Implications of Open Innovation for Organizational Boundaries and the Governance of Contractual Relations

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 400-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann-Kristin Zobel ◽  
John Hagedoorn
Keyword(s):  
Open Innovation ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
Contractual Relations

Turning open innovation into practice: trends in European corporates

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Onetti
Keyword(s):  
Open Innovation ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Context ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Current Practices

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the current practices in “corporate-startup collaboration” and “Open Innovation” (OI) in Europe. OI has increasingly become mainstream. A growing number of European corporates are adopting OI approaches to innovate and benefit from a more agile business environment. As Henry Chesbrough – the father of OI – finds out, there is “no single best model for engagement”. It highly depends on the goals that companies want to achieve. Models and approaches of corporate-startup collaboration are continuously evolving. A study of the variety of their effective-implementations in a real business context is therefore beneficial. Design/methodology/approach For the purpose of this research, the authors analyzed the European corporates that are considered as “innovation leaders” according to “SEP Europe’s Corporate Startup Stars” annual ranking. According to experts’ evaluations, these companies represent the most advanced case studies in open innovation. The paper analyses the experience of 31 European large corporates implementing effective corporate-startup collaboration. The research approach is exploratory and descriptive. Findings By adopting a practitioner-oriented perspective, the authors contribute to shed new light on how European corporates adopt OI and internalize arising innovations across organizational boundaries. Six key areas of OI activities have been identified and compared based on required resources’ commitment. Nearly all of the corporates have implemented low-commitment strategies such as organizing one-off startup events and/or sharing free resources with startups. By contrast, only a limited number of corporates engaged actively through acquisitions (M&A), which requires the highest level of commitment. Startup procurement and investments seem to be the most effective approaches to startup-corporate collaboration, while corporate accelerators and innovation outposts are adopted by only nearly half of the companies considered. Research limitations/implications Although the research is not a comprehensive survey, it is useful to identify current and future trends of successful corporate-startup collaboration as well as best practices by European leading companies working at the forefront of OI. Practical implications This study provides evidence of the main trends in corporate-startup collaborations, both opening up their innovation processes for mutual benefits. The results have important implications both for corporates and policy makers since the study also highlights the main barriers that hinder successful corporate-startup collaborations. Although many of the analyzed corporates report to have introduced “startup-friendly procedures” – including shortening payments times, simplification of vendor registration and qualification process – the vast majority of companies still need to be educated about the opportunities and benefits arising from Open Innovation (OI). This is particularly true for mid-size companies and small and medium-sized companies that based on some preliminary evidences have not yet fully engaged in open innovation due to limited resources and lack of ability to understand the disruption threats posed by recent technology and market evolution. Originality/value To date, there is little evidence on current practices of “Open Innovation” and “corporate-startup collaboration” in Europe. Only recently, large European corporations have concretely started to engage with startups. This paper attempts to shed new light on this so-far under-explored issue.

scholarly journals Managing knowledge boundaries for open innovation – lessons from the automotive industry

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 230-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Wilhelm ◽  
Wilfred Dolfsma
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Automotive Industry ◽  
Open Innovation ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Flows ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Automotive Supply Chain

Purpose The rising need to innovate and obtain knowledge from more distant knowledge sources calls for new innovation strategies and a better integration of other external actors who lie outside the traditional automotive supply chain. Such an open innovation strategy challenges organizational boundaries both on the firm and supply chain level, yet our understanding of the functioning of such boundaries and how they can be managed to allow for purposive knowledge flows is limited. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach In a longitudinal case study, the authors trace the development of the first open innovation network in the German automotive industry over a period of five years based on archival data, semi-structured interviews, and field observations. Findings While the automotive industry is advanced in collaborating with suppliers for innovation, routines for assessing and integrating ideas from sources outside the supply chain are still underdeveloped. The authors show which current knowledge boundaries pose obstacles for open innovation initiatives in this industry, and how they could be mediated through the involvement of gatekeepers. Originality/value The authors challenge and clarify the notion of the “permeability of organizational boundaries” in the open innovation literature and investigate the role of gatekeepers for open innovation.

