Use Of Open Innovation Research Articles

How Information Technology Overcomes Deficiencies for Innovation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Closed Innovation vs. Open Innovation

Innovation is vital for the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, SMEs face deficiencies that hinder their innovation output. This study examines how information technology (IT) helps SMEs address two salient deficiencies: technological deficiency (deficiency in internal technical knowledge and skills) and government support deficiency (deficiency in favorable government policies and incentives). Our findings suggest that SME managers can achieve greater innovation output by orienting their IT-enabled innovation efforts in an open or closed manner to address specific deficiencies. They can address technological deficiency by focusing their IT efforts on promoting innovation within the firm, that is, using IT to support closed innovation. In contrast, SMEs that face government support deficiency should give preference to IT Use for Open Innovation Activities to collaborate with external constituents such as customers and suppliers. Furthermore, because of the emergence of digital platforms (e.g., crowdsourcing), managers may be overly biased toward the use of open innovation. Our results suggest that both open and closed IT-enabled innovation have value. We exhort SME managers not to disregard either form of IT-enabled innovation but rather to tailor their approach to suit their organizational context based on specific deficiencies that their firm faces.

Open Innovation as a Strategy for Creating Value in Technology-based companies

Given the current scenario established by dynamic and competitive practices, organizations seek strategies that meet the market’s demand, create organizational value and allow the emergence of differentials before the competition. On one hand, innovation is considered a tool for achieving competitive advantage and has been sought through stimulation for creating ideas, the development of intellectual capital and efficient resources use. On the other hand, what is seen in some organizations is the absence of resources that allow financial, personal or technological growth. In this sense, the use of open innovation emerges as a proposal to create organizational value and allows companies to support each other, transferring knowledge, financial and even technological resources. This study aims to determine which factors stemming from open innovation can influence Technology-based Companies to create value. For such, a quantitative and descriptive survey was carried out, with a questionnaire applied to employees of Technologically Based Companies. The results pointed out that the knowledge networks and the organization innovation profile are necessary aspects for the definition of open innovation practices and open innovation factors such as the Partnership Establishment, product development through licensing and patents, spin in and spin-off, corporate venturing and chain value are able to influence value creation.

ВПЛИВ КОНЦЕПЦІЇ ВІДКРИТИХ ІННОВАЦІЙ НА ЗАКОНОДАВСТВО У СФЕРІ ІННОВАЦІЙНОЇ ДІЯЛЬНОСТІ ТА ІНТЕЛЕКТУАЛЬНОЇ ВЛАСНОСТІ УКРАЇНИ

The paper offers a comprehensive look at the dialectics of Open Innovation and legal problems of proper protection of intellectual property rights, since only theoretical and methodological aspects received fragmented attention in the research literature. The author examines in detail the content of the «Open Innovation 2.0» concept. Thus, the use of Open Innovation can take various forms, from internal and external licensing of intellectual property rights, spin-off and spin-out models, co-development, research joint ventures to crowdsourcing of Open Innovation, which is characteristic of the Open Innovation process «outside-in». The main connection between these forms is that Open Innovation involves the exchange of objects of intellectual property rights between different subjects of innovation activity for the purpose of joint creation and commercialization of objects of intellectual property rights. The author came to the conclusion that it is necessary to distinguish Open Innovations from Open- source software, which is not associated with restrictions on further modification, but with the preservation of information about the original authorship and the changes made. The role of the concept of Open Innovation in promoting the development of the Patenting Institute, which determines, in particular, its function as a catalyst for technological cooperation under the terms of license agreements, is considered. The author identified the need for a thorough analysis of theoretical and practical problems regarding the prerequisites for the development of Open Innovation in Ukraine, the peculiarities of the implementation of the legal basis of the concept of Open Innovation in Ukrainian legislation in the field of innovation activity and Intellectual Property, mechanisms of co-creation of subjects of innovation activity with a vector for the integration of internal and external technological knowledge precisely from the standpoint of Intellectual Property Law.

