No abstract

In today's business environment, knowledge sources for innovation are widely distributed n the economy, pushing firms to shift from a closed to an open model of innovation. However, the successful implementation of an open innovation model requires overcoming the inertia that hinders organizations facing environmental changes. The aim of this research is to build a conceptual framework of how gamification approaches might help firms overcome inertia in open innovation implementation following an organizational change perspective. After a systematic literature review, we posit that a gamification approach can help firms overcome inertia shortcomings with respect to the three stages of organizational change that are needed to implement open innovation: unfreezing, moving and institutionalizing. This research sheds light on the barriers to open innovation and contributes to the theoretical literature on gamification. Organizations can take advantage of the new opportunities in gamification to manage the challenges of implementing an open innovation process.

We investigate how family and non-family small-and-medium size enterprises (SMEs) differ in their preference for patenting over secrecy as a means to protect value of intellectual property, and how proactive orientation moderates this relationship. Because secrecy carries more risks for spillover than patenting, we propose and provide evidence to suggest that family SMEs are more likely to use patents than secrecy relative to non-family SMEs as a mechanism to protect value. However, proactive orientation can weaken this relationship, since SMEs with a proactive orientation will avoid the disclosure of information required for patenting. Using a sample of 300 SMEs from four countries in the wine industry, we find support for our hypotheses and contribute to both the intellectual property (IP) and SME literatures by explaining how family SMEs relative to non-family SMEs protect the value of IP.

This study examines the relationship between breadths of two different modes of external knowledge: R&D outsourcing and cooperation. Building upon transaction costs literature and literature on research partner breadth and R&D outsourcing, we hypothesise an U-inverted relationship between outsourcing breadth and innovation performance and a complementary relationship between R&D outsourcing and R&D cooperation. The model is tested on a large sample based on CIS survey for Spain. The empirical analysis confirms the U-inverted relationship between outsourcing breadth and innovation and also reveals an interesting result: the complementary effect of R&D cooperation varies with the level of R&D outsourcing breadth and it is not confirmed for low and medium levels of R&D outsourcing breadth. The results have important implications for theory on the selection of different modes of inbound open innovation and for managers and their cooperation and outsourcing strategies.

Servitization allows manufacturing firms to differentiate themselves from rivals and become more competitive. Scholars have studied the service paradox, but analysis of the relationship between servitization and firm performance has provided inconclusive results. In terms of the antecedents that influence this relationship, the literature has tended to focus on firm and product characteristics but not on companies' innovative behavior. This article probes the relationship between servitization and firm performance by focusing on two forms of innovation (technological and open) that may exert an influence. The study draws on the resource‐based view literature to explain the role of interactions between technological innovation, service innovation, and open innovation in enhancing firm performance. Longitudinal empirical analysis was conducted with a sample of Spanish industrial firms for the period 2010–2016. Two time‐lagged models were built and analyzed. The results show that technological innovation influences servitization. This relationship is moderated by open innovation. Servitization mediates the relationship between technological innovation and firm performance. The findings contribute to the literature on servitization and innovation management. Innovation is posited as an antecedent to the service paradox. Products, services, and open innovation should be considered when firms design innovation strategies to improve their performance. Such innovation strategies should lead to an increase in servitization. Service innovation should be supported by open innovation to strengthen technological innovation potential.