Small- and medium-scale Italian winemaking companies facing the open innovation challenge

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelo Presenza ◽  
Tindara Abbate ◽  
Marta Meleddu ◽  
Fabrizio Cesaroni
Keyword(s):  
Open Innovation ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Innovation Activity ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Knowledge Sources ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
External Knowledge ◽  
External Sources ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Innovation Challenge

This article examines the impact of open innovation (OI) practices on the innovation activity of low-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Different external knowledge sources are considered, and the ability of SMEs to acquire and integrate external knowledge into their organizational boundaries for innovation purposes is assessed. The research draws on a sample of 191 Italian winemakers. The results show that SMEs with higher propensity to access and use external knowledge sources show a greater ability to innovate and that their absorptive capacity impacts the use of external sources. Several implications for theory and practice are drawn, underlining a number of suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals Building Networks to Harness Innovation Synergies: Towards an Open Systems Approach to Sustainable Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajah Rasiah
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Open Innovation ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Innovation Process ◽  
Knowledge Flows ◽  
Innovation Networks ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
Critical Knowledge ◽  
Systems Model

Open innovation has become a popular approach, especially since 2003, as people began purposively managing, evolving and harnessing knowledge flows across organizational boundaries but through increasing connections with systemic knowledge nodes relevant to the innovation process. The creation and appropriation of such knowledge has evolved rapidly with digitalization and the proliferation of broadband networks. Individuals, firms and organizations now connect and coordinate to support innovations openly across innovation systems. This paper proposes an open systems model with institutional underpinnings to not only quicken knowledge flows and expand the networks to a wider range of socioeconomic agents, but also for their inclusive participation in shaping the processes of achieving sustainable development through environmental greening and egalitarian balancing of society. In doing so, using examples, the paper focuses on developments since Schumpeter’s ground-breaking exposition of innovation to explain how individuals, firms, farms and organizations can participate actively in open innovation networks to connect productively with the critical knowledge nodes in society.

Intermediary Services in the Markets for Technology: Organizational Antecedents and Performance Consequences

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1003-1035 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrich Lichtenthaler ◽  
Holger Ernst
Keyword(s):  
Open Innovation ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
Industrial Firms ◽  
Market Inefficiencies ◽  
Innovation Intermediaries ◽  
Performance Consequences ◽  
Organizational Antecedents ◽  
And Performance

The external commercialization of technology assets, e.g. by means of out-licensing, has recently gained in importance. Despite this increase in technology transactions, many industrial firms experience major managerial difficulties in outward technology transfer because of imperfections in the markets for technology. Drawing on a resource-based perspective, we therefore analyse whether firms can overcome market inefficiencies by relying on innovation intermediaries such as consulting companies and internet platforms. We test five hypotheses regarding organizational antecedents and performance consequences of intermediary services with data from 152 firms spanning multiple industries. The empirical findings show that industrial firms need to develop internal competencies of externally leveraging technology. External service providers are a complement rather than a substitute for internal activities. Accordingly, the role of technology intermediaries as general facilitators of interorganizational technology transactions has to be questioned. On this basis, the study has major implications for research into intermediaries, technology exploitation, licensing, open innovation and organizational boundaries.

scholarly journals Open Innovation in Times of Crisis: An Overview of the Healthcare Sector in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Zheng Liu ◽  
Yongjiang Shi ◽  
Bo Yang
Keyword(s):  
Open Innovation ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Technological Changes ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Design And Manufacturing ◽  
Emerging Themes ◽  
The Uk

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused huge and disruptive technological changes in the healthcare sector, transforming the way businesses and societies function. To respond to the global health crisis, there have been numerous innovation projects in the healthcare sector, including the fast design and manufacturing of personal protective equipment (PPE) and medical devices, and testing, treatment, and vaccine technologies. Many of these innovative activities happen beyond organizational boundaries with collaboration and open innovation. In this paper, we review the current literature on open innovation strategy during the pandemic and adopt the co-evolution view of business ecosystems to address the context of change. Based on a detailed exploration of the COVID-19-related technologies in the UK and global healthcare sectors, we identify the key emerging themes of open innovation in crisis. Further discussions are conducted in relation to each theme. Our results and analysis can help provide policy recommendations for the healthcare sector, businesses, and society to recover from the crisis.

Analysis of relations in the state sector of Russian public procurement

2018 ◽  
pp. 106-126
Author(s):  
O. V. Anchishkina
Keyword(s):  
Current Practice ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
The State ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Administrative System ◽  
State Sector ◽  
Contractual Relations ◽  
State Organizations ◽  
State Organization ◽  
Negative Factors

The paper deals with a special sector of public procurement — G2G, in which state organizations act as both customers and suppliers. The analysis shows the convergence between contractual and administrative relations and risks of transferring the negative factors, responsible for market failures, into the administrative system, as well as the changing nature of the state organization. Budget losses in the sector G2G are revealed and estimated. There are doubts, whether the current practice of substitution of market-based instruments for administrative requirements is able to maintain integrity of public procurement in the situation of growing strategic challenges. Measures are proposed for the adjustment and privatization of contractual relations.

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