Innovation ecosystem: a trigger for new product development? Exploring the acceptance of a sparkling red wine amongst Spanish small business actors

Abstract

This paper contributes to the understanding of the role of innovation ecosystems in the development of new products. A concept test was conducted amongst business actors in the specific context of the Spanish sparkling wine industry, which can be considered a business ecosystem. The contributions are threefold. First, we provide conceptual research linking many of the stakeholder issues involved in a co-innovation process with new product development. Second, we test the relevance of bringing together various small business actors from an ecosystem to jointly develop a breakthrough product. Third, we discuss the benefits of adopting a co-innovation process for the development of an industry and explain the need for an innovative organisational process for using market information.