Understand the status quo
The development of competitive enterprises is generally evaluated by market conditions, such as the market share of a product, or the annual output value. It is sometimes not so easy for domestic enterprises to obtain such business information.
But patent analysis provides such an unlimited condition. Because of the "open protection" and "regional protection" of patent documents, it means that competing enterprises will apply for patents in different countries, which means that that country will probably be its market.
Figure 2 Global application trend and layout of Kubota combine harvester
As can be seen from Figure 2, China is an important place for the patent layout of Kubota combine harvester, which in fact proves this point. The application volume of an enterprise alone cannot explain the problem. Let's use Figure 3 to verify it.
Figure 3 China combine harvester ranking (top ten)
As can be seen from Figure 3, except Kubota, the number of Japanese Ma Yang Co., Ltd. and Jingguan Agricultural Machinery Co., Ltd. ranked first in China is relatively large, while the number and types of applications from domestic applicants are relatively small.
What does this mean? The overseas key distribution market of Japanese agricultural machinery enterprises is in China. Tracking the patent layout of global competitive enterprises can directly reveal the industrial layout. Why not use such a good resource?
Understand technology
In the final analysis, the development of enterprises is closely related to technology and products, so please don't forget that the main contents recorded in patent documents are various technologies.