From a desorptive capacity perspective, these three archetypes are characterized by different levels of desorptive capacity. The highest level of desorptive capacity can be found at those firms adopting the leveraging mode. Based on their long-term strategy to generate strategic and financial benefits, they have organized their daily business accordingly and all functions are focused on the externalization of the patented technologies. In contrast, the firms in the hybrid archetype consider external patent exploitation as a complement to their product commercialization. While they, equivalent to the leverage archetype, actively initiate external exploitation, the external patent exploitation function is not the focus but a separated part of their business. Firms using external patent exploitation on an ad hoc basis have the lowest level of desorptive capacity. Focus of their business is clearly the product commercialization and revenues through external patent exploitation rather a side effect. This finding is also in line with discussions on the role of earlier experience for building dynamic capabilities.