Open Innovation Perspective Research Articles

Public support for innovation: A systematic review of the literature and implications for open innovation

Although public support for innovation is one of the main contemporary topics in innovation management and even economic and industrial development, there are no recent studies that have consolidated and analyzed the publications on the topic, especially from the perspective of open innovation (OI). Therefore, the objective of this article is to contribute to the field by assessing what types of public practices for innovation comprise the term "public support for innovation'' and its relationship with OI. To achieve these objectives, we conducted a systematic review and qualitative analysis of 121 articles. Our results reveal that (i) the use of the term "public support for innovation'' is emerging in innovation management and innovation policies; (ii) there are differences in research approaches that focus on "innovation policy'' and "public support for innovation''; and (iii) the OI is used more than management theories to analyze public support for innovation. Furthermore, our results indicate that public support for innovation can be analyzed from four dimensions: (i) financial support for R&D activities; (ii) development through innovation; (iii) support for sectorial programs; and (iv) university–industry–government collaboration (triple helix).

Review of Available SW Solutions for Intellectual Property Management Systems from the Perspective of Open Innovation

This piece of research is focused on providing a review of the software solutions that exist when it comes to mechanisms that govern the management of intellectual property. It takes a deeper look at requirements within the university transfer office domain. Universities are a genuine source of knowledge. They have been identified not just as knowledge hubs but also as the spaces where innovations are born. These innovations then make their way into the market through the different industries they serve, becoming products that gain the attention of actual consumers. Given the magnitude of the innovations being developed in different universities around the world, it is imperative that mechanisms for the safety of this knowledge also be put into place. The world has evolved into a knowledge economy, where knowledge is an asset and something that can create profitability. This means that not protecting the knowledge that is being created can only lead to a loss in the future. Managing intellectual property, therefore, is not only a matter of procedure but one of great importance. Solutions that are easily accessible, cost-effective, and time-effective are essential. Thus, the goal of this article is to provide an overview of existing software (SW) solutions suitable for managing technology and knowledge transfer at universities based on requirements from the technology transfer office at university and specified using the model of the whole process from inventor until patent office. University Technology Transfer (TT) is a bit different in comparison to TT at companies. This gap is shown in the article using modelling of process, states, and class diagrams of a university Technology Transfer Office (TTO). Based on process definition and TTO responsibilities, a review of available SW solutions is done for 10 selected examples, as well as a related literature analysis. Findings and implications are summarized at the end of article in the context of specific needs of a university TTO, while major implications are shown as a problem of priority definition of every university TTO, namely, in the sense of value of SW solutions for intellectual property (IP) management, reporting possibilities, and representing IP and know-how.

Implementing open innovation through virtual brand communities: A case study analysis in the semiconductor industry

The paper focuses on virtual brand community (VBC) as new management tool for open innovation. Existing research on the intersection between brand communities and innovation management shows how the knowledge of the brand communities’ members and their engagement in product-related discussions represent a relevant source of innovation for the companies. However, how do companies implement open innovation through the VBC and how do they implement purposeful practices represent an unexplored research area. By adopting a value-oriented perspective of open innovation, this study interprets the VBC as a co-creation space where undertaking opportunity identification and resource mobilization for value creation and value capture. The paper presents a single case study of a multinational company operating in the semiconductor industry that has recently implemented a VBC as a tool for peer-to-peer support and knowledge sharing. Results show the features of this VBC and the set of practices designed to realize the open innovation strategies. By adopting an open innovation perspective, the article presents a model of VBC as a collaborative space for innovation. For practitioners, the article provides evidences and insights about the use of VBC to support the implementation of open innovation strategies.

