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Part I
State of the Art on Open Innovation in SMEs
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Chapter 1
A Systematic Review of the Literature on Open Innovation in SMEs
Muhammad Usman,* Nadine Roijakkers,
Wim Vanhaverbeke and Federico Frattini
Abstract
1.1.Introduction
This chapter provides a systematic review of the open innovation (OI) research carried out within the context of small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs). As such, the chapter builds on and extends the work carried out by Brunswicker and Van de Vrande (2014) who have equally conducted a literature search and have identified several interesting themes for further research, such as the important role of SMEs as coordinators/orchestrators of their OI relations and how to optimally fulfill this role. Furthermore, they have concluded that, while the literature on OI has grown exponentially ever since Henry Chesbrough published his groundbreaking work in 2003 (Chesbrough, 2003), SMEs have received only little attention. Most researchers have studied large multinationals and their OI practices, and the lessons drawn from these cases and studies cannot be easily transferred to SMEs; SMEs represent unique contexts in terms of their resource endowments, skill sets, the tight connection between the entrepreneur and the (OI) strategy of the company, etc. (Van de Vrande et al., 2009; Vanhaverbeke, 2012). An explicit focus on the specifics of the SME context when studying these companies is thus warranted. Hence, for the purpose of this book, this chapter extends the efforts of Brunswicker and Van de Vrande (2014) and Hossain and Kauranen (2016) with respect to mapping the OI in SMEs research field, albeit with a focus on the themes covered in subsequent chapters of this edited book.
SMEs are crucial catalysts of both developed and developing economies, accounting for over 99% of all businesses and more than 60% of all jobs created, as well as important sources of innovation (Audretsch, 1995; Muller et al., 2015). As such, governments are searching for ways to increase the productivity of SMEs. Several researchers have identified OI as an important strategy to overcome typical SME weaknesses such as resource (time, money, etc.) constraints and skill gaps (Bougrain and Haudeville, 2002; Dahlander and Gann, 2010; Edwards et al., 2005; Lee et al., 2010; Rahman and Ramos, 2010; Wynarczyk et al., 2013). In order to optimally benefit from OI, however, companies need to develop completely new skill sets (e.g., orchestration capabilities) and create the right atmosphere (e.g., open culture) within their firms. While researchers have generated best practices and lessons on how to bring these changes about within the context of large companies, the insights on SMEs are still relatively thin. This chapter intends to remedy this gap, and one important first step is to map the existing work on OI in SMEs, on the basis of which valuable new insights can be generated. The aims of this chapter are thus twofold:
•mapping the existing literature in the OI in SMEs field so as to provide a basis for subsequent chapters;
•identifying promising areas for future research that subsequent chapters connect to.
In terms of methodology, we conducted a thorough review and analysis of papers published on Web of Science (Core Collection) during the period starting January 1, 2003 till June 19, 2017, following established approaches for systematic literature reviews by many authors (Pittaway et al., 2004; Rousseau et al., 2008; Spender et al., 2017). Our review is concentrated not only on the field of innovation management but also includes related fields (e.g., strategic management) where appropriate. The following methodological steps were taken:
(1)The identification of keywords based on authors’ prior experience, an initial assessment of the literature, and brainstorming sessions. Identified keywords include “open innovation,” “SMEs,” “collaborative innovation,” “strategic alliance,” “innovation,” “small businesses,” etc. These keywords were then organized into search strings, for example: [*open innovation* OR *collaborative innovation* AND *small and medium-sized enterprises* OR *SMEs* OR *small businesses*].
(2)The carrying out of a preliminary search on Google Scholar using the basic search strings. This initial search was used for identifying additional keywords for the main search. Additional keywords include, for example, “inbound innovation,” “outbound innovation,” “coupled innovation,” “entrepreneurial ventures,” etc.
(3)The use of the basic search string *open innovation* and *SMEs* in the Web of Science — Core Collection (search engine) database to identify the key citation indexes for review. The selection was made based on the volume of citations relevant to the basic search string. The citation database, Web of Science, was then reviewed using the search strings identified in steps 1 and 2.
