![]() More than 90% had one program or the other, and 25% had both. One out of four respondents expressed negative or neutral feelings about the success of the incentive-type programs. The remaining 75% reported results that ranged from moderate to “unusually. Besides, inventions often are the result of orderly procedure rather than of blinding insight. A senior executive familiar with employee performance administered the incentive program on an informal basis. Many other companies offered cash bonuses for. ![]() ![]() Invention Agreements – Patent Incentives - Intellectual Property. Check to state you have read andagree to our Terms and Conditions Terms & Conditions and Privacy Statement. Mondaq. com (the Website) is owned and managed by Mondaq Ltd and as a user you. Website under its. Designing a Patent-Incentive Program? More Login Designing a Patent-Incentive Program? Archived Discussion Load All Comments Full. So, the program is there to create an incentive for those The. A computerized incentive program having plateau pricing and a personalized bank-account system, and permitting remote award redemption is disclosed. In one embodiment of the invention, a computerized incentive-program system includes a pricing component, which converts a price of each of a plurality. Program Benchmark Report provides valuable insights regarding increasing inventor participation, improving cooperation and generating quality invention ideas and disclosures. Declaration of National Policy and Program. Widely in their incentive practices, ranging from small tokens of appreciation (e.g., dinner for two for each qualifying invention) to more substantial monetary awards at various stages of the patent application and issuance process. In addition, many companies make. If you need an actionable intellectual property (IP) strategy that maximizes financial results, ipCapital Group can help. IP Incentive Program Are your employees motivated to generate the inventions you need? 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If for some reason you believe Mondaq Ltd. Patent WO1. 99. 80. A1 - System and method for administration of an incentive award program through .. SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADMINISTRATION OF AN INCENTIVE AWARD PROGRAM THROUGH USE OF CREDITTECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention generally relates to the field of computer programming and data processing systems for incentive award programs and, more particularly, to a system and method for administration of an incentive award program through the use of credit. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONHeretofore incentive companies have contracted with a sponsoring company for providing an incentive program to promote the sales of the sponsoring company's products or services, or to improve the performance of the sponsoring companies' personnel. The products or services promoted might have been of a specific nature, such as a certain model product, or have been broader, such as a full product line of the sponsor. The usual Participants in such incentive programs comprise the sponsor's employees, the sponsor's customers and their employees, and/or independent contractors for the company's products or services or the end consumer who ultimately purchases the company's products or services. Rules are established in order for the Participants to earn awards under the programs. These rules vary depending upon what the sponsor hopes to achieve. Typically, with such programs, a certain objective or goal is established for each Participant. These goals or objectives can vary. The Participant's goal may be based on a certain percentage increase over that Participant's performance during the previous year, for example. Or the goal may be simply to buy or sell as many units of a certain product as possible, regardless of the previous year's or previous time period's performance . Usually a certain number of points are awarded to the Participant under the rules for the Participant's purchasing or selling a designated dollar volume or quantity of products or services. If the Participant accumulates a predesignated number of points during a certain time period, then the Participant is enabled to acquire an award. In many cases, the value of the award or awards increases with the number of points accumulated. In the past, such awards have included converting the points earned to a dollar amount according to a formula. The dollars are then used to purchase merchandise shown in the incentive company's catalog, or to earn a paid trip for the Participant and perhaps a certain number of family members to a vacation spot such as Hawaii or Florida. In some cases, the points are converted to a direct cash payment to the Participant at either the culmination of the period or the program. Such incentive programs have utilized computer programming and data processing to report to the. Participants the number of points that have been achieved at certain periods during the program, and to advise how many more points the Participant needs to qualify for certain merchandise purchases or for the vacation goal. The incentive programs heretofore known have had a number of drawbacks. There are two kinds of incentive marketing programs that utilize an award of merchandise. In some instances, an incentive company will employ a combination of both kinds in the distribution of merchandise. With one kind, the incentive company has its. The incentive company buys the merchandise from manu acturers or distributors, and stocks its warehouses with the merchandise. The incentive company has catalogs prepared which show the merchandise stocked by the incentive company. If a Participant qualifies for an award of merchandise, the Participant is limited to the merchandise shown in the catalog. The items of merchandise which can be ordered through the catalog depend on the amount of points achieved by the Participant. Hence a Participant who has earned more points under the incentive program