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1 – 10 of over 74000Effie Kesidou, Ram Narasimhan, Serdal Ozusaglam and Chee Yew Wong
Prior research on open innovation has not investigated changes in knowledge acquisition strategies of firms over time overlooking how learning from past knowledge acquisition can…
Abstract
Purpose
Prior research on open innovation has not investigated changes in knowledge acquisition strategies of firms over time overlooking how learning from past knowledge acquisition can change subsequent search strategies. Also, prior research has focused principally on product innovation overlooking process innovation. The purpose of the paper is to introduce the concept of dynamic openness, which is defined as temporal changes in external knowledge search strategy. We explore four dynamic openness strategies – closing down, opening up, persistent open and persistent closed – and examine the impact of these strategies on both product and process innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a panel dataset of 16,021 firms based on five waves (2009–2017) of the UK Community Innovation Survey (UKIS). All models are estimated using firm and year fixed effects (FE) method to control for endogeneity that arises from unobserved heterogeneity. Endogeneity and robustness tests were carried out to ensure the validity of results.
Findings
The results show that firms do use dynamic openness strategies over time leveraging learning from past searches. Specifically, the study indicates that closing down is not an effective strategy for either type of innovation. For process innovation, firms should pursue opening up strategy rather than persistent open strategy, whereas for product innovation firms could pursue either strategy, highlighting important contextual differences.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature on knowledge acquisition in open innovation: (1) by theorizing the underlying reasons – learning from past collaborations, absorptive capacity and external knowledge heterogeneity – why firms pursue one dynamic openness strategy over another and (2) by extending literature by delineating the dynamic openness strategies that firms should pursue in process innovation vs product innovation.
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Rodrigo Basco and Andrea Calabrò
The purpose of this paper is to investigate what types of open innovation search strategies are associated with internal innovation activities in family and non-family SMEs within…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate what types of open innovation search strategies are associated with internal innovation activities in family and non-family SMEs within natural resource-based clusters.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on an empirical analysis of a sample of 245 Chilean firms.
Findings
Results suggest that while family and non-family SMEs do not significantly differ in terms of internal innovation activities, important differences exist in terms of open innovation search strategies. In particular, family SMEs search for new ideas and knowledge within their closest network of relationships (e.g. customers, suppliers and competitors), whereas non-family SMEs mainly focus on broader network relationships (e.g. universities, public institutions and fair trade organizations).
Practical implications
This study shows that within a natural resource cluster, the types of firm do matter. In fact, family and non-family SMEs use different open innovation search strategies to innovate; hence, this research may help and assist policy makers in tailoring innovation policies aimed at expanding the potential benefits of clusters for regional growth and development.
Originality/value
This research addresses the call to further investigate the link between family SMEs and innovation in developing countries, given that SMEs may also act as a lively player for regional development.
Propósito
El objetivo de este artículo es investigar las estrategias de búsqueda de innovación abierta de las pequeñas y medianas empresas familiares y no familiares en un clúster basado en los recursos naturales.
Diseño/metodología/enfoque
Este estudio está basado en un análisis empírico con una muestra de 245 empresas Chilenas.
Recomendaciones
Los resultados muestran que no hay diferencias significativas en las actividades internas de innovación entre las pequeñas y medianas empresas familiares y no-familiares de la muestra. Sin embargo, se han encontrado diferencias en las estrategias de búsqueda de innovación abierta que utilizan de las empresas. Las empresas familiares buscan nuevas ideas y conocimiento para innovar entre sus contactos más cercanos (por ejemplo: clientes, proveedores y competidores). Las empresas no-familiares se enfocan en contactos más amplios (por ejemplo: tales como universidades, instituciones públicas y ferias internacionales).
Implicaciones prácticas
Este estudio muestra que distinguir entre empresas familiares y no familiares dentro de los clúster basados en los recursos naturales es importante. Las pequeñas y medianas empresas familiares y no familiares usan diferentes estrategias de búsqueda de innovación abierta. Por lo tanto, nuestros resultados pueden ayudar al diseño de políticas públicas de innovación diferenciando empresas familiares y no familiares con el objetivo de potenciar los beneficios de los clúster para el crecimiento y desarrollo regional.
