scholarly journals MISSION: POSSIBLE BUT SENSITIVE — KNOWLEDGE PROTECTION MECHANISMS SERVING DIFFERENT PURPOSES

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (06) ◽  
pp. 1440012 ◽  
Author(s):  
HEIDI OLANDER ◽  
PIA HURMELINNA-LAUKKANEN ◽  
MIKA VANHALA
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Value Capture ◽  
Collaborative Innovation ◽  
Knowledge Protection ◽  
Protection Mechanisms ◽  
Quantitative Sample ◽  
Sensitive Knowledge ◽  
Finnish Firms

Innovations have the potential to create value by generating rents (primary appropriability), or they can be used as background knowledge for further innovations and value creation (generative appropriability). Because these possibilities exist, organisations need to make strategic decisions on knowledge sharing with their partners in collaborative innovation. In best cases, primary and generative appropriability are complementarities rather than alternatives: Knowledge sharing with partners for new innovation could be made safer using formal and informal isolating appropriability mechanisms that improve controllability, thereby preserving rent generation possibilities and simultaneously allowing safe knowledge exchange. We use a quantitative sample of 209 Finnish firms to examine how different formal and informal appropriability mechanisms relate to value capture and creation, and whether these relationships are affected by the strategic goal to reduce imitation of competitors or to improve safe knowledge sharing to partners.

Managing triadic supplier relationships in collaborative innovation projects: a relational view perspective

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Patrucco ◽  
Christine Mary Harland ◽  
Davide Luzzini ◽  
Federico Frattini
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Relational View ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Supplier Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Complementary Resources ◽  
Triadic Relationships ◽  
Collaborative Innovation ◽  
Innovation Projects ◽  
Innovation Project

Purpose Suppliers are essential partners in innovation projects, as they own resources, knowledge assets and capabilities that complement those of buying firms. In today’s competitive environment, firms may choose to collaborate with suppliers beyond dyads, forming triadic or three-party relationships. Using the theoretical lens of the relational view (RV), this study aims to explore what type of triad configurations firms use to govern supplier relationships in collaborative innovation projects, how they choose to share resources and implications for project performance. Design/methodology/approach The authors use interview data from buyers and suppliers in six case studies of firms involved in ten collaborative innovation projects. The four constructs of the RV are used to observe how firms govern triadic relationships, combine complementary resources, invest in relationship-specific assets and manage information and knowledge exchange with and between suppliers in innovation projects. Findings Four archetypes of triadic relationships in innovation projects – labeled Triangle, A-frame, D-Frame and Line – are presented and characterized in terms of their structural and relational features. The authors discuss how each triad archetype is applicable to different innovation projects according to specific project characteristics. Originality/value This study is pioneering in its empirical examination of triadic relationships in collaborative innovation projects. It provides a novel typology of four archetypes of triad from the perspective of collaborative relationships with suppliers. Through applying the RV, it advances understanding of how triadic relationships are governed, how they invest in relationship-specific assets, how they combine complementary resources and how they exchange knowledge and information in each type of triad appropriate to different innovation project settings. To date, much of the extant literature has focused on dyads.

Living It Up at the Hotel California: Employee Mobility Barriers and Collaborativeness in Firms’ Innovation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunkwang Seo ◽  
Deepak Somaya
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Knowledge Spillovers ◽  
Value Capture ◽  
Employee Mobility ◽  
Mobility Barriers ◽  
Collaborative Innovation ◽  
Complex Knowledge

Research has long recognized the importance of collaboration for innovation, but relatively little is known about the strategic drivers of collaborative innovation in firms. We posit that robust collaboration within firms can increase the interfirm mobility of inventors and increase spillovers of innovative knowledge to competitors by mobile inventors. Therefore, by mitigating these value capture hazards associated with collaboration, barriers to employee mobility may induce firms to increase collaborativeness in innovation. Additionally, consistent with the mechanism underlying this proposition, we hypothesize that firms whose innovation entails more complex knowledge, which is known to impede interfirm knowledge spillovers, will increase collaboration less when employee mobility increases. We test these hypotheses by leveraging quasi-exogenous changes in two legal mobility barriers for inventors across U.S. states and find that higher-mobility barriers are associated with greater inventor collaboration (as observed in patented innovation), and this effect is weaker for firms possessing more complex knowledge. These findings deepen our understanding of the strategic tradeoffs between value creation and value capture entailed in collaborative innovation within firms and of human capital strategies that help to manage these tradeoffs.

scholarly journals Intellectual Property and Licensing Strategies in Open Collaborative Innovation

2013 ◽  
pp. 1204-1224
Author(s):  
Marcel Bogers ◽  
Rudi Bekkers ◽  
Ove Granstrand
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Property ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Collaborative Innovation ◽  
Protecting Intellectual Property ◽  
Collaborative Efforts

Protecting intellectual property and controlling the use of their inventions is key to the strategy of many firms. At the same time, in order to be successful in open collaborative innovation, firms need to share their knowledge with others. This chapter presents, for moderate specialists, some strategic considerations with respect to managing intellectual property in open collaborative innovation. The chapter discusses how licensing strategies can be employed to balance various goals in collaborative efforts to innovate. In particular, licensing of intellectual property is presented as a way to manage protected knowledge that is developed and shared in collaborative innovation. Different elementary licensing schemes are presented. Open collaborative innovation can then consist of various “modules” of elementary licenses. The chapter finally proposes a few distinct strategies for governing knowledge exchange in collaborative innovation, including open exchange and layered schemes, thereby outlining some conditions for successful open collaborative innovation.

