The Generation of Common Purpose in Innovation Partnerships: a Design Perspective

Thomas Gillier (), Akin Kazakçi () and Gérald Piat ()
Additional contact information
Thomas Gillier: MTS - Management Technologique et Strategique - EESC-GEM Grenoble Ecole de Management
Akin Kazakçi: CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Gérald Piat: EDF - EDF

Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) from HAL

Abstract: Purpose - Scholars and practitioners have both emphasized the importance of collaboration in innovation context. They have also largely acknowledged that the definition of common purpose is a major driver of successful collaboration, but surprisingly, researchers have put little effort into investigating the process whereby the partners define the common purpose. This research aims to explore the Generation of Common Purpose (GCP) in innovation partnerships. Design/methodology/approach - An action-research approach combined with modeling has been followed. Our research is based on an in-depth qualitative case study of a cross-industry exploratory partnership through which four partners, from very different arenas, aim to collectively define innovation projects based on micro-nanotechnologies. Based on a design reasoning framework, the mechanisms of GCP mechanism are depicted. Findings - Regarding GCP, two main interdependent facets are identified: (1) the determination of existing intersections between the parties' concept and knowledge spaces ('Matching'); (2) an introspective learning process that allows the parties to transforms those spaces ('Building'). Practical implications - The better understanding of the GCP and the specific notion of "C-K profiles", which is an original way to characterize each partner involved in a partnership, should improve the capabilities of organizations to efficiently define collaborative innovation projects. Originality/value - This article explores one of the cornerstones of successful collaboration in innovation: the process whereby several parties define the common purpose of their partnership.

Keywords: Innovation; Partnership; Design; Generation of common purpose; Innovation partnerships; Shared objectives; C-K design theory; Cross-industry exploratory partnership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-07-13
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-ino, nep-ipr, nep-pr~ and nep-ppm
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00718287v1
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Published in European Journal of Innovation Management, 2012, 15 (3), pp.372-392. ⟨10.1108/14601061211243684⟩

Downloads: (external link)
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00718287v1/document (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:gemptp:halshs-00718287

DOI: 10.1108/14601061211243684

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().