TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose The article offers an answer to the question, “When companies are caught between recessionary financial constraints and epic market discontinuity, what approaches actually deliver innovation efficiently and effectively?”Design/methodology/approach The article offers guidelines for enterprises seeking to implement a form of open innovation with external product development firms that offers the prospect of being more nimble than internally-managed R&D and less expensive, risky and complex than outright merger and acquisition activity.Findings Pick the right challenges to “outsource collaboratively” to external innovation partners. One rule of thumb: partner externally when the defined challenge is something your team cannot effectively tackle–for example, new spaces, channels, materials, processes or supply chain. Outsourcing to experienced innovators can reduce internal competition, accelerate organizational learning and counteract internal turf battles. 10;Practical implications Experienced innovators seek authorization to manage their initiative as a portfolio of projects: instead of isolated stabs at innovation, they create a diversified array of programs, with different risk/reward ratios and different foci.Originality/value The author has extensive experience working as a a corporate sponsor of open innovation projects and as a contract R&D innovation manager and his teams have had to deal with programs that meander and drift because corporate politics shift, decisions are opaque and strategic communication breaks down. The guidelines offered are designed to prevent such breakdowns.
VL  - 48
IS  - 5
SN  - 1087-8572
DO  - 10.1108/SL-07-2020-0092
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-07-2020-0092
AU  - Allio Michael K.
PY  - 2020
Y1  - 2020/01/01
TI  - Guidelines for open innovation success with external product development firms
T2  - Strategy & Leadership
PB  - Emerald Publishing Limited
SP  - 25
EP  - 32
Y2  - 2024/04/23
ER  -