International Journal of Innovation Management

Interest in the concept of open innovation (OI) has increased during recent years; yet, this line of inquiry remains limited due to the lack of a more comprehensive conceptual framework. As a first step toward a unifying framework, we provide a critical review of previous research on the conceptualization, antecedents, and consequences of OI. We then offer a typology describing four OI strategies: (i) innovation seeker, (ii) innovation provider, (iii) intermediary, and (iv) open innovator, which emerge through unique combinations of sources of innovation, firm attributes, and mechanisms of inter-organizational exchange, and produce varying outcomes. Finally, we discuss our typology's implications for theory and practice, and advance potential research avenues.

Open innovation through collaboration could be beneficial for various reasons, but participating firms must also consider the strategic consequences of their formation on the supply chain. This study is concerned with how open innovation through inter-firm collaboration and strategic alliances may generate value for competing suppliers by stimulating the adoption of the new component innovation by the downstream supply chain. The analysis specifically examines three types of firm interaction representing different levels of open innovation. First, in the joint venture, fully integrated suppliers would develop and market the component. Second, in the development alliance, partially integrated suppliers share the development outcome, but compete in marketing. Finally, independent suppliers do not form any kind of collaborative formation. The findings reveal that the value of open innovation comes not only from technology development, but also how well it stimulates the downstream OEM to invest.

Studies of open innovation are predominantly concerned with firm-level strategy development. The result is that the literature has largely ignored the multiple contingencies that influence the implementation of an open strategy at the level of the NPD project. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework of inbound open innovation at the NPD project level to assess factors that help determine the degree of openness along three dimensions. We argue that the margin of managerial action is not only constrained to the decision to open up the NPD project to a wide range of different types of external parties (breadth dimension), but that it is equally important to consider the depth of the relationships with different types of external parties (depth dimension) and the balance between the development of new and longstanding relationships (ambidexterity dimension). The calibration of these three dimensions represents the levers when managing an inbound open innovation strategy during an NPD project. Finally, we identify a range of contingencies, which potentially have a bearing on the appropriate calibration of the breadth, depth and ambidexterity dimensions of an open innovation strategy. We argue that appropriate calibration of the three dimensions of inbound open innovation is determined by the type of innovation (radical versus incremental), product complexity (discrete versus complex) and the appropriability regime (tight versus weak).

The purpose of the paper is to empirically study firms' practises of knowledge and intellectual property (IP) management in customer–supplier relationships. The work applies the qualitative methodology of multiple case studies, and the material was collected in semi-structured interviews with management personnel at 36 organisations in Finland and in the Netherlands. Almost every firm had innovation relationships with their customers and suppliers, but the forms these relationships took, and the kinds of practices they involved, varied greatly. As a result, the firms considered the management of knowledge and IP in these relationships very challenging. We argue that by distinguishing knowledge management in the exploration phase of new business from knowledge management in the exploitation phase of innovation outcome, the firms could manage the knowledge and IP better. Accordingly, the paper introduces three propositions to support the knowledge and IP management in customer–supplier relationships.

The development and installation of new process equipment in production plants typically require strong collaborative efforts by a process firm and its equipment suppliers. However, existing knowledge about how such supplier integration and open innovation practices should be organized and managed is scarce. The purpose of this investigation is therefore to explore how process firms can organize and manage supplier integration and open innovation practices when developing and installing new process technology. By means of a literature review and a case study of two process firms, a lifecycle perspective on procurement is adopted. Our results show that the process firms utilize different interconnected cooperative procurement procedures in different stages of the equipment's lifecycle, in order to enhance integration both in buyer-supplier dyads and among the suppliers in the project network. The contributions of the paper are summarized and illustrated in a developed lifecycle-based procurement model that guides practitioners in organizing and managing supplier integration and open innovation practices.

"Open innovation" and "external search" for new ideas are central topics in the recent discourse in innovation research. External search helps firms to identify new opportunities for innovation and alleviates the risks of local search. It is widely acknowledged that novel ideas regularly emerge from the combination of distant pieces of knowledge and interaction with "idea suppliers" from distant knowledge domains. However, the current discussion on open innovation has hardly touched upon the question of how firms can systematically search for cross-industry innovation inputs in the fuzzy front-end of the innovation process. This paper links relevant concepts of cognitive psychology and management theory — such as analogical problem solving and the principle of isomorphism — with open innovation in the front-end. It discusses relevant dimensions of systematic search for innovation across industries. A piloted framework is presented that assists firms in systematically and interactively searching for external innovation inputs in distant industries. This framework supports external innovation search in distant industries for a fuzzy customer problem. The results of this participatory action research indicate that a systematic and interactive search process is of practical value to innovation managers. It also points out contingencies of cross-industry innovation search.

Absorptive capacity is often touted as being important for the success of open innovation. Yet different absorptive capacities may be required for inbound versus outbound open innovation. Using process research of how multiple firms participated in the development of a groundbreaking anti-influenza drug, we found that firms needed to develop both supplier- and customer-types of absorptive capacity. Inbound open innovation involved customer absorptive capacity and outbound innovation required supplier absorptive capacity. In each case absorptive capacity needed to be leveraged differently. We thus extend our knowledge of how absorptive capacity benefits open innovation.