Role Of Intellectual Property Rights For SMEs

Globalization has enhanced competitiveness in the international market and has deep influence on the way enterprises work. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are too becoming increasingly involved in the market basically as part of supply chains and also due to expansion and growth. But, they face the problem of responding to the new economic world order because they are not familiar with the best ways to manage their knowledge assets. They face different types of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) challenges and do need to evolve strategies suiting different conditions to exist in competitive market. In this context, it is important to re-look at the basic issues relating to need for protecting intellectual wealth, policy measures and steps taken for creating IPR culture in SMEs. The paper argues that the ability to create, access and use knowledge is the fundamental determinant of global competitiveness of enterprises and economies which highlights the importance of IPRs. The paper examines all these issues in the context of Indian Small and Medium Enterprises.