Digital manufacturing challenges through open innovation perspective

Companies digitized with the fourth industrial revolution should create an ecosystem of innovation that provides opportunities for dialogue with all the parties involved. Technological developments and transformations should be reflected in innovation processes based on Open Innovation principles. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to analyse and to discuss the Industry 4.0 in Open Innovation perspective. The operational approach consists in identifying and in ranking the determinants that characterize the phenomenon for studying the interrelations between them, using AHP and ISM methods. As a result, Dynamic Capabilities and Know-how emerged as relevant drivers. Anyway, Industry 4.0 paradigm in Open innovation perspective is led by other factors, even though they are weak drivers. Enhancing the understanding of these factors and their interrelations provides valuable insights for each stakeholders and policy maker in the I4.0 environment, thus facilitating this paradigm in Open Innovation perspective.

Section 1.b Introduction

Open innovation has been described as a means of assisting firms utilising ideas and knowledge from inside and outside the firm. It has been defined as “a distributed innovation process based on purposively managed knowledge flows across organisational boundaries, using pecuniary and non-pecuniary mechanisms in line with the organisations business model” (Chesbrough et al, 2014, p vi). Open innovation strategies may lead to better financial performance by reducing costs related to innovation, increasing commercialisation and financial gain.
 Understanding open innovation in some way explains how sharing knowledge with internal and external stakeholders can promote innovation. Understanding processes can reinforce the importance of engaging with customers early in concept development and design stages of new products and services. Also openness can promote co-creation between firms, customers, suppliers, academia and government. The essence of such cooperation by internal and external stakeholders creates relationships to explore common interests and goals.
 From an open innovation perspective, value creation and capture is accomplished by (i) outside-in open innovation, i.e. ideas drawn into the organisation from the external environment. This involves opening up organisation’s innovation processes to external inputs and contributions, (ii) Inside-out open innovation utilises unused or underused ideas and assets gathered from outside the organisation and (iii) Coupled open innovation links outside-in and inside-out open innovation processes combining knowledge inflows and outflows to collaboratively develop and commercialise an innovation.
 Traditionally, knowledge is considered as being held by the firm as core competences and it is assumed that this is a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Accordingly knowledge used in, and resulting from, innovation and the knowledge resulting from the innovation remains within boundaries of the firm. Open innovation opposes this view as it integrates diverse knowledge from the wider environment into the business ecosystem and creates new knowledge for multiple stakeholders.
 Due to the inter-disciplinary nature of open innovation it can be discussed and theorised from many viewpoints, such as strategy, value chain, business models, core competencies, knowledge creation and more recently in design management. Levels of analysis vary with considerable research frequently conducted at organisational level, while more is needed in areas such as inter-organisational value networks. To date, large organisation have been at the focus of open innovation research, primarily because they are able implement open innovation to some degree without strategic change. More recently, open innovation practices in SMEs have become important, as these small firms have insufficient resources to cover all innovation activities and must look beyond firm boundaries for growth opportunities. Thus, inter-organisational networks are important drivers of innovation in SMEs as they often struggle to make the best use of strong network ties. Exploring open innovation in SMEs can provide insight into how best to utilise their networks.

Smart City 4.0 from the Perspective of Open Innovation

The purpose of a Smart City is to solve its inherent problems while simultaneously reducing its expenditure and improving its quality of life. Through the 4th Industrial Revolution technology, the advantages of Smart City are estimated to overcome the city’s expenses with city platformization. While a city traditionally is the subject of creation and not consumption, a Smart City currently is the key industry in generating more than 60% of its GDP in value creation from a production viewpoint. Moreover, with the expansion of online-offline convergence, cities can grow without limitation on its size, where connectivity and innovation determine the inclination of the city’s benefit-cost curve. As a city platform is responsible for connectivity, its value drastically increases through the 4th Industrial Revolution’s O2O (online to offline convergence) platform. When a city reflects on its own as a Digital Twin in the Cloud and when complete information becomes accessible through citizen’s participation through smartphones (Edge), Self-organization takes place, an ideal linkage between the city and citizens. Cities go through the self-organizing process of complex adaptive systems like the human brain. This research proposes a future model of a “Self-organizing City,” and suggests implementing the Smart City model based on the Smart City Tech-Socio Model in implementing strategies.

