 7 (4), 437-446, 2012. [6] Han, D. & Han, I., “Prioritization and selection of intellectual capital measurement indicators using analytic hierarchy process for the mobile telecommunications industry”, Expert Systems with Applications, 26 (4), 519-527, 2004. [7] Oprean, C. & Țițu, M., “Cercetarea experimentală și prelucrarea datelor. Partea a II-a”, Editura Universității Lucian Blaga din Sibiu, Sibiu, România, 2007. [8] Oprean, C., Țîțu, M. & Bucur, V., “Managementul global al organizației bazată pe cunoștințe”, Bucharest, Romania: AGIR, 2011. [9] Slătineanu, L., “Proprietatea industrială”, Iași, Romania: PERFORMANTICA, 2015. [10] Ștrenc, A. P., “Valorificarea rezultatelor cercetării din universități: proprietatea intelectuală și planul de afaceri”. Sibiu: Editura Universității Lucian Blaga din Sibiu, 2011. [11] Țîțu, M.A. et. al., “Quality Management of Intangible Assets in the Context of the Knowledge-Based Economy”, Proceedings of the 9th International Management Conference "Management and Innovation For Competitive Advantage", November 5th-6th, Bucharest, Romania, 2015. [12] Weltz, A.G., Fichtinger, M., & Kerschbaum, F., „Analiza de Status Quo pentru valorificarea proprietății intelectuale în zona Europei de Sud Est și în context Global“, Viena: Institutul “Economica” de Cercetare Economică, 2013. [13] ***Oficiul Român pentru Drepturile de Autor. Oficiul Român pentru Drepturi de Autor. Retrieved from site-ul Oficiului Român pentru Drepturile de Autor: https://www.orda.ro, 2017, Aprilie 01