Optimal degree of openness in open innovation: A perspective from knowledge acquisition & knowledge leakage

Open innovation has become an important mode for firms to improve innovation performance. If the openness is too low, it will reduce the opportunity to acquire external knowledge, while too open will increase the risk of internal knowledge leakage. Therefore, the degree of openness plays a key role in the use of open innovation to improve innovation performance. We use the openness breadth and openness depth to describe the openness of innovation. We conduct an agent-based simulation methodology to study the optimal degree of openness. Our findings show that there are great differences in the optimal degree of openness under different situations. Moreover, as the situation changes, the optimal degree of openness changes regularly. More specifically, the more a firm's knowledge network structure holes, the smaller the optimal openness breadth and the greater the optimal openness depth. The higher a firm's knowledge network centrality, the greater the optimal openness breadth and the smaller the optimal openness depth. The worse the institutional environment, the smaller the optimal openness breadth and openness depth. The fiercer the market competition, the greater the optimal openness breadth and the smaller the optimal openness depth.

How firms use inbound Open Innovation practices over time: evidence from an exploratory multiple case study analysis

Firms are increasingly making use of Open Innovation in an attempt to get the most out of external ideas and knowledge in their innovation processes. The existing research on Open Innovation documents a broad set of practices that firms may use to implement inbound Open Innovation, which entail various degrees of integration with the external partner. There is also empirical evidence showing how firms move from a closed to an open approach to innovation over time. However, there is limited empirical work that documents if and how firms that start using open innovation change and evolve the practices through which inbound open innovation is implemented over time. This paper, relying on an exploratory analysis of nine case studies, adopts a temporal perspective to examine how and why firms use different practices for inbound open innovation over time, with attempts at offering a tentative explanation of the underlying drivers triggering this evolution. This paper contributes to the scholarly debate on the organisational enablers of Open Innovation and provides managers involved in open innovation activities with insights into the factors that may determine changes in their use of different inbound open innovation practices over time.

Value capture in open innovation markets: the role of patent rights for innovation appropriation

PurposeThe role of patents for appropriating (capturing) value from innovation investments has for decades been of major interest to both practitioners and academics in innovation management. Many studies have implicitly assumed that firms appropriate value through in-house creation and marketing of innovative products and services, and that the main function of patents is to protect the exclusive sales in product and service markets. We challenge this assumption in light of the variety of business models, strategies and markets now being available, including different organizational and market forms of open innovation.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework and typology of open innovation markets is developed, and the role of patents for appropriation is investigated in these markets among 172 Swedish technology-based firms.FindingsThe results show that the importance of patents has a skewed distribution with some firms rating patents very important and with a fat tail of firms rating patents less important. Most importantly, the results indicate that patents are enabling exchange and technology trade in various types of open innovation markets rather than only supporting vertically integrated business models. Thus patents were found to help rather than hinder the use of open innovation markets.Originality/valueThe paper makes two main contributions. First a theoretical reinterpretation of open innovation with a conceptualization of open innovation markets for appropriation of innovation values. Second an empirical illustration of new roles of patents for appropriating innovation values in these markets. The paper in addition illustrates the use of a counterfactual approach to questionnaire surveys, as well as the complementarities between patents and other means of appropriation.

The use of open innovation in co-creating sustainable tourism strategy

The use of open innovation in co-creating sustainable tourism strategy

Open Innovation as a Value Chain for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Determinants of the Use of Open Innovation

The concept of open innovation is currently one of the key issues regarding the innovative development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (SMEs). It has been the subject of research both in the theoretical and empirical context. At present, there is no unambiguous definition conceptualizing the conceptual scope of open innovation (OI). However, enterprises do not always decide by themselves to be open to the environment. Therefore, determinants are important, as they encourage enterprises to greater openness, which can be treated as a key element of a value chain for SMEs, contributing to their innovative development. Classification of these determinants (also named as factors) is very poor in the literature. Generally, internal and external determinants are identified. Authors decide on the selection of these factors and their division by themselves. The research presented in this article has indicated the existence of several significant regularities. Firstly, larger entities are more likely to use the OI concept. Secondly, market determinants are the most important for the use of OI among SMEs. Thirdly, both internal and external determinants have a huge impact on the application of the OI concept, with external determinants being more significant for smaller rather than larger entities. The conclusions drawn were a consequence of the assumed aim of the article: The assessment of the influence of determinants that affect the use of the OI concept among SMEs in Poland.

