Open Innovation: A Theory-Based View

Teppo Felin and Todd R. Zenger

Strategic Management Review, 2020, vol. 1, issue 2, 223-232

Abstract: In this short essay we argue that open innovation requires a point of view—a firm-specific theory. In competitive environments, openness is not a free and obvious resource: openness can be costly and requires a theory of what a firm should uniquely be open to. Openness is most effective when firms are not merely scanning or filtering the environment, but rather when they know what they are looking for—a critical distinction. Thus we argue that the commonly used funnel or filtering metaphor of open innovation—where the firm seeks to be more and more open to the environment—is misleading and problematic. Instead, openness should be conceived of as a directed activity: an activity directed by the theories, hypotheses, and problems of the firm. To use a metaphor, rather than increase the aperture, lens size, breadth, and overall capacity to be open to and absorb external factors (information, ideas, products, solutions), we argue that the best outcomes from openness emerge from a more targeted search- or flashlight approach. We conclude with a discussion of future directions building on this agenda.

Keywords: Strategy; open innovation; cognition; theory for the firm; governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/111.00000011 (application/xml)

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:now:jnlsmr:111.00000011

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Strategic Management Review from now publishers
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Lucy Wiseman ().