When agility meets open innovation: two approaches to manage inbound projects

Abstract

Open Innovation is a leading paradigm in the current landscape, and scholars have been highly focused on defining the characteristics and capabilities that firms need to implement it successfully. This research aims to understand how organizations may implement inbound OI projects. Relying on a multiple case study approach and based on primary and secondary sources, this research highlights two main approaches: team‐centred and individual‐centred. The two approaches are discussed according to previous studies, highlighting how the first one is particularly coherent with previous research on Open Innovation, while the second one offers great insights from an Agile Project Management perspective. In particular, this research suggests how the Open Innovation literature can be enriched by considering the recent advancements in the Agile literature, valuing the individual and its autonomy to embrace external ideas from an OI perspective.

Bridging the gap: integrating external knowledge from open innovation platforms

“…assimilated, transformed, and exploited) by the individual members of the firm to make it applicable to commercial ends (Zahra and George 2002;Zahay et al 2017). As external knowledge is usually integrated on the project level (Midler et al 2016;Pellizzoni et al 2019), the successful integration requires project teams to couple external knowledge with internal expertise to develop new knowledge connections, often incorporated in product-, process-, or service innovations (Baron 2006;Maier and Brem 2018). Here, previous literature has pointed to the fact that the process of external knowledge integration is rarely linear but contains much of what is called "trial and error" (Teece 2012;Brunswicker and Vanhaverbeke 2015).…”

“…However, although a firm's leadership and strategic direction can set the agenda for opening up corporate innovation activities, the actual conduct of a successful integration of external knowledge depends "on the absorptive capacities of its individual members" (Cohen and Levinthal 1990: 131). Here, firms usually approach OI in a structured way by defining a project team responsible for integrating external knowledge (Chiaroni et al 2010;Pellizzoni et al 2019). This team-centered approach, most firms share, make it particularly important to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges project teams face when integrating external knowledge from OI platforms (Pellizzoni et al 2019).…”

“…Here, firms usually approach OI in a structured way by defining a project team responsible for integrating external knowledge (Chiaroni et al 2010;Pellizzoni et al 2019). This team-centered approach, most firms share, make it particularly important to develop a deeper understanding of the challenges project teams face when integrating external knowledge from OI platforms (Pellizzoni et al 2019).…”

Use of Agile and Open Innovation Approaches in Executing the Projects: A Field Study on Project Managers

“…Highsmith states that one of the basic components of the agile project management is sustainable innovation (Highsmith, 2004). Agile principles, such as high level for autonomy, recognizing the role of experimentation and the chance to promote a culture for individual initiatives could be be useful in open innovation projects and these two concepts share several dynamics and fundamental principles, even though they have not been adequately studied in the literature (Pellizzoni, Trabucchi, & Buganza, 2019).…”

“…in open innovation projects and these two concepts share several dynamics and fundamental principles, even though they have not been adequately studied in the literature (Pellizzoni, Trabucchi, & Buganza, 2019).…”