Open Innovation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs): External Knowledge Sourcing Strategies and Internal Organizational Facilitators

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of external knowledge in the innovation process of firms in the food and beverage (F&B) industry and the effects of two external knowledge sourcing modes on new product development (NPD) performance. Design/methodology/approach The paper applies a quantitative approach, relying on data from 157 Italian firms operating in the F&B industry to test the hypotheses through OLS regression models. Findings Results suggest that the surveyed firms actively engage in open innovation with strong ties with market-based sources. Moreover, the authors found that market-based sources are associated with income from incremental innovation and time to market, while science-based sources are associated with income from radical innovation. Finally, the authors found that the R&D intensity enhances the benefits of the above external knowledge sourcing modes. Originality/value Despite the large amount of studies assessing the effects of external knowledge sourcing on performance in the open innovation field, few studies focused on a specific industry, especially with regard to F&B. Moreover, this paper considers different types of NPD performance measures given that different external knowledge sourcing modes exert different effects.

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Open and closed knowledge sourcing

Industrial Management & Data Systems ◽

10.1108/imds-08-2016-0338 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 117 (6) ◽

pp. 1166-1184 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Juyeon Ham ◽

Byounggu Choi ◽

Jae-Nam Lee

Keyword(s):

Open Innovation ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Innovation Performance ◽

Knowledge Sourcing ◽

Content Type ◽

External Knowledge ◽

Negative Effect ◽

Medium Enterprises ◽

The Relationship ◽

Internal Knowledge

Purpose Many studies have investigated the relationship between the adoption of open innovation and performance in large firms. However, limited research is available with regard to the use of open innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are important because of their contribution to innovation in almost all economies. The purpose of this paper is to extend the current literature by focusing on SMEs. Using complementarity and knowledge-based theories, this study develops three hypotheses to identify the effect of knowledge sourcing approaches for innovation on SMEs’ innovation performance. Design/methodology/approach Surveys collected from 196 SMEs in Korea were analyzed using the supermodularity function to test the hypotheses. Findings Results indicate that an external knowledge-oriented approach has no significant effect, whereas an internal knowledge-oriented (i.e. closed) approach has a positive effect on innovation performance. Interestingly, this study found that open innovation has a negative effect on SMEs’ innovation performance (i.e. both internal knowledge-oriented and external knowledge-oriented approaches have a substitutive relationship). Originality/value This study sheds new light on open innovation and knowledge management research by identifying the relationship between knowledge sourcing approaches for innovation, and innovation performance in SMEs. Practical implications highlight that open innovation could impede SMEs’ innovation performance.

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Bridging the gap: integrating external knowledge from open innovation platforms

SN Business & Economics ◽

10.1007/s43546-021-00101-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (7) ◽

Author(s):

Marion A. Weissenberger-Eibl ◽

Tim Hampel

Keyword(s):

Open Innovation ◽

Knowledge Integration ◽

Organizational Factors ◽

Project Teams ◽

Negative Attitudes ◽

Organizational Resistance ◽

External Knowledge ◽

Positive Effects ◽

Innovation Activities ◽

Project Level

AbstractWhile external knowledge has the potential to benefit a firm’s innovation activities, research shows that the positive effects of a more open model of innovation do not come naturally. This paper draws on the project level to explore the organizational factors that hamper or impede the integration of external knowledge sourced from an open innovation platform and to suggest interventions to overcome these barriers. While open innovation is mainly discussed as a concept that resides at the level of the organization, this paper draws on the project level to contribute to a multi-level understanding of open innovation and to offer a deeper understanding of the challenges project teams face, when integrating external knowledge. To investigate occurring barriers, four cases of external knowledge integration within a multinational corporation are analyzed. The results show that due to the external nature of the knowledge, an additional effort of project teams is required such as forming alliances with key individuals and changing negative attitudes towards external sources to overcome organizational resistance. Theoretical as well as practical implications are discussed.

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Prediction Markets for Crowdsourcing

10.1093/oso/9780198816225.003.0012 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Christian Horn ◽

Marcel Bogers ◽

Alexander Brem*

Keyword(s):

Stock Market ◽

Open Innovation ◽

Innovation Process ◽

Business Practice ◽

Prediction Markets ◽

Knowledge Sources ◽

Prediction Market ◽

Online Platform ◽

External Knowledge ◽

Opening Up

Crowdsourcing is an increasingly important phenomenon that is fundamentally changing how companies create and capture value. There are still important questions with respect to how crowdsourcing works and can be applied in practice, especially in business practice. In this chapter, we focus on prediction markets as a mechanism and tool to tap into a crowd in the early stages of an innovation process. The act of opening up to external knowledge sources is also in line with the growing interest in open innovation. One example of a prediction market, a virtual stock market, is applied to open innovation through an online platform. We show that use of mechanisms of internal crowdsourcing with prediction markets can outperform use of external crowds.

