Dynamic openness for network-enabled product and process innovation: a panel-data analysis

Effie Kesidou

doi:10.1108/IJOPM-06-2021-0380

2022-02-25

DOI：10.1108/IJOPM-06-2021-0380

原文链接

原文求助

摘要

En 中文

Purpose Prior research on open innovation has not investigated changes in knowledge acquisition strategies of firms over time overlooking how learning from past knowledge acquisition can change subsequent search strategies. Also, prior research has focused principally on product innovation overlooking process innovation. The purpose of the paper is to introduce the concept of dynamic openness, which is defined as temporal changes in external knowledge search strategy. We explore four dynamic openness strategies - closing down, opening up, persistent open and persistent closed - and examine the impact of these strategies on both product and process innovation. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a panel dataset of 16,021 firms based on five waves (2009-2017) of the UK Community Innovation Survey (UKIS). All models are estimated using firm and year fixed effects (FE) method to control for endogeneity that arises from unobserved heterogeneity. Endogeneity and robustness tests were carried out to ensure the validity of results. Findings The results show that firms do use dynamic openness strategies over time leveraging learning from past searches. Specifically, the study indicates that closing down is not an effective strategy for either type of innovation. For process innovation, firms should pursue opening up strategy rather than persistent open strategy, whereas for product innovation firms could pursue either strategy, highlighting important contextual differences. Originality/value The paper contributes to the literature on knowledge acquisition in open innovation: (1) by theorizing the underlying reasons - learning from past collaborations, absorptive capacity and external knowledge heterogeneity - why firms pursue one dynamic openness strategy over another and (2) by extending literature by delineating the dynamic openness strategies that firms should pursue in process innovation vs product innovation.

Keyword:

Dynamic openness

Product

Process innovation

Panel data

Open innovation