Product innovation rumors as forms of open innovation

Prior studies of open innovation have highlighted the effects of different flows of knowledge between firms and external partners—such as flows of software code, technical solutions, or new product ideas—and how firms face a “paradox of openness” about how open to be to external sources while also appropriating value. There are increasingly flows of more provisional knowledge as well, in the form of product innovation rumors exchanged within online technology blogs. Our study objective was to understand how product innovation rumors are used by firms as both inflows and outflows of provisional knowledge and their effect on the innovation process. Using interview data within a high-technology firm whose forthcoming products were the subject of rumor within technology blogs, we develop propositions regarding how inflows of product innovation rumors affect innovation decisions (while addressing concerns about appropriability and intrafirm knowledge flows) and how outflows from firms may affect stakeholders outside the firm (through selective revealing and influence of technology blog editors). Product innovation rumors in part address the paradox of openness by forming an informal means of open innovation alongside formal processes, and we suggest further research opportunities in this domain.     

Open innovation and within-industry diversification in small and medium enterprises: The case of open source software firms

This paper examines the within-industry diversification of software small and medium enterprises that collaborate with the open source software community (OSS SMEs). In doing so, it offers new insights into the association between open innovation and diversification. We rely on arguments inspired by the literature and evidence collected through interviews with OSS SMEs’ top managers to investigate factors that favor or hinder within-industry diversification. First, in line with the mainstream diversification literature, we focus attention on the role of firm size. Second, in the spirit of the open innovation research, we concentrate on the mechanisms that OSS SMEs put in place to get access to the external resources of the OSS community. Econometric evidence on 100 European OSS SMEs shows that firm size is negatively associated to within-industry diversification, while OSS SMEs that have contributed to a larger number of OSS projects have a more diversified portfolio of software products. Furthermore, we provide preliminary evidence that the practice of authorizing firm programmers to contribute autonomously to OSS projects of their own choice during working hours may be positively associated to within-industry diversification only if OSS SMEs possess adequate internal technological resources.     

粘着信息与用户创新工具箱:一个研究综述

创新源理论与应用是企业创新理论中一个非常重要的研究领域 ,而粘着信息和用户创新工具箱的研究在创新源理论与应用中占据举足轻重的地位。以麻省理工学院冯·希普尔为主要代表的国外创新专家在粘着信息和用户创新工具箱等方面的研究取得了突破性的进展 ,有力地推动了创新源理论与应用的发展。本文详尽而深入地对他们在粘着信息和用户创新工具箱等方面的研究进行了评述 ,并为这些理论的进一步发展和完善指出了研究方向     

产品创新信息源的挖掘方法体系研究

本文认为深层次、模糊认知的心理需要、体验需要是产品创新关键的信息源,对开发全新市场、引导消费时尚、领先竞争对手有着重要意义。文章把敏感消费者作为信息源分析对象,探究其认知结构,并由此构造了产品创新信息源的挖掘方法体系,它整合了当前研究消费者认知结构的一些重要方法,把消费者价值观与产品属性关联起来。研究通过实验对方法体系的有效性进行了验证。     

技术多元化、标准化能力与企业创新绩效

本文通过我国汽车产业200家企业1996~2010年专利、标准与企业性质的面板数据,采用负二项随机效应回归模型,实证分析了相关和非相关技术多元化与企业技术创新绩效之间的关系,并检验了技术标准化能力对二者间关系的影响。研究结果表明：相关技术多元化与企业技术创新绩效呈正相关,技术标准化能力显著负向调节二者之间的关系;非相关技术多元化与企业技术创新绩效呈倒U型关系,技术标准化能力显著正向调节非相关技术多元化与企业技术创新绩效之间的正向关系。研究结论丰富了技术多元化与创新绩效关系的研究,为我国企业构建合理的技术多元化战略提供了理论指导。     

User-innovators and “local” information: The case of mountain biking

In a study of innovations developed by mountain bikers, we find that user-innovators almost always utilize “local” information - information already in their possession or generated by themselves - both to determine the need for and to develop the solutions for their innovations. We argue that this finding fits the economic incentives operating on users. Local need information will in general be the most relevant to user-innovators, since the bulk of their innovation-related rewards typically come from in-house use. User-innovators will increasingly tend to rely on local solution information as the stickiness of non-local solution information rises. When user-innovators do rely on local information, it may be possible to predict the general nature of the innovations they might develop.     

