Abstract
Innovation outsourcing has become a widespread practice in R&D management. Five types of innovation partners are the most widely discussed: universities and R&D institutes, customers, suppliers, competitors, and high-technology start-up companies. Previous work has compared these innovation sources with respect to general strengths and weaknesses and main areas of use. The current paper uses 24 case studies from Siemens practice to characterize specific operational management challenges and success drivers in outsourcing innovations from these five sources. We identify five success drivers that are common to all innovation sources and should be ensured by management whenever possible. In addition, we find that each innovation source has several specific success drivers. Finally, the management challenges shift when a mature technology is sourced versus a novel, embryonic technology. Our results give managers guidance on how to adapt the operational management of an innovation outsourcing project to the source of the external knowledge and the technology maturity stage.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
