Search

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2008.10.001 Byline: Vareska van de Vrande (a), Jeroen P.J. de Jong (b), Wim Vanhaverbeke (c), Maurice de Rochemont (d) Keywords: Open innovation; SMEs; Technology markets; Incidence; Perceived trend; Motives; Managerial challenges Abstract: Open innovation has so far been studied mainly in high-tech, multinational enterprises. This exploratory paper investigates if open innovation practices are also applied by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Drawing on a database collected from 605 innovative SMEs in the Netherlands, we explore the incidence of and apparent trend towards open innovation. The survey furthermore focuses on the motives and perceived challenges when SMEs adopt open innovation practices. Within the survey, open innovation is measured with eight innovation practices reflecting technology exploration and exploitation in SMEs. We find that the responding SMEs engage in many open innovation practices and have increasingly adopted such practices during the past 7 years. In addition, we find no major differences between manufacturing and services industries, but medium-sized firms are on average more heavily involved in open innovation than their smaller counterparts. We furthermore find that SMEs pursue open innovation primarily for market-related motives such as meeting customer demands, or keeping up with competitors. Their most important challenges relate to organizational and cultural issues as a consequence of dealing with increased external contacts. Author Affiliation: (a) College of Management of Technology, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Odyssea 1.19, Station 5, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland (b) EIM Business and Policy Research, The Netherlands (c) Faculty of Business Studies, Hasselt University, Belgium (d) Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2007.10.001 Byline: Vareska van de Vrande (a), Wim Vanhaverbeke (b), Geert Duysters (c) Keywords: External technology sourcing; Governance modes; Real options theory; Transaction cost theory; External and relational uncertainty Abstract: External knowledge sourcing is increasingly important for corporate entrepreneurship. In this study, we examine the effect of external and relational uncertainty on the governance choice for inter-organizational technology sourcing. We develop a number of hypotheses about the impact of environmental turbulence, technological newness, technological distance and prior cooperation on the choice between different governance modes. Data about external technology sourcing transactions in the pharmaceutical industry do not provide evidence for a continuum from less to more integrated sourcing modes. However, we find that the ranking depends on the type of uncertainty, indicating that firms tackle different types of uncertainty with different governance modes. Author Affiliation: (a) RSM Erasmus University, The Netherlands (b) Hasselt University, Belgium (c) UNU-MERIT and Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands Article History: Received 1 September 2006; Revised 1 October 2007; Accepted 1 October 2007