Can user innovation grow a firm? The case of the Korean smart media industry

With the rapid development of information and communications technology (ICT), smart society has arrived. The emergence of smart media has changed the user’s role. Broader communication coverage, faster Internet speeds, and an expanding application market promote user participation. Therefore, the role of users in innovation has become more important than ever. In this rapidly changing environment, it has become important for firms to consider the role of users when developing innovation strategies. It is hard for a firm to maintain all abilities and resources amid this sudden change; therefore, firms have to develop their strategy considering the user’s role. For that reason, firms need to network with universities, researchers, firms, and users from the open innovation perspective. This study divides firm strategy into exploitation and exploration strategies in the value chain and identifies the effects of utilization strategy, exploration strategy, and the role of users in the smart media industry on firm performance.

Productivity and Economic Analysis of a New Intensive Collector in the Portuguese Market with Implication of Open Innovation Perspective

Bee venom is a sub-product of the beekeeping activity, and has a wide field of applications in several pivotal markets. Nevertheless, its collection is not an activity disseminated among Portuguese beekeepers, as its production is marginal. There are limited empirical studies on the production and the technical aspects involved in this type of activity. Our study, therefore, contributes to narrowing this knowledge gap, by analyzing and comparing the productivity and profitability of two bee venom collection techniques. The first involves equipment available on the market, and the second involves a new device developed from the aim of the present work. Concerning market knowledge, a questionnaire was given to a sample of beekeepers, to understand and characterize the market’s needs and the level of information about bee venom. Because of the growing market interest in this product, a new collector is proposed, based on a set of intensive frame collectors strategically placed inside the beehives. The improvements obtained were increased production, either in terms of quantity or quality, obtaining a positive profitability. To evaluate the productivity of the proposed equipment, a comparison was performed, in an apiary, between existing state-of-the-art equipment and the proposed intensive collector. In a second stage, the profitability of the new proposed equipment was analyzed, using a comparative method between incomes and costs associated with both solutions. The results obtained showed that the new intensive collector enables a profitable collection of bee venom in Portugal, despite its higher initial investment.

Does age matter? The impact of SMEs age on the relationship between knowledge sourcing strategy and internationalization

The use of external knowledge has received substantial attention in the literature of innovation management and open innovation as well. However, despite the interest in understanding the impact of knowledge sourcing strategy on financial and innovative performance, there is still a lack of studies assessing the impact of openness on internationalization. Drawing on the inbound open innovation perspective, we theorize that searching widely and deeply is related to internationalization performance and that firm age contributes to enhance this relationship. Based on data gathered from 135 SMEs, we found support for the positive relationship between knowledge sourcing strategy and internationalization, but not for the moderating role of firm age. These findings offer several implications to managers and scholars alike.

Research on Industrial Policy from the Perspective of Demand-Side Open Innovation—A Case Study of Shenzhen New Energy Vehicle Industry

Nowadays, new energy vehicles play an important role in the transformation and upgrade of China’s energy security, energy conservation and other industries. At present, there are 26 pilot cities for the demonstration of new energy vehicles in China; however, the operation effect and experience of the pilot cities have been summarized less. This paper takes Shenzhen’s new energy vehicle industry policy as the object of research, in order to explore the impact of demand innovation on the development of new energy vehicles. This paper summarizes the three stages of Shenzhen’s new energy vehicle industry promotion, and further analyzes the policy and market environments of each stage by using the demand-side innovation policy theory. By reflecting on the concept of policy design, this paper proposes that decision makers need to cultivate open innovative thinking, and transform their production-oriented policy design into a demand-oriented policy design. This conclusion is helpful for pilot cities in order to adjust their policies over time according to the different stages of industrial development, and further improve the innovation and competitiveness of China’s new energy vehicle industry.

