Showing papers on "Open innovation published in 2009"

Open R&D and open innovation: exploring the phenomenon

Abstract: There is currently a broad awareness of open innovation and its relevance to corporate R&D. The implications and trends that underpin open innovation are actively discussed in terms of strategic, organizational, behavioral, knowledge, legal and business perspectives and its economic implications. This special issue aims to advance the R&D, innovation, and technology management perspective by building on past and present studies in the field and providing future directions. Recent research, including the papers in this special issue, demonstrates an increasing range of situations where the concept is regarded as applicable. Most research to date has followed the outside-in process of open innovation, while the inside-out process remains less explored. A third coupled process of open innovation is also attracting significant research attention. These different processes show why it is necessary to have a full understanding of how and where open innovation can add value in knowledge-intensive processes. There may be a need for a creative interpretation and adaptation of the value propositions, or business models, in each situation. In other words, there are important implications for new and emerging methods of R&D management.

A Capability‐Based Framework for Open Innovation: Complementing Absorptive Capacity

Abstract: We merge research into knowledge management, absorptive capacity, and dynamic capabilities to arrive at an integrative perspective, which considers knowledge exploration, retention, and exploitation inside and outside a firm's boundaries. By complementing the concept of absorptive capacity, we advance towards a capability-based framework for open innovation processes. We identify the following six ‘knowledge capacities’ as a firm's critical capabilities of managing internal and external knowledge in open innovation processes: inventive, absorptive, transformative, connective, innovative, and desorptive capacity. ‘Knowledge management capacity’ is a dynamic capability, which reconfigures and realigns the knowledge capacities. It refers to a firm's ability to successfully manage its knowledge base over time. The concept may be regarded as a framework for open innovation, as a complement to absorptive capacity, and as a move towards understanding dynamic capabilities for managing knowledge. On this basis, it contributes to explaining interfirm heterogeneity in knowledge and alliance strategies, organizational boundaries, and innovation performance.

Social innovation: buzz word or enduring term?

Abstract: The term ‘social innovation’ has come into common parlance in recent years. Some analysts consider social innovation no more than a buzz word or passing fad that is too vague to be usefully applied to academic scholarship. Some social scientists, however, see significant value in the concept of social innovation because it identifies a critical type of innovation. In this paper, we suggest one possible definition of social innovation and show that when its empirical meaning is distilled, the term is of great importance. We distinguish social innovation from business innovation, and identify a subset of social innovations that requires government support.

Leveraging Crowdsourcing: Activation-Supporting Components for IT-Based Ideas Competition

Abstract: Ideas competitions appear to be a promising tool for crowdsourcing and open innovation processes, especially for business-to-business software companies Active participation of potential lead users is the key to success Yet a look at existing ideas competitions in the software field leads to the conclusion that many information technology (IT)-based ideas competitions fail to meet requirements upon which active participation is established The paper describes how activation-enabling functionalities can be systematically designed and implemented in an IT-based ideas competition for enterprise resource planning software We proceeded to evaluate the outcomes of these design measures and found that participation can be supported using a two-step model The components of the model support incentives and motives of users Incentives and motives of the users then support the process of activation and consequently participation throughout the ideas competition This contributes to the successful implementation and maintenance of the ideas competition, thereby providing support for the development of promising innovative ideas The paper concludes with a discussion of further activation-supporting components yet to be implemented and points to rich possibilities for future research in these areas

Systems of Innovation

Abstract: We review the literature on national innovation systems. We first focus on the emergence of the concept of innovation systems, reviewing its historical origins and three main flavors (associated to three “founding fathers” of the concept). After this, we discuss how the notion of innovation systems filled a need for providing a broader basis for innovation policy. We conclude with some perspectives on the future of the innovation systems literature.