Capture coproduction behavior in networking alumni communities: Progress from platform belongingness, knowledge sharing, and citizenship behavior

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
My-Trinh Bui ◽  
Don Jyh-Fu Jeng
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Citizenship Behavior ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Collaboration Network ◽  
Conservation Of Resources ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Community Platforms ◽  
Relational Mechanism

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate coproduction behavior in networking alumni communities via the progress from platform belongingness, knowledge sharing and citizenship behavior. Alumni networking communities have emerged as valuable assets for conserving institutional resources, supporting members and contributing new resources for alumni-institutional professional development. However, the previous literature has not yet captured the explicit processes by which these contributions are made. Design/methodology/approach Data from 711 respondents selected from an alumni collaboration network were subjected to structural equation modeling analysis. Findings The study explored resource conservation (belongingness) as the primary relational mechanism for alumni to share their instrumental resources (knowledge sharing), supporting resources (citizenship behavior) and competent resources (coproduction behavior). Knowledge sharing and citizenship behavior act as intermediate agents to trigger coproduction behavior. The authors show how subjective norm, group norm and trust is regarded as a tool to reduce bonding intrusiveness (i.e. the intrusive side-effects of a bond) and moderate the indirect effect of belongingness on coproduction and the direct effect of citizenship on coproduction. Research limitations/implications By applying attachment theory, conservation of resources theory and digital platform networking perspectives, this study describes major implications for designing inspiring and compatible community platforms. Practical implications Guidance is provided for improving sustainable alumni communities through citizenship-sharing and coproduction behavior. Social implications Online alumni communities are regarded as resource conservators, which can result in valuable coproduction, via the sharing of knowledge, expertise and skillsets to create profit for a range of institutions and industries. Originality/value Alumni networking platforms encourage alumni cohesiveness, stimulate knowledge exchange and improve professionalism.

The Use of Virtual Environments for Knowledge Sharing in Distance Learning Education, with a View to Informing Industry

2020 ◽  
pp. 588-602
Author(s):  
Olinkha Gustafson-Pearce ◽  
Susan B. Grant
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Internal Communication ◽  
Organizational Boundaries ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Social Media Tools

As social media and virtual world technology become increasingly commonplace, this paper considers how educators and industry can leverage the tools and systems of these mediums, to enable engagement and knowledge transfer between parties, with a view to informing industry from the lessons learnt. Virtual Worlds have become an extremely powerful phenomenon with millions of users. Businesses are only now beginning to acknowledge the benefits of using virtual worlds to enhance employee and supplier collaboration and to support new ideas and innovation through knowledge sharing across functions and organizational boundaries. Many businesses are still trying to understand the various implications of integrating internal communication systems with social media tools and private collaboration and networking platforms. The KNOWNET project (an EC funded Marie Curie IAPP) seeks to assess the value of virtual worlds and social networking for knowledge exchange across supply chains.

scholarly journals The knowledge protection paradox: imitation and innovation through knowledge sharing

2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (4) ◽  
pp. 310
Author(s):  
Kim E. Van Oorschot ◽  
Hans Solli Sæther ◽  
Jan Terje Karlsen
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Knowledge Protection

scholarly journals Business networking in organisationally thin regions: a case study on network brokers, SMEs and knowledge-sharing

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 839-861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birgit Leick ◽  
Susanne Gretzinger
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Business Networks ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Business Networking ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeResearch on business networks in organisationally thin regions, which are characterised by a low density and quality of business networks, is still in its infancy, while the facilitation of business networks receives increasing interest. The present paper combines both perspectives by investigating how different types of network brokers facilitate business networking and knowledge-sharing in organisationally thin regions.Design/methodology/approachBurt's theory on brokers in social networks is applied to knowledge-sharing in business networks for organisational thinness as context. A qualitative case study represents the empirical basis that describes network brokers from various domains in three different German case regions, which are characterised by organisational thinness.FindingsThe network brokers studied facilitate different types of business networks, and they use various levers to increase knowledge-sharing among companies in business networks. Two broker types emerge, private business-driven versus public policy-driven network brokers with distinct approaches to the facilitation of business networking and knowledge-sharing and different limitations due to organisational thinness.Practical implicationsCompanies, notably SMEs, in contexts characterised by low networking density and quality may benefit from various types of network brokers that foster business networking and instigate knowledge exchange. Public policy should embed activities of private brokers in existing SME assistance programmes to increase the quantity and quality of business networks.Originality/valueNetwork facilitation in regions with weaknesses in their endowment with industry clusters, business networks and innovative knowledge exchange is under-explored, and this paper contributes to shedding light on this topic with a case study.

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