Originalidad/valor
Este artículo intenta avanzar en la investigación relacionando innovación y pequeñas y medianas empresas familiares en países en desarrollo.
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Paavo Ritala, Kaisa Henttonen, Hanna Salojärvi, Liisa‐Maija Sainio and Sami Saarenketo
Firms need to reach out for external knowledge in order to keep up with the pace of the markets and to renew themselves. Although research on open innovation and open knowledge…
Abstract
Purpose
Firms need to reach out for external knowledge in order to keep up with the pace of the markets and to renew themselves. Although research on open innovation and open knowledge search strategies is continuously accumulating, there are as yet only few studies examining the antecedents of the decision to use various external knowledge sources for R&D and innovation. The purpose of this paper is to narrow this gap by examining the effects of firms' strategic orientations on the scope of their open knowledge search.
Design/methodology/approach
This study builds on a cross‐industrial survey of Finnish firms in exploring the effects of three types of strategic orientations (customer relationship orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and technology orientation) on the use of open knowledge search strategies.
Findings
The results show that the customer relationship orientation is associated with the tendency of a firm to use a market‐driven knowledge search strategy. The technology orientation, on the other hand, is associated with science and generic knowledge‐driven strategies, whereas the entrepreneurial orientation is associated with the utilization of all the search strategies identified in the study.
Practical implications
The value of various sources of external knowledge depends on the firm's strategic goals and the nature of the industry. Practising managers utilizing the results of this study should be better able to align their organizations in the desired direction in terms of open knowledge search.
Originality/value
The results provide new evidence on firm‐specific heterogeneity in the use of external knowledge sources.
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Chunhsien Wang, Min-Nan Chen and Ching-Hsing Chang
The purpose of this paper is to investigate alliance partner diversity (APD) as a driving force that potentially enhances firms’ innovation generation (IG) in interfirm open…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate alliance partner diversity (APD) as a driving force that potentially enhances firms’ innovation generation (IG) in interfirm open alliance contexts. The authors propose that APD enhances IG but that the effects depend on both alliance network position and the double-edged external knowledge search strategy. Building on the knowledge-based view and social capital theory, the authors formally model how external knowledge search strategies can lead to productive or destructive acquisitions of external knowledge in interfirm open alliance networks. The authors theorize that when an individual firm adopts a central position in a complex interfirm open alliance network, its propensity toward beneficial IG depends on its knowledge search strategy (i.e. its breadth and depth) due to the joint influence of network position and knowledge search strategy on innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an original large-scale survey of high-tech firms, this study shows that the relationship between partner diversity and IG is contingent on a firm’s network position and knowledge search strategy. The authors also offer an original analysis of how knowledge search strategy (i.e. its breadth and depth) in network centrality (NC) affects the efficacy of knowledge acquisition in interfirm open alliance networks. Empirically, the authors provide an original contribution to the open innovation literature by integrating social capital and knowledge-based theory to rigorously measure firm IG.
Findings
Overall, our findings suggest that the knowledge search strategy imparts a double-edged effect that may promote or interfere with external knowledge in IG in the context of the diversity of alliance partners.
Research limitations/implications
The work has important limitations, such as its analysis of a single industry in the empirical models. Therefore, further studies should consider multiple industries that may provide useful insights into innovation decisions.
Practical implications
External knowledge search is valuable, particularly in the high-tech industry, as external knowledge acquisition generates innovation output. This study serves to raise managers’ awareness of various approaches to external knowledge searches and highlights the importance of network position in knowledge acquisition from interfirm open alliance collaborations.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to investigate the double-edged effect of knowledge search on interfirm open alliance networks. It also contributes to the theoretical and practical literature on interfirm open alliance networks by reflecting on external knowledge search and underlying network centrality and APD factors.
