Exploring the role of open innovation in building organizational resilience

Open Innovation and Organizational Resilience have been studied extensively in the last 20 years. Although the positive influence of Open Innovation on Organizational Resilience has been demonstrated, there is a lack of literature when it comes to the role played by Open Innovation in building resilience. The aim of this paper is to fill this gap, against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic which is having a profound impact on economic and social life throughout much of the world. We do so by focusing on outside-in Open Innovation and by taking a process-based approach of resilience. We choose to explore this research question by using a qualitative exploratory research, by conducting semi-structured interviews with mainly innovation and Open Innovation managers from companies with a certain degree of Open Innovation awareness and maturity. This research highlights the importance of having a clear governance of Open Innovation and an internal collaborative innovation culture embraced by the leadership to fully reap the benefits of Open Innovation, especially during a crisis. It also highlights the role of employee-driven innovation in diffusing this culture. Finally, viewing Open Innovation as a process, our research suggests that the degree of openness increases with the different phases of the resilience building process and that different open innovation strategies.

N/A