开放式创新背景下产业集聚与创新绩效关系研究——以中国高技术产业为例

产业集聚对高技术产业创新具有重要影响。本文在开放式创新的背景下,整合集聚经济理论、资源观理论和制度理论三种理论视角,以中国高技术产业为研究对象选取了221个样本,对产业集聚程度和创新的关系进行了探索。研究发现,在不同的集聚程度下,产业集聚对创新的影响存在区别:集聚程度较低时,专业化集聚有利于创新,而多样化集聚抑制创新;相反,集聚程度较高时,专业化集聚不利于创新,而多样化集聚促进创新。此外,企业开放式的创新战略能够有效提高多样化集聚对创新绩效的影响。     

Containing the Not-Invented-Here Syndrome in external knowledge absorption and open innovation: The role of indirect countermeasures

This paper builds new theory and provides supporting evidence to contain the Not-Invented-Here Syndrome (NIHS) – a persistent decision-making error arising from an attitude-based bias against external knowledge. Conceptually, we draw on the 4i framework of organizational learning to develop a novel process perspective on NIHS. This allows us not only to unpack how and where NIHS impedes organizational learning, but also to identify the key requirements for effective NIHS countermeasures. Importantly, countermeasures fall into two categories: those that seek to change the negative attitude directly (direct NIHS countermeasures) and those that seek to attenuate the behavioral impact of negative attitudes without addressing the attitudes as such (indirect NIHS countermeasures). While the evidence base on direct NIHS countermeasures has grown over the last decade, indirect NIHS countermeasures have received little research attention. To address this gap, we adopt a mixed methods research design composed of two complementary empirical studies – the first qualitative and the second quantitative. Study 1 explores the prevalence of distinct NIHS countermeasures in collaborative R&D practice. Based on 32 interviews and three focus group meetings with R&D employees, we find that a broad array of primarily direct NIHS countermeasures is employed in R&D practice. Study 2 addresses the scarcity of scholarly and managerial insights on indirect NIHS countermeasures by testing the effectiveness of perspective taking as a debiasing technique to contain negative attitudes at the level of the individual. Based on quantitative survey data from 565 global R&D projects, it provides empirical evidence not only for the prevalence and negative effects of NIHS on project success as mediated by external knowledge absorption, but also for the effectiveness of perspective taking as an exemplary indirect NIHS countermeasure.     

无缝开放式创新:基于小米案例探讨互联网生态中的产品创新模式

作为企业商务模式的重要部分,产品创新模式在互联网生态环境下呈现出了崭新的特点。本文以快速成长的智能手机公司小米为案例探讨互联网环境中的产品创新模式,有三个主要发现:1)小米充分利用互联网生态环境,聚焦互联网的客户群特征并采用最新互联网工具和平台激励客户参与小米研发;2)与传统开放式创新不同的是,小米不仅创新思路来自客户,并且在产品创新全过程都深度把客户卷入进来,在产品研发各阶段用众包方式与客户无缝合作,充分利用客户的认知盈余;3)与传统创新管理分阶段线性流程不同的是,小米创新过程采用小团队全程负责,每个创新阶段无缝对接,迭代开发、循环往复。我们认为这个模式呈现了独特性,可称为为"无缝开放式创新"。小米模式已经成为众多企业学习和模仿的对象,因此对这种模式更深入和广泛的研究对进一步夯实理论是有意义的。     

企业-高校合作创新的信息不对称博弈分析

企业与高校的合作创新是企业获取技术的一种重要手段。本文运用博弈论基本理论和模型对企业和高校间的技术交易这类合作创新中的信息不对称问题进行了研究，并解释了企业高校基于技术交易这一合作创新过程中的逆向选择现象存在的原因。     