From Design Thinking to Art Thinking with an Open Innovation Perspective—A Case Study of How Art Thinking Rescued a Cultural Institution in Dublin

This article uses a contemporary and revelatory case study to explore the relationship between three conversations in the innovation literature: Design Thinking, creativity in strategy, and the emerging area of Art Thinking. Businesses are increasingly operating in a VUCA environment where they need to design better experiences for their customers and better outcomes for their firm and the Arts are no exception. Innovation, or more correctly, growth through innovation, is a top priority for business and although there is no single, unifying blueprint for success at innovation, Design Thinking is the process that is receiving most attention and getting most traction. We review the literature on Design Thinking, showing how it teaches businesses to think with the creativity and intuition of a designer to show a deep understanding of, and have empathy with, the user. However, Design Thinking has limitations. By placing the consumer at the very heart of the innovation process, Design Thinking can often lead to more incremental, rather than radical, ideas. Now there is a new perspective emerging, Art Thinking, in which the objective is not to design a journey from the current scenario, A, to an improved position, A+. Art Thinking requires the creation of an optimal position B, and spends more time in the open-ended problem space, staking out possibilities and looking for uncontested space. This paper offers a single case study of a national arts organisation in Dublin facing an existential crisis, which used an Art Thinking approach successfully to give a much-needed shot in the arm to its commercial innovation activities.

Fuzzy AHP, DEA, and Managerial Analysis for Supplier Selection and Development; From the Perspective of Open Innovation

Supplier management is critical for supply chain management (SCM). The aim of supplier selection is to find an order of preference among potential suppliers. However, the ranking results for supplier selection may not be important, particularly when the performances are conflicting or have minor differences. Different criteria may have different impacts on the ranking results, and different decision makers may place different priorities on multiple criteria. Relatively worse suppliers may still have to be used for many practical reasons. One alternative is supplier development, but it has been focused on categorizing individual suppliers for possible action plans. A new framework is proposed in this research to address supplier selection and supplier development at the same time in the publishing and printing industries. First, the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP) and data envelopment analysis (DEA) are sequentially performed to rank and select the best supplier(s) of a publishing company. In addition to ranking suppliers, a managerial analysis is proposed to assess the impact of important criteria on supplier selection in more detail. Finally, the results of the DEA are provided for direct supplier development without supplier categorization. This research shows that the proposed framework effectively addresses supplier development as well as supplier selection in the publishing and printing industries.

Sustainable Production Scheduling in Open Innovation Perspective under the Fourth Industrial Revolution

This research addresses a specific issue in the field of operation scheduling. Even though there are lots of researches on the field of planning and scheduling, a specific scheduling problem is introduced here. We focus on the operation scheduling requirements that the Fourth Industrial Revolution has brought currently. From the point of view of open innovation, operation scheduling is known as the one that is using the Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, Big Data, and Mobile technology. To build proper operation systems under the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is very essential to devise effective and efficient scheduling methodology to improve product quality, customer delivery, manufacturing flexibility, cost saving, and market competence. A scheduling problem on designated parallel equipments, where some equipments are grouped according to the recipe of lots, is considered. This implies that a lot associated with a specific recipe is preferred to be processed on an equipment among predetermined (designated) ones regardless of parallel ones. A setup operation occurs between different recipes of lots. In order to minimize completion time of the last lot, a scheduling algorithm is proposed. We conducted a simulation study with randomly generated problems, and the proposed algorithm has shown desirable and better performance that can be applied in real-time scheduling.