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Alejandro Bello-Pintado and Carlos Bianchi
This paper aims to focus on the human side of inbound open innovation by analyzing the effects that the adoption of different knowledge search strategies for innovation has on new…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to focus on the human side of inbound open innovation by analyzing the effects that the adoption of different knowledge search strategies for innovation has on new recruitment needs.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on several theoretical perspectives, the study proposes three hypotheses regarding the relationship between openness and the need to recruit people with high technical and social skills. Using a pooled panel data from the Uruguayan Innovation Survey between 2004 and 2012, the authors identify open strategies followed by the firm.
Findings
The estimation results using pooled panel data confirm that the adoption of inbound open search strategies for innovation demands the recruitment of new employees with higher technical and social skills. Technical skills are more likely to be demanded than social skills. The effects observed are moderated by the intensity in the use of knowledge and information sources (KISs).
Originality/value
This paper revisits the analysis of specific knowledge search strategies at the firm level. In doing so, the study looks for the effects of specific strategies combining different knowledge sources and considers different levels of use of external KISs, from narrow to wide. While other studies have analyzed the human factor as a determinant of the success of openness for innovation, this paper re-examines the direction of this relationship. Finally, the study contributes to the evidence from a Latin American country, where these topics have received less attention.
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Yueqi Wang, Bin Guo and Yanjie Yin
The purpose of this study is to explore organizational factors that act as antecedents of open innovation search. The authors aim to empirically examine whether the extent to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore organizational factors that act as antecedents of open innovation search. The authors aim to empirically examine whether the extent to which the organizational slack is absorbed determines its influence on firms’ openness in innovation search. In addition, the authors also examine the moderating effect of absorptive capacity on the relationship between slack and open innovation search.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted secondary data from multiple sources (NBER, Compustat and US census) and then constructed a ten-year balanced panel dataset of 298 manufacturers. The generalized least square method was used to explore the determinants of open innovation search among manufacturing firms.
Findings
The results of this study reveal that the absorption level of organizational slack indeed determines the openness in innovation search. Specifically, absorbed slack negatively affects a firm’s openness in innovation search, whereas unabsorbed slack promotes open innovation search. Additionally, the relationship between absorbed slack and open innovation search will be less negative with the increase of absorptive capacity.
Originality/value
Different from most previous studies that have examined the performance effect of open search among high-tech and large enterprises, this study focuses on the antecedents of open search strategy in both high- and low-tech, large and small firms. The findings reveal that different forms of organizational slack divergently influence a firm’s open search strategy, contributing to the understanding of the relationship between organizational slack and knowledge search behavior in a broader context, as well as the understanding of the moderating effect of absorptive capacity.
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Chunhsien Wang, Tachia Chin and Jie-Heng Lin
Openness to external knowledge has recently gained popularity as a means for firms to complement and leverage internal knowledge in the pursuit of innovation outcomes. However…
Abstract
Purpose
Openness to external knowledge has recently gained popularity as a means for firms to complement and leverage internal knowledge in the pursuit of innovation outcomes. However, conflicting evidence exists regarding the role of openness in external knowledge acquisition. This paper aims to propose that openness to external knowledge has a nonlinear effect on innovation performance and that this nonlinear relationship is contingent on an ambidextrous knowledge search strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on original large-scale survey of 246 interfirm collaborations in the high-technology industry, it is found that the impact of openness to external knowledge on innovation performance exhibits an inverted-U shape and that this relationship is affected by an ambidextrous knowledge search strategy.
Findings
The results indicate that an ambidextrous knowledge strategy that addresses the depth and breadth of external knowledge significantly influences a firm’s ability to derive benefits from increased openness to external knowledge. Empirically, the authors provide an original contribution to high-technology firms by exploring how and why an ambidextrous knowledge strategy can be a critical catalyst spurring innovation performance.
Research limitations/implications
The research scope is limited to a single industry. Further research could extend the theoretical framework to multiple industries, which may increase the likelihood of innovation theory development.