Externalities of openness in innovation

Discussion of open innovation has typically stressed the benefits to the individual enterprise from boundary-spanning linkages and improved internal knowledge sharing. In this paper we explore the potential for wider benefits from openness in innovation and argue that openness may itself generate positive externalities by enabling improved knowledge diffusion. The potential for these (positive) externalities suggests a divergence between the private and social returns to openness and the potential for a sub-optimal level of openness where this is determined purely by firms’ private returns. Our analysis is based on Irish plant-level panel data from manufacturing industry over the period 1994–2008. Based on instrumental variables regression models our results suggest that externalities of openness in innovation are significant and that they are positively associated with firms’ innovation performance. We find that these externality effects are unlikely to work through their effect on the spread of open innovation practices. Instead, they appear to positively influence innovation outputs by either increasing knowledge diffusion or strengthening competition. Our evidence on the significance of externalities from openness in innovation provides a rationale for public policy aimed at promoting open innovation practices among firms.     

On the management of open innovation

In an open innovation relationship, the party that owns a key asset enjoys bargaining power that discourages the investments of the other party in the collaboration. We show that these incentives can be restored by conferring on the weak party the power to take decisions during the research process – e.g., a pharmaceutical firm with manufacturing and commercialization assets offers the direction of a joint research project to a biotech partner. However, on many occasions, the strong party still captures more value from the collaboration by retaining the power to take decisions during research even if it produces less innovation value and fewer aggregate profits. We conclude that the potential of open innovation is underexploited. In particular, owners may not release enough power to take decisions on the use of their assets.     

Collaborative networks and product innovation performance: Toward a contingency perspective

An increasing number of studies have examined the impact of collaborative networks on product innovation performance, but have produced inconsistent results. This research contributes to existing literature by examining how absorptive capacity affects the relationships between different types of partners and product innovation performance. The sample used in this research is drawn from the Taiwanese Technological Innovation Survey (TTIS) database. A moderated hierarchical regression approach is used to analyze the models, which are further explored by firm size and industry type. Some interesting findings appear. First, absorptive capacity positively moderates the impact of vertical collaboration on the performance of technologically new or improved products. Second, the effect of absorptive capacity on the relationship between supplier collaboration and the performance of new products with marginal changes varies based on firm size and industry type. Third, absorptive capacity negatively affects the relationship between customer collaboration and the performance of marginally changed products. Fourth, absorptive capacity positively affects the relationship between competitor collaboration and the performance of new products with marginal changes for large firms. Fifth, absorptive capacity negatively affects the relationship between collaboration with research organizations and the performance of technologically new or improved products. On the contrary, absorptive capacity positively affects the impact of collaboration with research organizations on the performance of marginally changed products. These results enrich current understanding of the relationships between collaborative networks and product innovation performance.     

Managing open incremental process innovation: Absorptive Capacity and distributed learning

In this conceptual article, we extend earlier work on Open Innovation and Absorptive Capacity. We suggest that the literature on Absorptive Capacity does not place sufficient emphasis on distributed knowledge and learning or on the application of innovative knowledge. To accomplish physical transformations, organisations need specific Innovative Capacities that extend beyond knowledge management. Accessive Capacity is the ability to collect, sort and analyse knowledge from both internal and external sources. Adaptive Capacity is needed to ensure that new pieces of equipment are suitable for the organisation's own purposes even though they may have been originally developed for other uses. Integrative Capacity makes it possible for a new or modified piece of equipment to be fitted into an existing production process with a minimum of inessential and expensive adjustment elsewhere in the process. These Innovative Capacities are controlled and coordinated by Innovative Management Capacity, a higher-order dynamic capability.     

Technological outsourcing and product diversification: do markets for technology affect firms’ strategies?

This paper analyses how the existence of competitive technology markets affects firms’ technology sourcing decisions, and their propensity to enter into new product markets. While the division of innovative labour has received increasing attention within the economic literature, this paper focuses on its managerial implications. By means of a specialised database, we assess how patterns of technology trade influence firms’ technology and diversification strategies in the chemical industry. We find that, the larger the market for technology, the stronger the advantages to substitute internal R&D with outsourcing, and to increase the degree of product diversification.     

