Open Innovation in Indian Organizations: Types of Collaboration

Abstract

In order to succeed, it is important for any organization to leverage the power of the known and unknown networks around it. The organization must collaborate with others, and to do so requires it to open up its boundaries inside-out, outside-in, or both. However, the type of collaboration required to work with other parties and the respective output is different across different organizations on account of need, R&D intensity, capability, and risk-taking ability, as well as the nature of the business and industry. The major problem that comes in the way of open innovation in Indian organizations is their risk taking ability; the more an organization collaborates, the more risk it is taking by sharing internal information with the other parties. Through a sample of 31 manufacturing-based firms in India belonging to 12 different industries, the article explores the types of collaborations that they have with various related or unrelated organizations as they engage in open innovation. The article compares the collaborations each industry has entered into to identify the industries that are more open to take risks by collaborating with other parties in multiple ways.