Practical implications
The results suggest that firms opening up the boundaries of their innovation activity to engage in external knowledge are able to leverage their in-house innovation to enhance their innovation performance. The authors advocate that in innovation management domains, greater emphasis is needed on how openness to external knowledge has more positive impacts not only on innovation performance but also on innovation implemented management.
Originality/value
This study is among the first to investigate the ambidextrous knowledge search effect on the external knowledge of high-technology firms. This paper contributes to the theoretical and practical literature concerning openness innovation and knowledge management by reflecting on the ambidextrous knowledge search strategy.
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Information technology plays a critical role in the open innovation process. The purpose of this study is to explore the inner mechanism of external information technology (IT…
Abstract
Purpose
Information technology plays a critical role in the open innovation process. The purpose of this study is to explore the inner mechanism of external information technology (IT) capability that affects open innovation performance.
Design/methodology/approach
In this paper, responses to 232 questionnaires from different firms were collected in China. Then, the proposed hypotheses were tested using regression analysis by statistical product and service solutions (SPSS).
Findings
The results indicate that external knowledge integration plays a mediating role in the relationship between external IT capability and open innovation performance, openness breadth positively moderates the influence of external IT capability on external knowledge integration and openness depth negatively moderates the relationship between external IT capability and external knowledge integration.
Practical implications
The results, which are based on Chinese responses, provide useful suggestions for firms in China. To use external IT capability to improve open innovation performance, firms should not only stress the role of external knowledge integration but also consider their search strategy.
Originality/value
Both researchers and practitioners are interested in the relationship between information technology and open innovation. However, the way in which the inner mechanism of external IT capability affects open innovation performance has not been thoroughly researched. Based on knowledge integration theory, the authors construct a model that includes external IT capability, external knowledge integration, search strategy and open innovation performance. The results of this paper confirm the mediating and moderating roles of external knowledge integration and search strategy, respectively.
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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of inbound open innovation and organizational inertia on radical innovation capability (RIC). It also seeks to explore whether…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of inbound open innovation and organizational inertia on radical innovation capability (RIC). It also seeks to explore whether the existence of organizational inertia has a moderating effect and influence on the relationship between inbound open innovation and RIC.
Design/methodology/approach
In this empirical research, the authors collected sample of patents in smart phone industry over the 2000-2016 period. Then, the authors examined the direct roles of inbound open innovation and organizational inertia, and the moderating role of organizational inertia by using hierarchical regression analysis.
Findings
Results found that cognitive inertia (CI) has a positive influence on firms’ RIC, but network inertia (NI) has a negative influence on RIC. CI also has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between inbound open innovation and RIC, but NI only has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between open search breadth and RIC. Inbound open innovation directly affects RIC.
Research limitations/implications
The authors collected the patent data of this study within the single industry and excluded other types of industries. And it may limit the generalization of the findings.
Practical implications
The paper includes implications for adopting an appropriate open search strategy and developing a better understanding of organizational inertia on firms’ radical innovation behavior. The findings suggest future directions to technology intensive industries for improving their RIC.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the relationship between organizational inertia and RIC within the framework of inbound open innovation.
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Tiago Sá, João J.M. Ferreira and Shital Jayantilal
In a context each day more global, a new paradigm has emerged – open innovation (OI) – which may be understood as an innovation strategy in which organizations use internal and…
Abstract
Purpose
In a context each day more global, a new paradigm has emerged – open innovation (OI) – which may be understood as an innovation strategy in which organizations use internal and external knowledge to leverage their business value, thus maintaining a sustainable competitive advantage. This article aims to contribute to understanding this phenomenon, suggesting an integrated vision of OI strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper systematically reviews and analyzes a sample of 66 articles from Scopus and Web of Science databases related to open innovation strategies.
Findings
The results obtained enabled us to group the existing literature into six different clusters: (1) Performance; (2) Open business model; (3) Intellectual Property; (4) Knowledge Management; (5) Innovation; and (6) Culture. Furthermore, this study identifies the major research gaps and provides suggestions for future research.
Originality/value
The paper presents the main elements that interfere and interact in the innovation strategy providing a conceptual model that can be useful in understanding the phenomenon of open innovation.
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