Conditions for open innovation in public organizations: evidence from Challenge.gov

Public organisations have long sought new ways to enhance organisational performance and employee morale, bring about organisational change, and foster innovations. While governments across the world have continually embarked upon administrative reform efforts, the efficacy and adoption of such reforms remains understudied. This study explores whether organisational and individual factors predict the adoption and use of open innovation in government. In particular, we use the case of Challenge.gov, a novel open innovation platform in the U.S. federal government that aimed to engage the creative potential of the public in solving problems, enhance citizen engagement and public participation. Data on federal agency use of the Challenge.gov platform was paired with existing data on employee attitudes and organisational attributes over a five-year period. Our results show that a range of managerial practices, including employee empowerment, and organisational characteristics predict the extent to which federal agencies use open innovation. We conclude with discussion of the implications for theory and practice.

An Open Innovation Project Typology of Exploration and Exploitation: Managerial Implications and Empirical Applications

Despite an increased use of open innovation (OI) in firms, it is still a question of how firms can work successfully with OI in a way that enables them to exploit their current capabilities and simultaneously explore fundamentally new competencies. Firms need to be able to practice different forms of OI activities—inbound, outbound, or coupled—while simultaneously reaping the value these forms create. How firms reap value from different OI activities however remains under-investigated and consequently, we know very little about how these activities co-exist in firms. Before engaging in how firms can embrace different forms of OI activities simultaneously, we argue that there is a need to reassess how OI research approaches the idea of exploiting current capabilities and simultaneously exploring fundamentally new competencies. Based on the original framework of exploitation and exploration, a typology is proposed, which takes its departure at the project level in firms. The project level is promising as OI research has shown that OI at the firm level typically is a consequence of various OI initiatives at the project level. The value of the proposed typology and its applicability for firms is demonstrated through the case of Lego. The conceptual study results in a project typology of four generic OI approaches: inbound-exploration project; inbound-exploitation project; outbound-exploration project; and outbound-exploitation project. When these approaches are integrated, the coupled processes appear. Practical implications are derived with an overview of how managers can cope with different forms of OI strategically.

LA INNOVACION ABIERTA EN LOS CENTROS TECNOLOGICOS: UNA EXPLORACION DEL FENÓMENO

This article empirically analyses open innovation (OI) in 37 Spanish research and technology organisations (RTOs) based on a survey carried out among their managers. The research shows the wide use of OI by the RTOs, in accordance with their role as intermediaries in innovation systems. In comparison with companies, RTOs show skills in the management of AI emphasising its use as a strategy for responding to the demands of companies, improving their technology and ensuring its sustainability, while the search for efficiency and the risks reduction in innovation are less relevant. Additionally, several key improvement areas for RTOs are identified (international collaboration, knowledge exploitation practices, OI management and IPR protection). Key Words: Open Innovation, research and technology organisations, organisational aperture, intellectual property, management

The dynamic capabilities framework implementation in innovation and creative ecosystems

The arising concern for the inter-industry collaborations was concretised through the continuous development of new collaborative structures as it is the case of business ecosystems emergence. The use of open innovation in existing ecosystems became an essential trigger for the emergence, defining and development of dynamic capabilities. Consequently, these capabilities were used as the most relevant resources in value networks evolution as they defined and created new ways for opportunities exploration and exploitation especially within existing ecosystems. From this point of view the current research seeks to identify and define what are dynamic capabilities, to present the existing framework of capabilities analysis and to understand how it is used in practice within existing ecosystems. Also, this research seeks to uncover how collaborative efforts and the use of innovative technologies influence organisational growth.