Editorial

Issue 61 of the Journal Cuadernos de Administración publishes 7 papers on the different topics of editorial interest, which national and international authors have considered disseminating in our publication, and which have been selected after a rigorous assessment process. The first paper, entitled “The use of social media to improve the commitment of stakeholders in the fashion and clothing sector: the Inditex case”, is the result of a research wherein, by means of a descriptive analysis, the different levels of participation in Facebook and the main characteristics that stimulate such participation in Inditex are studied.“Strategy and generation of value in Colombian service companies”, is the title of our second paper, the result of research aimed at identifying the relationship between strategy and value generation in service companies that have won the Colombian Management Quality Award by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism in the period 2013-2014. Innovation in Companies operating in the Foodstuffs Sector of Colombia. An analysis from the perspective of open innovation”, is the third paper and the result of a qualitative study that investigates the characteristics of the actors and their relationships in four areas of the foodstuffs sector in Colombia (the meat, dairy, milling and confectionery sectors).“Environmental entrepreneurship and public policy. Case: Entrepreneurship for Life Program”, is the title of the fourth paper in this issue, in which the authors, using the methodology of the Synergy System, applied by the Colombian Government to evaluate public policies, evaluate the “Entrepreneurship for Life” program.The fifth paper “Formal and informal institutions in relation to the entrepreneurial phenomenon in the Americas”, presents the results of a study that analyses the impact of formal and informal institutions on the change of the entrepreneurial activity rate (TEA) in 9 countries in the Americas, using data from GEM studies between 2005 and 2015.“Global communication models and their importance to public administrations - the case of the Secretariat of Information and Communication Technologies in Cundinamarca” is the title of the sixth paper published herein, and is the result of a study on the state of communications in the process of collecting requirements between the Secretariat of Information and Communication Technologies, the Government of Cundinamarca and the municipalities of the department through surveys and interviews with stakeholders and comparative analysis based on the current technical quality standards and variables of the global communication model. At the end of this issue, a review article entitled “Do social media create long-term brand experiences?” is published, in which the authors present a series of questions on the problem of the relationship between social networks and brand experience within marketing strategies. The article defines several lines wherefrom to outline future research.From the editorial team, we thank all the authors of this issue of the Journal Cuadernos de Administración for their contributions and our readers. We hope that all the changes that are being made as a journal will enable greater diffusion of published knowledge, where its content is the exclusive responsibility of each author and does not compromise the Faculty of Administrative Sciences of the Universidad del Valle, as the publishing entity.

The Timing of Openness in a Radical Innovation Project, a Temporal and Loose Coupling Perspective

We extend the Profit from Innovation (PFI) framework (Teece, 1986) by combining it with open innovation insights: we explore when and how managers make the transition between closed and open innovation, and how they use appropriation (formal and informal defense mechanisms) and project strategies to capture the value generated from the innovation at the project level. Based on a radical innovation project at Jaguar (UK), we contribute to a process and temporal perspective of open innovation by shedding light on two core project processes and their enabling mechanisms which influenced the ability of Jaguar to maximize profits from the innovation. The first core project process was the choice of timing of the shift from a closed to an open model of innovation: it was enabled by a pro-active change in the formal defense strategy (i.e. submission of a patent), and by an internal loose coupling project strategy that involved autonomy of the project champion and internal engineers’ weak membership in the project. The second core process was an external loose coupling project strategy that was enabled by the deployment of two complementary informal appropriation mechanisms namely, the reduction of the scope of tasks allocated to external partners combined with the development of guarded relationships with them.

The timing of openness in a radical innovation project, a temporal and loose coupling perspective

We extend the Profit from Innovation (PFI) framework (Teece, 1986) by combining it with open innovation insights: we explore when and how managers make the transition between closed and open innovation, and how they use appropriation (formal and informal defense mechanisms) and project strategies to capture the value generated from the innovation at the project level. Based on a radical innovation project at Jaguar (UK), we contribute to a process and temporal perspective of open innovation by shedding light on two core project processes and their enabling mechanisms which influenced the ability of Jaguar to maximize profits from the innovation. The first core project process was the choice of timing of the shift from a closed to an open model of innovation: it was enabled by a pro-active change in the formal defense strategy (i.e. submission of a patent), and by an internal loose coupling project strategy that involved autonomy of the project champion and internal engineers’ weak membership in the project. The second core process was an external loose coupling project strategy that was enabled by the deployment of two complementary informal appropriation mechanisms namely, the reduction of the scope of tasks allocated to external partners combined with the development of guarded relationships with them.