Design Driven Innovation: Changing the Rules of Competition by Radically Innovating What Things Mean

Abstract: 1. Design-Driven Innovation. An introduction Part One: The Strategy of Design-Driven Innovation 2. Design and Meanings. Innovating by making sense of things 3. Radical Pushes. Placing design-driven innovation in the strategy of a firm 4. Technology Epiphanies. The interplay between technology-push and design-driven innovation 5. The Value and the Challenges. Why companies do or do not invest in design-driven innovation Part Two: The Process of Design-Driven Innovation 6. The Interpreters. Doing research with the design discourse 7. Listening. Finding and attracting key interpreters 8. Interpreting. Developing your own vision 9. Addressing. Leveraging the seductive power of the interpreters Part Three: Building Design-Driven Capabilities 10. The Design-Driven Lab. How to start 11. Businesspeople. The key role of top executives and their culture

Why 'open innovation' is old wine in new bottles

Abstract: The concept of 'open innovation' has received a considerable amount of coverage within the academic literature and beyond. Much of this seems to have been without much critical analysis of the evidence. In this paper, we show how Chesbrough creates a false dichotomy by arguing that open innovation is the only alternative to a closed innovation model. We systematically examine the six principles of the open innovation concept and show how the Open Innovation paradigm has created a partial perception by describing something which is undoubtedly true in itself (the limitations of closed innovation principles), but false in conveying the wrong impression that firms today follow these principles. We hope that our examination and scrutiny of the 'open innovation' concept contributes to the debate on innovation management and helps enrich our understanding.

How to Manage Outside Innovation

Abstract: important role that outside innovators can play, look no further than Apple Inc.’s wildly successful iPhone. Thousands of external software developers have written com-plementary applications for the iPhone that have greatly enhanced its value, transforming the product into a blockbuster that has become the center of a thriving business ecosystem. Of course, the fundamental concept of “open innovation”

Community engineering for innovations: the ideas competition as a method to nurture a virtual community for innovations

Abstract: ‘Crowdsourcing’ is currently one of the most discussed key words within the open innovation community. The major question for both research and business is how to find and lever the enormous potential of the ‘collective brain’ to broaden the scope of ‘open R&D’. Based on a literature review in the fields of Community Building and Innovation Management, this work develops an integrated framework called ‘Community Engineering for Innovations’. This framework is evaluated in an Action Research project – the case of an ideas competition for an ERP Software company. The case ‘SAPiens’ includes the design, implementation and evaluation of an IT-supported ideas competition within the SAP University Competence Center (UCC) User Group. This group consists of approximately 60,000 people (lecturers and students) using SAP Software for educational purposes. The current challenges are twofold: on the one hand, there is not much activity yet in this community. On the other, SAP has not attempted to systematically address this highly educated group for idea generation or innovation development so far. Therefore, the objective of this research is to develop a framework for a community-based innovation development that generates innovations, process and product ideas in general and for SAP Research, in particular, combining the concepts of idea competitions and virtual communities. Furthermore, the concept aims at providing an interface to SAP Human Resources processes in order to identify the most promising students in this virtual community. This paper is the first to present an integrated concept for IT-supported idea competitions in virtual communities for leveraging the potential of crowds that is evaluated in a real-world setting.

Outbound open innovation and its effect on firm performance: examining environmental influences

Abstract: Firms may open up their innovation processes on two dimensions. While inbound open innovation refers to the acquisition of external technology in open exploration processes, outbound open innovation describes the outward transfer of technology in open exploitation processes. Prior open innovation research has focused on the inbound dimension, whereas the outbound dimension has been relatively neglected. Therefore, this article addresses the relationship between outbound open R&D strategies and firm performance. We use data from 136 industrial firms to test four hypotheses on the moderating effects of environmental factors in the relationship between open innovation strategies and firm performance. The results show that the degree of technological turbulence, the transaction rate in technology markets, and the competitive intensity in technology markets strengthen the positive effects of outbound open innovation on firm performance. By contrast, the degree of patent protection does not facilitate successful open innovation. The results are crucially important to managers because they show under what environmental conditions open innovation strategies enhance performance.

Opening up for competitive advantage – How Deutsche Telekom creates an open innovation ecosystem

Abstract: When, on 21st September 2006, ‘The Economist’ compared incumbent telecommunication operators with dinosaurs that could soon face extinction, most readers were ready to agree. The mixture of declining revenues and fierce competition was believed to shake the market and soon to dethrone former national champions. However, there are ways to fight that extinction and one way is to open up for competitive advantage. This paper reflects on a case study at Deutsche Telekom, the German national telecommunication operator. The aim of this study is to analyse to what extent the open innovation paradigm has been embraced inside this now multinational company. Using empirical evidence from 15 in-depth interviews, we identify 11 open innovation instruments and detail their value contribution. We can show that Deutsche Telekom has successfully enhanced its innovation capacity by opening up its traditional development process and embracing external creativity and knowledge resources.

