Managing Open Innovation with Business Impact in the Digital Age

Managing Open Innovation with Business Impact in the Digital Age

In collaboration with the Accenture Institute for High Performance (AIHP), we have implemented a series of open innovation (OI) case studies to generate new insights on how large, innovative firms use open innovation to solve their strategic innovation problems. One particular example concluded in 2017 is that of Samsung, and its endeavor to seek IoT prototypes created by communities participating in an open innovatoin challenge. Read about it here.

With the increased digital transformation of many sectors, such problems are increasingly difficult to address. Our preliminary research suggests that one of the keys to running a successful open innovation program is choosing the correct operational mode of open innovation for the business problem at hand. This requires evaluating problem complexity and knowledge uncertainty associated with a business problem.

A number of companies who have chosen to integrate open innovation have realized that there are specific management practices required to effectively execute open innovation. Open innovation problems can involve a high level of uncertainty and technological complexity and require firms to move from traditional modes of collaboration (such as alliances) towards more open interactions with deeper exchanges of know-how and greater ambiguity such as crowds and communities. There are management challenges specific to open innovation that require a unique set of strategies and processes to be in place in order to overcome these challenges and be able to achieve higher business value through open innovation.

This study aims to create a guided open innovation framework to help companies leverage optimal value from open innovation by selecting the appropriate open innovation model, and integrating successful management strategies to balance the tensions of knowledge sharing and protection in the midst of strategic and operational ambiguity. This framework will also equip open innovation leaders with new insights into successful practices for creating business impact from open innovation.

Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts

• Develop a guided open innovation framework to help leverage optimal value.
• Proposed successful management strategies to balance the tension between knowledge sharing and protection from the strategic and operational perspective.
• Insight into successful practices for creating business impact from open innovation.

Investigators: Sabine Brunswicker, Mehdi Bagherzadeh

Partners & Sponsorship

Accenture Institute for High Performance (AIHP)