(4)The review of identified citations according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria summarized in Table 1.1. Two stages were undertaken to reduce the number of citations. In the first stage, we analyzed the titles of articles according to the exclusion criteria; in the second stage, we analyzed the abstracts according to the inclusion criteria. We then cross-checked the reference sections of the included articles to assess the search strategy.
(5)The review of 126 citations that met the search criteria. These publications were organized into different categories according to frequently addressed issues. As such, a list of themes was compiled that is relevant to the remainder of this book. The themes and relevant publications under each theme were then summarized and discussed.
The remainder of this chapter is structured as follows. In the Section 1.2, we present the results of our descriptive and content analyses. Next, we describe the main research themes identified. Finally, we present interesting avenues for further research.
Table 1.1. Inclusion and exclusion criteria.
No. | Criteria | Reasons |
Inclusion criteria |
1 | Studies focusing on innovative SMEs considering collaboration/strategic alliances/partnerships as a tool or source for innovation | Since the OI phenomenon is new, studies on collaborative innovation, strategic alliances, and partnerships where it leads to innovation for SMEs were also considered |
2 | Studies focusing on OI that consider SMEs as their point of analysis or vice versa | To keep in line with the overall theme of this book |
3 | Theoretical, conceptual, empirical, qualitative, quantitative methodologies, literature reviews | The aim was to include almost all relevant academic publications in this study |
4 | Articles/book chapters published/indexed in Web of Science — Core Collection along with other books published on OI in SMEs | All the main journals and other outlets are indexed in the Web of Science — Core Collection database |
Exclusion criteria |
1 | Studies published on related area before year 2003 | OI concept was coined in 2003; so, studies only after 2003 are taken into consideration |
2 | Simple collaboration arrangements | Only studies on collaborations that lead to innovation were considered |
3 | Conference papers, business magazine articles, editorials, or similar publications were not considered | Only journal articles, books, and book chapters were taken into account |
4 | Linguistic expression | Articles published in English were only considered; due to linguistic constraints, publications in other languages were not considered |
1.2.Descriptive and Content Analysis
In this section, we present the results of our review of the 126 publications considered in this study. Out of these 126 publications, 118 are published in various journals, while 8 publications are published as book chapters. In addition to these 126 publications, six books that are published on OI in SMEs, to date, are also included in our analysis and are also separately discussed in Section 1.4. Below is a descriptive and content analysis of our sample research.
1.2.1.Descriptive analysis
Figure 1.1 illustrates the number of relevant publications that have appeared in the field of OI in SMEs since 2003.
The figure shows that the study of OI in SMEs is a fairly recent phenomenon. It is particularly worth noting that the first publication, which is an empirical study discussing university and industry collaborations for innovating SMEs (Fontana et al., 2006), appeared in 2006. The first articles actually mentioning OI in SMEs have only started to appear from 2009 onward. Batterink (2009), for example, discusses the adoption of OI in SMEs as well as in larger companies. Lecocq and Demil (2006) study OI in a low-technology setting and discuss OI strategy from the viewpoint of new entrants to the industry in relation to incumbents that are practicing openness. As important early publications have shown that SMEs adopt OI in a unique way and in relation to different strategic needs than large firms, academics have started to pay more attention to the specific SME context as is evidenced by larger numbers of publications and an increasing citation count.
Figure 1.1. Number of publications on “OI in SMEs” per year.
Figure 1.2 presents the citations per year to these 126 publications. The citations are growing exponentially over the years. This is the result of a combination of a growing number of publications over time and an increase of citations per publication as time progresses.
Figure 1.3 shows the impact of the 126 publications for the period 2009–2014 by showing the number of citations per publication in the three years following the publications published in a particular year. The articles published after 2014 are excluded since they do not have a window of three years for the citations. The figure, in general, shows the importance of some early publications in this area in 2009 and 2010. We see a higher average citation rate for publications in 2009, 2010, and 2012. This is the result of some highly cited publications — there is highly skewed distribution of the citations across the publications. Therefore, we highlight the most cited publications in Table 1.2.
Figure 1.2. Number of citations per year.
Figure 1.3. Citations per publication for the 126 publications under study (till t + 3).
Table 1.2 shows the topmost cited publications from our sample. The most cited article is from Van de Vrande et al. (2009) on the motives and challenges faced by S...