Steal my idea! Organizational adoption of user innovations from a user innovation community: A case study of Dell IdeaStorm

Abstract: Open innovation models suggest that an organization's end users can be a potentially beneficial source for new ideas and innovations. However, incorporating end users raises some interesting challenges regarding how to balance the decision making power between a firm and the user community. Using Diffusion of Innovation Theory, we propose hypotheses based on the perceived attributes of end user ideas and end user promotion efforts. Our findings suggest that the decision to adopt a user innovation was based on the ability of the firm to understand the technical requirements and respond to community concerns regarding the innovation.

Determinants and archetype users of open innovation

Abstract: Extant research on open innovation (OI) offers no systematic insight of how and why firms differ regarding the extent to which they conduct OI activities. Whereas past theoretical contributions have focused on explaining the externalisation of R&D activities as a result of firm-external factors, we focus on explaining this externalisation as a result of firm-internal weaknesses, specifically, impediments to innovation. Using the exploration-exploitation dichotomy as our theoretical framework, we develop hypotheses on how impediments to innovation influence the breadth and depth of OI. We then test these hypotheses by using an exceptionally large and detailed data set to estimate population-averaged panel models. Our results provide support for most of the hypothesised relationships. Further, they allow to identify four ‘archetypes' of firms that differ significantly regarding the breadth and depth of OI and the importance of impediments. Finally, we discuss the significance of these findings for both academics and managers.

National Innovation System: The System Approach in Historical Perspective

Abstract: In the late 1980s, a new conceptual framework appeared in the science, technology, and innovation studies: the National Innovation System. The framework suggests that the research system's ultimate...

Exploring the field of open innovation

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the emerging research field of open innovation and identify where the field is going as well as suggest future fields of research.Design/methodology/approach – All academic papers and books published until November 2007 under the label of open innovation were systematically reviewed. Also, nine key researchers were asked to contribute with their opinions on the research frontier.Findings – A number of key themes in the research were identified, and conclusions on the underlying structure were drawn. This reveals that there is a tendency towards a broader definition and application of the term, a growing critical perspective, and a concentration on theory development and managerial implications.Research limitations/implications – The paper suggests that the locus of the innovation process and the extent of collaboration should be used as two dimensions in a model to further understanding of how open innovation develops. These dimensions have an important imp...

Innovation communities: the role of networks of promotors in Open Innovation

Abstract: Research on Open Innovation has increasingly emphasised the role of communities in creating, shaping and disseminating innovations. However, the comparability of many studies has been hampered by the lack of a precise definition of the community construct, and the research on Open Innovation has to date not been well connected to insights from research on the role of transformational leaders and the networking of champions and promotors across organisational boundaries. For this reason, this paper introduces a new construct of ‘innovation communities’ based on promotor theory, which it defines as ‘networks of promotors’. It proposes a comprehensive concept of the quality of interaction in innovation communities, and presents findings of three case studies, which explore the role of promotors and networks of promotors in Open Innovation. The case studies reveal that such transformational leaders as promotors, and especially their close and informal co-operation across functional and organisational boundaries, play a key role in Open Innovation.

Different modes of open innovation: a theoretical framework and an empirical study

Abstract: Starting from the several conceptual and empirical studies about open innovation modes, this paper attempts to integrate them by suggesting a framework which reveals four basic ways to collaborate....

Opening up the innovation process: the role of technology aggressiveness

Abstract: Besides acquiring external knowledge, many firms have begun to actively commercialize technology, for example, by means of out-licensing. This increase in inward and outward technology transactions reflects the new paradigm of open innovation. Most prior research into open innovation is limited to theoretical considerations and case studies, whereas other lines of research have focused either on external technology acquisition or exploitation. In an integrative view, we consider inward and outward technology transactions as the main directions of open innovation. Moreover, technology aggressiveness, which constitutes an important dimension of technology strategy, is identified as a major determinant of open innovation. Data from a survey of 154 industrial firms are used to test three hypotheses relating technology aggressiveness, external technology acquisition, and external technology exploitation. In addition, clusters of firms with homogeneous strategies regarding technology aggressiveness and open innovation are identified.