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How firms accumulate knowledge to innovate – an empirical study of Vietnamese firms

Management Decision ◽

10.1108/md-11-2020-1546 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Duy Quoc Nguyen

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Knowledge Acquisition ◽

Absorptive Capacity ◽

Open Innovation ◽

Content Type ◽

Innovative Performance ◽

External Knowledge ◽

Knowledge Depth ◽

Exploratory Innovation ◽

External Knowledge Acquisition

PurposeOrganizational innovations are closely associated with organizational knowledge, and thus a firm builds its knowledge base to enhance its innovative performance. However, insights into this process are still limited, especially in the context of firms in developing countries. Building on the dynamic managerial capabilities literature and open innovation paradigm, this paper attempts to fill this gap by developing and empirically testing a model that investigates how firms in developing countries accumulate knowledge to innovate.Design/methodology/approachA model of a firm's knowledge accumulation and innovation is proposed in which it specifies relationships among absorptive capacity, knowledge breadth, research and development (R&D), knowledge depth, exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation, and then it is empirically tested by using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique based on the surveyed data of Vietnamese firms.FindingsThe results indicate that absorptive capacity positively influences both knowledge breadth and knowledge depth, knowledge breadth positively influences R&D, R&D positively influences exploratory innovation and knowledge depth, and knowledge depth positively influences exploratory and exploitative innovation.Practical implicationsThe study proposes an “acquire and develop” open innovation model for firms in developing countries in which firms acquire external technologies and then develop R&D (develop and design) capability to adapt acquired technologies to their local conditions to create new organizational-specific capabilities and exploratory innovation.Originality/valueThis study argues that external knowledge acquisition is beneficial to innovative performance of firms in developing countries via renewing their knowledge base. Furthermore, the study provides the unique evidence that novel external knowledge acquisition and internal R&D are fit to each other in the fit-as-mediation form in which novel external knowledge acquisition is mediated by R&D to positively influence exploratory innovation.

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Multicultural skills in open innovation: relational leadership enabling knowledge sourcing and sharing

Personnel Review ◽

10.1108/pr-10-2019-0539 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Aurelia Engelsberger ◽

Jillian Cavanagh ◽

Timothy Bartram ◽

Beni Halvorsen

Keyword(s):

Boundary Conditions ◽

Human Resource ◽

Social Exchange ◽

Open Innovation ◽

Research Question ◽

Relational Leadership ◽

Knowledge Sourcing ◽

Content Type ◽

Innovation Teams

PurposeIn this paper, the authors argue that multicultural skills and relational leadership act as enablers for open innovation, and thereby examine the process through which teams can utilize multicultural skills to support the development of relational leadership and knowledge sourcing and sharing (KSS) through individual interaction and relationship building. The authors address the following research question: How does relational leadership enable open innovation (OI) among employees with multicultural skills?Design/methodology/approachThis paper applies a multi-level approach (team and individual level) and builds on interviews with 20 employees, middle and senior managers with multicultural experiences, working in open innovation environments.FindingsThe authors’ findings shed light on the process through which social exchange relationships among team members (e.g. R&D teams) and knowledge exchange partners are enhanced by the use of multicultural skills and support the development of relational leadership to facilitate KSS and ultimately OI. The decision for participants to collaborate and source and share knowledge is motivated by individual reward (such as establishing network or long-lasting contacts), skill acquisition (such as learning or personal growth in decision-making) and a sense of reciprocity and drive for group gain. The authors encourage greater human resource (HR) manager support for relational leadership and the development and use of multicultural skills to promote KSS.Research limitations/implicationsDespite the value of our findings, this paper is not without limitations. The authors explained that the focus of this study design was on the work activities of the participants and their skill development and not specific projects or organizations. It was outside the scope of this study to examine variations across organizations and individuals as the authors wanted to focus on multicultural skills and relational leadership as enablers for OI. The authors recommend that future studies extend our research by unpacking how various boundary conditions including relational leadership and multicultural skills impact KSS and OI over the life cycle of innovation teams within large multinational organizations, across countries and ethnicities.Practical implicationsThe study’s findings provide managers with improved understandings of how to enable an individual's willingness and readiness to source and share knowledge through multicultural skills and relational leadership. Managers need to ensure that human resource management (HRM) practices celebrate multicultural skills and support relational leadership in innovation teams. The authors suggest managers engaged in OI consider the components of social exchange as described by Meeker (1971) and utilize reciprocity, group gain, rationality and status consistency to support the emergence relational leadership and KSS in innovation teams.Originality/valueIn this paper, the authors contribute to the dearth of literature on the boundary conditions for OI by examining the role of relational leadership and characteristics/skills of the workforce, namely multicultural skills and contribute to the scarce research on the role of employees with multicultural skills and their impact on OI and present multicultural skills/experiences and relational leadership as enablers for OI.

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External knowledge search paths in open innovation processes of small and medium enterprises

European Journal of Innovation Management ◽

10.1108/ejim-01-2019-0013 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 524-550

Author(s):

Preecha Chaochotechuang ◽

Farhad Daneshgar ◽

Stefania Mariano

Keyword(s):

Open Innovation ◽

Small And Medium Enterprises ◽

Search Space ◽

Exploratory Research ◽

Content Type ◽

External Knowledge ◽

Search Heuristics ◽

Knowledge Search ◽

Medium Enterprises ◽

Innovation Processes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge by exploring how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) search for external knowledge in their open innovation processes, and how the search can be advanced. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory research employs a qualitative multiple case study design. A literature review of open innovation in SMEs and external knowledge search is used to build the premises of this study. Semi-structured interviews with eight SMEs are employed to collect subsequent exploratory empirical data. Findings This exploratory study revealed that SMEs adopted a combination of cognitive and experiential search heuristics where cognitive search was practiced during the innovation research process when searching for external knowledge, whilst experiential search was practiced during the innovation development process. Concerning the search space, this study found that SMEs mainly explored local knowledge, and occasionally pursued distant knowledge when confronted with complex problems. The reason for the above behavior was explained to be related to the reduction of costs and risks associated with innovation activities. Originality/value External knowledge plays a pivotal role in open innovation. Although extant studies have shed some light on how large firms search for external knowledge, however, it is not clear how SMEs search for external knowledge. Moreover, this study focuses on learning about both the search space and the search heuristics at both the research and the development stages of the innovation process.

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