Societal trust and open innovation

While open innovation provides a new paradigm to sustain a firm’s competitive advantage, opening up to external knowledge also entails substantial risks of appropriation and opportunism. Building on this “open paradox” framework, this study investigates whether societal trust—a key aspect of informal cultural norms—serves as an effective mechanism in improving relational governance among partners, thereby leading to better collaborative outcomes. Using a novel panel data on co-owned patents across 29 countries, we show that firms in high trust countries are able to produce a higher level of joint output (i.e., co-owned patents). This effect is more pronounced when perceived opportunism is higher (i.e., firms in high-tech industries, or in countries with less disclosure transparency), and when formal contracts are less enforceable (i.e., in countries with relatively weak legal systems). We further show that open innovation is the channel through which societal trust promotes innovative efficiency. Overall, our study establishes societal trust as a key factor in influencing the efficiency of open innovation.     

技术多元化对创新绩效的双中介作用机理研究

随着知识经济时代的到来，如何通过技术多元化提升企业创新绩效引起重点关注，但对两者间的内在机理尚缺乏深入剖析。为此，本文从组织能力视角出发，构建“技术广度多元化、技术深度多元化--吸收能力、技术整合能力--创新绩效”的理论框架，采用回归分析等方法，以沪深两市6个制造行业303家上市公司为样本进行实证检验，研究发现：（1）技术广度多元化与技术深度多元化对创新绩效呈现显著正向影响：（2）吸收能力与技术整合能力在技术多元化与创新绩效间所起作用各不相同，技术广度多元化主要通过吸收能力提升创新绩效，而技术深度多元化主要通过技术整合能力对创新绩效起作用。     

Linking operations strategy and product innovation: an empirical study of Spanish ceramic tile producers

This paper deals with the fit between operations strategy and product innovation. The literature review suggests that product-innovating firms should have specific, competitive priorities with regard to operations. In order to test this proposition, we carried out a survey of the competitive priorities in the Spanish ceramic tile industry. We classified respondents according to the number of new products launched between 1997 and 1999. New products were identified according to the literature-based innovation output indicator. Our results revealed that the more-innovative firms follow a different operations strategy than the less-innovative firms because of the emphasis placed on flexibility and quality capabilities.     

Organisational learning antecedents and open innovation: Differences in internationalisation level

The aim of this study is to inspect differences in internationalisation level of firms from a transitional economy based on their innovation outcomes, open innovation and organisational learning practices. Results indicate that firms with lower internationalisation level owe their innovation success to coupled and outbound open innovation practices that originate from market research, competitor tracking and public information. Mediating effect of outbound innovation is present in the relationship between market research and innovation success. Firms with higher internationalisation level do not exhibit significant effect of open innovation on innovation success, but their organisational learning antecedents such as market research and research and development negatively affect innovation success, while public information and forecasting have a significant positive effect on innovation success. The major contribution of this study is the understanding of how organisational learning antecedents and open innovation practices interact in firms with different internationalisation levels, whereby firms with higher internationalisation level already have competitive advantage that lower internationalisation firms need to achieve.     

The emergence of openness: How and why firms adopt selective revealing in open innovation

Open innovation is often facilitated by strong intellectual property rights (IPRs), but it may also function, and even be boosted, when firms deliberately waive some of their IPRs. Extant literature has pointed out the potential benefits of such behavior, but falls short of explaining what triggers firms to practice it in the first place and to maintain or extend it. Since the waiving of IPRs runs counter to common views on strategy and competition and to engrained practices, this is a non-trivial question. To address it, we conduct an empirical study in a segment of the computer component industry which traditionally has taken a rather proprietary stance. With the advent of the open source operating system Linux, firms increasingly waived their IPRs on software drivers. We trace and analyze this process using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Our results indicate that component makers went through a learning process, which led some to realize how selectively waiving IPRs may be beneficial for their business. We uncover customer demand pull as the initial trigger and observe how a positive feedback loop sets in subsequently, leading to a further increase in the use of selective revealing. Overall, we find that openness develops into a new dimension of competition. We discuss the implication of our findings for research on open innovation and highlight how they impact managers in practice.