A milieu for innovation : defining living labs

Abstract: A new trend of user involvement in open innovation processes has emerged. Concurring with this trend the Living Lab concept has been re-vitalized. This concept has attracted attention lately, but t ...

How do firms source external knowledge for innovation? analysing effects of different knowledge sourcing methods

Abstract: In the era of "open innovation", external knowledge is a very important source for technology innovation. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between external knowledge and performance of technology innovation. The effect of external knowledge on the performance of technology innovation can vary with different external knowledge sourcing methods. We identify three ways of external knowledge sourcing: information transfer from informal network, R&D collaboration and technology acquisition. We propose three hypotheses to examine relationship between the three methods of external knowledge sourcing and the technology innovation performance. Our results show that information transfer from informal network and technology acquisition have positive relationships with the technology innovation performance. R&D collaboration, however, has an inverted-U-shape relationship with technology innovation performance. This implies that the effect of external knowledge on technology innovation varies depending o...

Crowdsourcing: What can be Outsourced to the Crowd, and Why ?

Abstract: Why should a firm outsource certain activities in countries where labor is inexpensive, when by using the Internet, firms are a mouse click away from an eclectic, university educated, population ready to invest in intellectually stimulating projects for little or no remuneration ? The word Crowdsourcing –a compound contraction of Crowd and Outsourcing, was used by Howe in order to define outsourcing to the crowd. Beyond cost, benefits for the company can be substantial. It can externalize the risk of failure and it only pays for products or services that meet its expectations. The aim of this paper is to characterize Crowdsourcing from a management science perspective. Our approach is mainly theoretical, although we rely on extensive illustrations. First we discuss the definition of Crowdsourcing, and provide examples that illustrate the diversity of Crowdsourcing practices. Then, we present similarities and differences between Crowdsourcing and established theories (Open Innovation, User Innovation) and a phenomenon that has inspired many studies in Economics and Management, Open Source Software. Our goal is to avoid future misunderstandings and to show that Crowdsourcing is a concept per se. Finally, we propose and illustrate a typology of Crowdsourcing practices based on two criteria: the integrative or selective nature of the process and the type of tasks that are crowdsourced (routine, complex and creative tasks). In either case, the client firm seeks to mobilize external competencies. Relying upon the crowd can be an adequate method, because of its unique characteristics that are fostered by the Internet.

Exploring open innovation practice in firm‐nonprofit engagements: a corporate social responsibility perspective

Abstract: This paper examines the concept of open innovation within the context of corporate social responsibility. It demonstrates how the practice of open innovation unfolds in inter-organizational collaborations that involve the voluntary or charitable sector, outlining the findings of an explorative collective case study of eight voluntary dyadic partnerships between corporate and nonprofit organizations in the United Kingdom, which have resulted in innovation outcomes. Two generic approaches to open innovation were witnessed: firstly, a more exploratory approach to dyadic engagement activities that resulted in an emergent innovation process, and secondly, a focused and pre-determined search activity to exploit the resources of the nonprofit partner that demonstrated a more planned innovation process. Two distinct boundary-spanning roles were identified: in dyads exhibiting few organizational linkages, the role was associated with formal responsibilities from senior management to ‘manage’ innovation opportunities and outcomes. In dyads exhibiting high linkages, there was no such formality; the role was a ‘conduit’ to facilitate search and exploration to locate opportunities for innovation through idea exchange. Overall, this research demonstrates the value of an open innovation approach driven by the need to address societal and social issues (rather than those purely economic). Such practice broadens a firm's ‘search’ activities and delivers innovations in exchange for enhanced social legitimacy – acting innovation capital for future enterprising activities and market advantage.

Open innovation networks between academia and industry: an imperative for breakthrough therapies

Abstract: Open innovation networks between academia and industry: an imperative for breakthrough therapies

The role of absorptive capacity in facilitating "open innovation" outcomes: A study of Australian SMEs in the manufacturing sector

Abstract: The open innovation approach emphasizes porous knowledge boundaries between firms and upstream suppliers, but tends to ignore questions of transformative efficiency and effectiveness once the knowledge reaches the focal organization. In this paper, we test for the significance of interaction effects between open innovation strategies and absorptive capacity, finding support for the idea that effective knowledge absorption capabilities are of vital importance in the facilitation of innovation effectiveness.