How Incumbents Manage Waves of Disruptive Innovations: An Exploratory Analysis of the Global Music Industry

Innovation scholars have paid special attention on the managerial approaches that incumbents should adopt to promptly respond to the emergence of disruptive innovations. These approaches include, among the others, the use of open innovation or the establishment of ambidextrous organizations. However, this body of research has not analyzed how incumbents use these approaches over time, although they are very often confronted with waves of disruptive innovations that cyclically take place along the lifecycle of an industry. This paper looks into this issue through a historical analysis of the global music industry. For each of the three waves of disruptive innovations that have hit this industry over the last 15 years (i.e. digital music distribution, permanent digital download and music streaming), we analyze the reactions of incumbents in terms of managerial approaches they adopted to respond to the emergence of the disruptive innovation. Therefore, we develop a model suggesting how incumbents evolve over time their responses to cycles of disruptive technological changes.

Complexity as an Antecedent for External Collaboration in New Product Development Projects

This study examines how project complexity in low technology-intensive small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) contribute in implementation of open innovation practices, during their new product development projects. The main focus of this paper is to investigate the critical role of complexity in the project level to identifying the compatibility of those external sources involved in NPD. The low technology-intensive sector in Spain were chosen as a target context, there were many innovative SMEs operating in these industries and because these sectors were going through significant changes. Four external knowledge sources, Universities, suppliers, customers and competitors and four open innovation practices, Community, Platform, Partnership and seller-buyer agreement, in the new product development were identified. The study shows that in SMEs, project complexity plays an important role in selecting the external source and implementation of open innovation practices. The main conclusion of the study is that the external collaboration in new product development projects is determined by different dimensions of project complexities and in projects with different type of complexity, the SMEs follow different external knowledge sources and open innovation practices. The study results imply that SMEs benefit from opening up their innovation process in the new product development projects. The firms in this study employed a blend of strategies that is more compatible with dimensions of project complexity. They collaborated actively with different external knowledge source and different modes of collaboration, when they have determination of different dimensions of project complexity. Also, the study extends understanding of the strategic use of open innovation in SMEs by demonstrating how SMEs balance the risk of project complexity built on new product development and the benefit of creating a wider capability base with partnerships.

Open innovation in creative industries. Part II: The case of Threadless

The digital world is playing a significant role today, as evidenced by recent research on digital marketing and virtual consumers. They have revealed the increasing involvement of consumers / stakeholders in all aspects of marketing processes, from product innovation to print and broadcast advertising. Consequently, switching from a traditional business model to a business model based on open innovation is a major step taken by many companies that have understood its importance for the ever development of their businesses, focusing on the 3C: co-creation, crowdsourcing, and community. Nowadays companies agree that for product/service development the communities, the crowds, the stakeholders represent the driving force, the main engine. In order to achieve an interactive development of the product / service companies delegate the main tasks to the crowd (people empowerment). Based in Chicago since 2000 when first opened, Threadless is an online community of artists and an e-commerce website that started as a T-shirt company but has managed to expand into a full lineup of apparel. The company is constantly searching to find new ways to offer creative minds different and more possibilities / opportunities to get their art seen, to succeed, and to achieve their ultimate goal: to make great together, to help art unknowns to become art totally-knowns. The purpose of this paper is to present the importance of the creativity as a source for open-innovation, according to the critical analysis presented in the first part of this research about open innovation in creative industries. This paper emphasizes the relevance of open innovation methods for company’s growth, establishing innovative organizational culture, idea generation from creative assignments, enhancement of creativity and free will. In order to emphasize the key features of open innovation in creative industries with the accent on design sector, there will be used a case study approach. Based on the analysis of Threadless platform the following will be illustrated: the use of open innovation in company’s interaction with the clients, open innovation process within design stage of product development, different actors implication in co-design, the relevance of their creativity, and designers’ future development from personal and business point of views.

