Abstract
While external knowledge has the potential to benefit a firm’s innovation activities, research shows that the positive effects of a more open model of innovation do not come naturally. This paper draws on the project level to explore the organizational factors that hamper or impede the integration of external knowledge sourced from an open innovation platform and to suggest interventions to overcome these barriers. While open innovation is mainly discussed as a concept that resides at the level of the organization, this paper draws on the project level to contribute to a multi-level understanding of open innovation and to offer a deeper understanding of the challenges project teams face, when integrating external knowledge. To investigate occurring barriers, four cases of external knowledge integration within a multinational corporation are analyzed. The results show that due to the external nature of the knowledge, an additional effort of project teams is required such as forming alliances with key individuals and changing negative attitudes towards external sources to overcome organizational resistance. Theoretical as well as practical implications are discussed.
Highlights
Staying innovative over time in complex and volatile environments is a major challenge for organizations in different industries alike
As firm internal project teams are usually responsible for transforming external ideas into products or services for commercialization (Kim et al 2015; Midler et al 2016), the project level becomes especially important in investigating the process of external knowledge absorption
As platforms are instrumental by their very nature it became apparent that the contribution of open innovation (OI) platforms is limited to the early phases of the integration process
Summary
Staying innovative over time in complex and volatile environments is a major challenge for organizations in different industries alike In their efforts to develop new products, services, or processes, firms have incorporated knowledge, ideas, or technologies from external sources for decades (Trott and Hartmann 2009). The number of reports about failure cases and firms that turn back their OI activities seems to grow in recent years (von Briel and Recker 2017; Hewitt-Dundas and Roper 2017). These findings indicate that a more open model of innovation does not per se lead to higher levels of innovation performance. As firm internal project teams are usually responsible for transforming external ideas into products or services for commercialization (Kim et al 2015; Midler et al 2016), the project level becomes especially important in investigating the process of external knowledge absorption
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