Models of innovative activity in family business

Abstract

Background: A business can conduct innovative activities on its own in a so-called closed model or in cooperation with other external entities, i.e. in an open model. Research objectives: I aimed to identify models of innovative activity used by family businesses operating in the Polish market. Research design and methods: For research purposes, I developed brief descriptions of the individual innovation creation models, i.e.: the closed model; the outside-in open model; the inside-out open model; and the coupled open model. I investigated 121 randomly selected companies that were among the winners of the fourth edition of the Most Valuable Polish Family Companies Ranking and that introduced at least one innovation in the years 2019–2021. Results: The family businesses surveyed preferred to create innovations in a closed model (54.5%). The most common direction of opening the innovation process was outside-in. Conclusions: The conducted research on the Polish market confirms the thesis put forward by other researchers regarding the low propensity of family businesses to cooperate with external entities in the innovation process; hence, their preference for a closed model of innovation creation.