This paper addresses an important gap in the literature intersection between network theory and networked innovation by developing a theoretical framework on how to leverage learning alliances across extra-and intra-corporate levels to support both exploration and exploitation of innovation to secure its creation and its implementation. A detailed case of the Volvo C70 development is analysed with focus on how the full innovation from exploration to exploitation of innovation seem to rely on fundamentally different types and structures of networks. Our detailed description and analysis of how a 'transformation network' was established and operated across different organizational levels to secure not only transfer, but also transformation and integration of knowledge into commercialized innovation makes an important contribution to extant theory on inter-organizational knowledge transfer and networking.

This paper explores the role of relationships in the emergence of a network's value creation structure. The strategic navigation from creative exploration to global exploitation through the use of so‐called transformation networks is particularly highlighted. The creativity phase requires a creator with visionary leadership. The commercialisation phase, on the other hand, requires technology integration and global marketing excellence. Realising that this requires more than a bright inventor, the creator of Anoto brought in the right complementary assets at distinct phases of the commercialisation process. Our case illustrates how integrator and marketeer profiles were brought into a networked act of entrepreneurship for joint navigation across an ocean of relationships that gave birth to a global standard for digital writing. By combining theories on open innovation and networking, a theoretical framework is developed to analyse the different nature of the networks (or the value creation structure) in which complementary assets can be accessed, transferred and transformed into commercialised innovation. The analysis suggests that the value of complementary assets are embedded in and unlocked by three distinct types of networks: creativity networks, transformation networks and process networks. It also suggests that the ideal approach to accessing complementary assets shifts over the research and development management process, and happens through these three different types and levels of networks, requiring fundamentally different approaches to leadership and relationship management. Current literature describes open and networked innovation as a continuous – not dynamic – process of exploration and exploitation without any distinction of how types and structures of networks evolve and interact in the process.

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To ensure the ongoing vitality of a company's product offerings, R&D professionals must play a daunting array of roles. The already rapid, yet still accelerating, pace of technological change may lead some companies to devote more resources to intensive internal research efforts. However, the shift toward global competition demands a more market‐oriented focus from R&D; clear understanding of current and potential markets must drive R&D efforts. And efficient, cost‐effective manufacturing of new products requires an R&D organization that understands and interacts effectively with the production department. How does a company create an environment in which its R&D organization comprises market‐savvy, production‐friendly experts in diverse technologies? With case studies of R&D efforts at Canon and Sony, Sigvald Harryson identifies and illustrates the key mechanisms that these companies use to foster product innovation. His examples show how Canon and Sony use a combination of external and internal networking mechanisms to identify and acquire key technologies and related skills, gain market knowledge, improve the results of internal R&D efforts, and ensure the successful transfer of these results to efficient production processes. He identifies four key mechanisms underlying successful product innovation at Canon and Sony: strategic training and job rotation for engineers, application‐driven R&D, direct transfer of development teams from R&D to production, and extensive networking with external centers of excellence and key suppliers. At Canon, the initial training program for all researchers and engineers begins with three months of work on a production line. Sony's new researchers and development engineers spend one month in production. Both companies also give their new R&D professionals three months of training in sales and marketing. The emphasis on market‐driven research at both companies means that researchers have identified some commercial application for almost every initial research proposal that gains approval. Neither company treats research as a long‐term assignment; almost all engineers at both companies eventually move from the labs to production. And rather than viewing this job rotation strategy as a drain on the technological expertise in their labs, both companies rely on strong external networks with key suppliers and university‐based researchers as important sources for acquiring new technologies and the competencies needed to support them.