Capacity of open innovation activities in fostering product and process innovation in manufacturing SMEs
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Capacity of open innovation activities in fostering product and process innovation in manufacturing SMEs Antonia Madrid‑Guijarro1 · Dominique Philippe Martin2 · Domingo García‑Pérez‑de‑Lema1 Received: 29 January 2020 / Accepted: 6 November 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The purpose of this research is to study whether open innovation practices in SMEs favour technological innovations and the drivers of these. We propose a model of SME open innovation based on human capital (HC) approach and the commitment to learning with an emphasis on the risk taking and the formalization of an innovation strategy. The results, on a sample of 267 SMEs, show that a manager’s attitude to risk-taking and the formalization of an innovation strategy are the most important variables which promote SME open innovation. Innovation strategy formalization leverages the impact of HC and commitment to learning on open innovation, identifying an important mediating effect. Finally, open innovation activities promote product and process innovation, although this effect is greater for outbound activities. These findings have important implications for both managers and policy-makers. Keywords Open innovation · Risk-taking · Innovation strategy · SMEs · Human capital JEL Classification O30 · M10 · L60 · L20
* Antonia Madrid‑Guijarro [email protected] Dominique Philippe Martin dominique.martin@univ‑rennes1.fr Domingo García‑Pérez‑de‑Lema [email protected] 1
Department of Economics, Accounting and Finance, Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena, Cátedra de Emprendimiento Santander-UPCT, Calle Real, 3, 30201 Cartagena, Spain
2
CREM UMR CNRS 6211, Universités de Rennes, Rennes, France
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1 Introduction As a consequence of technological change and an increase in competition, companies are implementing open innovation models (Laursen and Salter 2006; Spithoven et al. 2013; West and Bogers 2017; Chesbrough 2003). To the general question, "What are the advantages of open innovation practices?”, previous literature highlights that these kinds of activities allow companies to add value and maximize their innovation performance (Chesbrough and Crowther 2006; Laursen and Salter 2006). These advantages also concern Small and Mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) (Cheng and Huizingh 2014; Hossain and Kauranen 2016) and young SMEs (Kraus et al. 2020). This is particularly true due to their lack of financing resources and internal sources of information (Spithoven et al. 2013; Verbano et al. 2015; Madrid-Guijarro et al. 2009), and because technological processes and products are becoming more and more complex every day (Bianchi et al. 2010). This field of research on open innovation (OI), and more specifically, inbound and outbound practices, is now becoming well delineated (Lichtenthaler 2015; van de Vrande et al. 2009; Helm et al. 2019). Development in this field is twofold. On the one hand, there are a number of facilitators, but also difficulties
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