The development of co–innovation strategies: stages and interaction patterns in interfirm innovation

Abstract

Organizations that choose or are forced to innovate in co–operation with other organizations, go through four stages of co–innovation strategy development. The stages are successively: (I) autonomous strategy making: organizations develop strategies on their own, (II) co–operative strategy making: organizations concentrate on developing innovation strategies in close co–operation with other organizations, (III) founding an organization for co–innovation: organizations found a joint organization in which they develop co–innovation programs, and (IV) realization of innovations: organizations develop innovations, based on the co–innovation strategies and programs. The description of the stages is based on an interfirm network approach and a research project in the Dutch construction industry. The stage model can be a guideline for organizations that participate in co–innovation processes and have to decide how and with whom they co–innovate.