Analysis of the Effects of the Home Energy Management System from an Open Innovation Perspective

The Home Energy Management System (HEMS) is a system for the efficient electric power consumption of each household. It can provide real-time electricity cost information according to electricity consumption, and households can immediately control their consumption of electricity. In this study, we analyzed the effects of the HEMS on the stability of demand for electric power. To do this, we analyzed the causal relationship between the amounts of electric power generation and consumption, from the system dynamics perspective. From the analysis, we found that in the current structure, the fluctuation of the quantity of demand became large due to the time delay in households recognizing the electric bill and adjusting their electric power consumption. However, when the HEMS was introduced, it could be seen that electric power demand remained stable since consumers could see their electricity bill in real-time and could manage their electricity consumption by themselves.

Who Contributes Knowledge? Embeddedness and Marginality in Online Communities

This paper applies a multiple embeddedness perspective to better understand individual knowledge contribution in online communities. The community of practice and open innovation perspectives sugge...

Efficiency Analysis of the Royalty System from the Perspective of Open Innovation

The purpose of this study is to suggest efficiency improvement using the analysis of the efficiency of the royalty system for government-funded research institutes (GRIs) belonging to the National Research Council of Science & Technology (NST). Twenty three GRIs’ royalty incomes and expenses (2013–2015) were analyzed using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. First, Research Model 1 was used to find out if the obligated expense category’s distribution ratio were efficient. Five Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (CCR) model organizations and 14 Banker, Charnes and Cooper (BCC) model organizations demonstrated 100% efficiency. With the exception of the obligated expense category, Research Model 2 was used. Seventeen CCR model organizations and 18 BCC model organizations demonstrated 100% efficiency. GRIs were divided into efficient and inefficient organizations using each model, and potential improvements and benchmarking decision-making units (DMUs) were found for inefficient organizations. Second, multiple regression analysis in Research Model 2 was used to analyze the cause of the efficiency to find factors that influenced the transfer of technology and license improvement. Third, there were efficiency differences among research organizations as a result of the efficiency analysis considering the research organization type with respect to the constant returns to scale (CRS) efficiency of Research Models 1 and 2. Thus, different policies should be applied to improve the efficiency. Finally, the possible improvements, future directions and limits of this study are discussed.

Innovation in Companies operating in the Foodstuffs Sector of Colombia. An analysis from the perspective of open innovation

his study explores the characteristics of open innovation within the foodstuffs industry in Colombia, contrasting the importance recognized by its actors of this way of generating innovations with the spontaneous and incipient nature of the process, in a sector of vital importance for the economy and a valuable growth potential in line with the new dynamics and trends of the globalized world with highly demanding consumers in terms of health, well-being and improvement of quality of life and in a highly competitive environment (Traill and Meulenberg, 2002; Costa and Jongen, 2006; Trienekens and Zuurbier, 2008; Schiefer and Deiters, 2016). As a paradigm, open innovation is determined by the complex interaction of actors whose synergy projects the innovation system onto a given region. This context makes it essential to identify the main actors involved in the process and their form of interaction. By developing the proposed qualitative analysis exercise, the characteristics of the actors and their relationships in four production lines of the foodstuffs sector in Colombia (the meat sector, the dairy sector, the milling sector and the confectionery sector) are investigated. These sub-sectors were selected according to their degree of participation in domestic production. Through in-depth interviews, some companies in the Colombian food sector fall under the initial stage of open innovation. Additionally, the results suggest that companies acknowledge the importance of developing strategies with external actors, oriented according to public policy guidelines on innovation in Colombia.