Innovation is recognized as one of the main factor for firms to maintain a high profitability and pursue a sustainable growth. Traditionally, industrial companies developed new technologies for their products relying exclusively on their own R&D capabilities. In today’s competitive markets, “closed innovation” is no longer sustainable due to global competition, thus inter-organizational relationships began to form. In 2003 Chesbrough introduced Open Innovation model, which received increasing attention, and since then the body of literature related to this topic has developed rapidly. Most of the studies are conducted at a firm level although innovation activities in companies are commonly managed through R&D projects. Shifting the analysis from the firm level to the sub-firm level, the thesis aims to explore project management in open innovation projects, which has not been fully investigated in such collaborations, and how project management methodology may change in this setting compared to a traditional setting. Reviewing both Project Management and Open Innovation literature, two aspects appeared to be more interesting to focus on. Concerning the first aspect, traditional project manager roles and personal competencies have been analysed to further understand if they can be used to overcome difficulties and challenges that a project manager may encounter in open innovation projects. The second relevant aspect was to understand which project management areas appeared to be more significant in Open Innovation model. After the literature analysis, the authors of this thesis proposed stakeholder management as a field to be observed with particular attention. The topics examined were the identification of stakeholders, their engagement, and how future collaboration should be prepared. Each one of these resulted to have at the same time similar and different dynamics compared to traditional setting. The cases studied provided numerous insights to better comprehend the connection between stakeholder management and Open Innovation model. Joining the two main aspects examined, the authors of this thesis presented some suggestions for project managers on how mitigating challenges found in this context. Finally, the authors have identified the characteristics of an OI project and their implications on project management methodology.
L’innovazione è riconosciuta come uno dei principali fattori per le imprese per mantenere un’alta profittabilità e perseguire una crescita sostenibile. Tradizionalmente, le imprese hanno sviluppato nuove tecnologie per i loro prodotti facendo affidamento esclusivamente sulle proprie capacità di Ricerca & Sviluppo. Nei mercati competitivi odierni, una “Closed Innovation” non è più sostenibile a causa della competizione globale, quindi relazioni interaziendali hanno iniziato a formarsi. Nel 2003 Chesbrough ha introdotto il modello Open Innovation, ricevendo una crescente attenzione, e da allora la letteratura su quest’argomento si è sviluppata rapidamente. Molti studi sono stati condotti a livello di impresa, nonostante le attività di innovazione nelle aziende siano comunemente gestite tramite progetti di Ricerca & Sviluppo. Spostando l’unità di analisi a livello di singolo progetto, la tesi ha l’obiettivo di analizzare il project management in progetti open innovation, prima poco esplorato in questo tipo di collaborazioni, e in particolare come le metodologie tradizionali possano cambiare in questo tipo di contesto. Esaminando la letteratura riguardante sia Open Innovation sia Project Management, due aspetti sono apparsi essere interessanti per approfondire l’analisi. Per quanto riguarda il primo aspetto, i ruoli e competenze personali del project management nel contesto tradizionale sono stati studiati per comprendere se essi possano essere utilizzati per superare le difficoltà e le sfide che un project manager può incontrare in progetti Open Innovation. Il secondo aspetto rilevante è stato capire quali aree del project management fossero più significative nel modello Open Innovation. A seguito dell’analisi della letteratura gli autori di questa tesi hanno proposto lo stakeholder management come un campo da osservare con particolare attenzione. Gli argomenti esaminati sono stati l’identificazione degli stakeholder, il loro engagement, e come la futura collaborazione debba essere preparata. Ognuno di questi argomenti è risultato avere dinamiche allo stesso tempo similari e lontane dal contesto tradizionale. I casi di studio hanno fornito numerosi consigli per comprendere meglio la connessione tra lo stakeholder management e il modello Open Innovation. Unendo i due aspetti esaminati, gli autori hanno presentato alcuni suggerimenti per i project manager su come mitigare le sfide trovate nei progetti open innovation. Infine, sono state evidenziate le caratteristiche di questo tipo di progetti e le loro implicazioni sul project management tradizionale.
Exploring project management in open innovation projects: a multiple case study investigating practices, challenges and future development
DE GIUDICI, LUDOVICO;COCOCCIONI, FRANCESCA
2013/2014
Abstract
Innovation is recognized as one of the main factor for firms to maintain a high profitability and pursue a sustainable growth. Traditionally, industrial companies developed new technologies for their products relying exclusively on their own R&D capabilities. In today’s competitive markets, “closed innovation” is no longer sustainable due to global competition, thus inter-organizational relationships began to form. In 2003 Chesbrough introduced Open Innovation model, which received increasing attention, and since then the body of literature related to this topic has developed rapidly. Most of the studies are conducted at a firm level although innovation activities in companies are commonly managed through R&D projects. Shifting the analysis from the firm level to the sub-firm level, the thesis aims to explore project management in open innovation projects, which has not been fully investigated in such collaborations, and how project management methodology may change in this setting compared to a traditional setting. Reviewing both Project Management and Open Innovation literature, two aspects appeared to be more interesting to focus on. Concerning the first aspect, traditional project manager roles and personal competencies have been analysed to further understand if they can be used to overcome difficulties and challenges that a project manager may encounter in open innovation projects. The second relevant aspect was to understand which project management areas appeared to be more significant in Open Innovation model. After the literature analysis, the authors of this thesis proposed stakeholder management as a field to be observed with particular attention. The topics examined were the identification of stakeholders, their engagement, and how future collaboration should be prepared. Each one of these resulted to have at the same time similar and different dynamics compared to traditional setting. The cases studied provided numerous insights to better comprehend the connection between stakeholder management and Open Innovation model. Joining the two main aspects examined, the authors of this thesis presented some suggestions for project managers on how mitigating challenges found in this context. Finally, the authors have identified the characteristics of an OI project and their implications on project management methodology.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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2014_12_De Giudici_Cococcioni.pdf
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/99883