Open innovation and firm performance: the role of organizational mechanisms

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the use of open innovation (OI) practices and firm performance, and the role of organizational mechanisms (OMs) (formalization and decentralization) as moderator variables.Design/methodology/approachThe authors build a theoretical framework to define a set of hypotheses that are then verified in an empirical study. These theoretical propositions are tested by using the data gathered from a survey addressed to 244 firms in Spanish low- and medium-technology industries.FindingsWith regard to inbound practices, the practices oriented to cooperate with partners in a R&D context have a positive influence. The results show that outbound practices, either by direct generation of revenues from licensing payments or, more indirectly, through the indirect marketing and technical benefits that can stem from revealing have a positive effect on firm performance. Coupled practices, which are related to participation in clusters and innovation networks, have the highest impact on firm performance. In the industrial context examined, decentralization exerts a positive effect which enhances the effect of outbound practices meanwhile formalization reduces their positive effect.Practical implicationsThis study helps practitioners in low- and medium-technology firms to determine which OI practices are most beneficial to firm performance and how formalization and decentralization can influence the relationship between OI and firm performance.Originality/valueThis study helps determine the influence of OI practices in terms of inbound, outbound and coupled types through an analysis of low- and medium-technology firms. The OI literature is enriched by the types herein of the role of OMs, which includes an analysis of how formalization and decentralization moderate the influence of OI practices on firm performance.

Open Innovation and Drug Discovery Ecosystem

The business model of pharmaceutical industry is changing in response to the environmental changes around pharmaceutical industry. In the past, pharmaceutical companies largely relied on in-house research. However, they are now actively looking for outside collaborators and use of open innovation has become a critical success factor in drug discovery. The objective of this session is to look into the current trend and discuss how to realize productive open innovation now and in the future.

Observing network characteristics in mass collaboration design projects

Mass collaboration efforts can increase innovation and design possibilities. Incorporation of open innovation into the product development process allows for a vast array of unique perspectives and ideas. However, with the broad expansion of design possibilities, coordination of these development processes is paramount. To best make use of open innovation in product development, increased organizational efforts must be considered. The mass collaboration of individuals must account for individual intellectual abilities (competencies), working experience and even personality traits or idiosyncrasies. Approaches to this problem require the fusion of social network analysis with quantifiable design impacts. This work proposes a simulation framework that evaluates the design potential of a project team based on individual attributes and the team network structure. The overall contribution of this work comes from the exploration of team structure, focusing on network composition metrics such as centrality and network density, while attempting to understand the role of individual ability and positioning on the success of the design process. This work aims to garner a more thorough understanding of how the network structure of design teams correlates with their potential performance through a generalized simulation framework, applicable to future crowd and design initiatives.

On the Impact of Digitalization on R&D

OVERVIEW:Digitalization and Its Implications for R&D Management is an IRI Research platform established to consider the likely impacts of three distinct sets of digitalization technologies—virtual experimentation and simulation, virtual collaboration, and big data—on R&D in the next five years. In October 2016, as a preliminary step in defining its work, platform participants conducted a workshop to gain broad input about the potential impacts of digitalization in the three focus areas. As a result of small-group brainstorming about how each area of digitalization could inform, enable, or disrupt a specific aspect of research and technology management, the research teams identified a number of possible effects of digitalization, including increased consumer and customer intimacy, greater speed to market, broader use of open innovation, leveling of the information playing field across companies, and the growth of true cradle-to-grave product lifecycle simulation.

Open and closed knowledge sourcing

PurposeMany studies have investigated the relationship between the adoption of open innovation and performance in large firms. However, limited research is available with regard to the use of open innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are important because of their contribution to innovation in almost all economies. The purpose of this paper is to extend the current literature by focusing on SMEs. Using complementarity and knowledge-based theories, this study develops three hypotheses to identify the effect of knowledge sourcing approaches for innovation on SMEs’ innovation performance.Design/methodology/approachSurveys collected from 196 SMEs in Korea were analyzed using the supermodularity function to test the hypotheses.FindingsResults indicate that an external knowledge-oriented approach has no significant effect, whereas an internal knowledge-oriented (i.e. closed) approach has a positive effect on innovation performance. Interestingly, this study found that open innovation has a negative effect on SMEs’ innovation performance (i.e. both internal knowledge-oriented and external knowledge-oriented approaches have a substitutive relationship).Originality/valueThis study sheds new light on open innovation and knowledge management research by identifying the relationship between knowledge sourcing approaches for innovation, and innovation performance in SMEs. Practical implications highlight that open innovation could impede SMEs’ innovation performance.