can order more expensive merchandise, or more items of merchandise, than one having a lesser accumulation of incentive points, within certain limits. This warehousing has the disadvantage of tying up the incentive company's money in the inventory stockpile. This money is not drawing interest and is not being used while the inventory sits in the warehouse. Incentive companies can overestimate the amount of total achievement of the Participants under the various incentive programs it is providing, in which case the amount of merchandise to be ordered is less than expected, resulting in an overstocking of merchandise. This exacerbates the inventory drain since the merchandise sits in the warehouse for even a longer time. In fact, because of such a long duration of being stockpiled, some of the merchandise may have to be sold on the general market in order to become rid of it. If on the other hand the incentive company underestimates the total performance of Participants in its incentive programs, then it may be understocked in the items of merchandise requested. This delays shipment and delivery of the requested merchandise, causing the Participant aggravation and dissatisfaction with the sponsor and the incentive company. Moreover, since these later purchases. Another problem with such warehousing is that in order to counter problems of excessive inventory and to continually have merchandise readily available, the incentive companies tend to stock many of the same items year after year. The Participants become bored with having the same old merchandise choices, or a selection with little variety. Accordingly, Participants have little motivation to achieve an award in which they have little interest. Additionally, after the Participants acquire a certain number of the merchandise items through prior programs, they have no use for more of the same when the merchandise is again offered later. With such a warehousing system, the incentive company is motivated to buy merchandise in bulk in order to get better cost breaks. Furthermore, in order to better move any one item of merchandise inventory better and to keep track of inventory more easily, the incentive companies are encouraged to limit the number of items available. This also leads to stocking the same old merchandise over long time periods, which results in the Participants having the same boring choices over the years and becoming jaded after a certain degree of exposure to the incentive programs. Other disadvantages are that the incentive company has to properly maintain warehouse conditions, such as temperature and humidity, to preserve the merchandise, as well as take precautions to prevent theft or fire. Accommodations to receive the goods, stack or arrange them, as well as record their location, their entry and departure, are also needed. Some incentive companies have also found it desirable to maintain a number of warehouses throughout the country for better distribution. These include merchandise being damaged in transit, not only causing frustration to the Participant, but necessitating the incentive company spending time and effort to package and ship merchandise once again to the Participant. The system entails the administrative procedures and additional cost of insuring the merchandise not only during warehousing, but during its shipment. With the other kind of merchandise system, the incentive company does not have its own warehouses. Rather, it has contracts with suppliers or distributors of products to meet the obligations to Participants. With this type of system, there are the aforesaid problems of goods damaged during shipment leading to Participant aggravation. Moreover, because the supplier or distributor is spaced from the Participant by an additional layer of communication, there can be further delay in shipment and mistakes caused by miscommunications . Shipment delay can result if the supplier or the distributor is understocked with the requested merchandise. With the supplier or distributor shipping the goods, there is a greater likelihood of there being a mistake in the exact goods that are to be shipped. It is furthermore necessary for the incentive company to maintain the additional relationship with the suppliers in order to properly effect a satisfactory program, which in this respect is a disadvantage as compared to the warehousing system. With either the warehousing or the supplier merchandise system, the Participants frequently pay higher prices that the price of the same merchandise offered by a public retailer and especially by a discount store. This has the unsavory result of the Participants believing the dollar values assigned for the purchase points are inflated and illusory. One problem is that there is usually only one vacation spot to select from if the goal is met. In some cases, Participants in one geographical area, such as in the eastern half of the U. S., are awarded a trip to a spot in Florida, for example, while those in the western half of the U. S. However, each Participant is limited to choosing only one vacation spot. If the Participants have been to the same area previously, in many instances they have little or no interest in returning once again. They additionally may have no interest in the vacation spot for whatever reason which may include family limitations, pure lack of interest, or medical problems. There are also the inconveniences of travel arrangements and the psychological stress associated with traveling from a familiar environment to an unfamiliar one. These shortcomings all militate against motivating the Participant to achieve. Finally, some incentive programs have awarded a flat payment of cash to the Participants for attaining a certain goal. This type of program has the disadvantage of the award not effectively bringing the sponsor's identity to the Participant's attention. Once the cash is paid, there is little to trigger the Participant's memory to recall the sponsor's identity.
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