Empowerment of SMEs Through Open Innovation Strategies

Abstract

Adoption of innovation strategies in entrepreneurship is an age old phenomenon, but inclusion of open innovation or collaborative innovation strategies in the business processes is a newly evolved concept. By far, most research reveals that the majority of successful global ventures are adopting open innovation strategies in their business proceedings. However, despite their contribution to entrepreneurship and national economy, the small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) are well below the expectation level in terms of acquiring this newly emerged trend of doing business. Moreover, not much research is being conducted to investigate SMEs potencies, expectations, delivery channels and intricacies around the adoption, nourishment and dissemination of open innovation strategies. This research proposes a contextual framework leading to an operational framework to explore the lifecycle of open innovation strategy management activities focusing technology transfer (inbounds or outwards). It discusses a few issues on future research in empowering SMEs through utilization of open innovation strategies.

Open Innovation in Entrepreneurships:Agents of Transformation towards the Knowledge-Based Economy

“…Innovation is a major source of economic performance and social welfare of a country (OECD, 1999;Veloso, 2003a: 2003b;Hamalainen and Heiskala, 2007;Ghili and Tavana, 2011;Abreu, Grinevich, Kitson and Savon, 2011;Rahman and Ramos, 2011a;2011b). It directly affects productivity, job creation and citizens' welfare and assists to address global challenges such as the economic crisis, health, education and environment (OECD, 2009).…”

Challenges in Adopting Open Innovation Strategies in SMEs: An Exploratory Study in Portugal

“…Innovation, being latent within the product, process and service in an enterprise as it grows naturally, and if these three could be intermingled further, such as incorporating new idea and changes through product, process and or service development, bond of innovation increases (Rahman & Ramos, 2012a). In broad sense, there are quite a few means in the literature that support innovation in organizations (Caetano & Amaral, 2011).…”