Which factors hinder the adoption of open innovation in SMEs?

ABSTRACT

The literature on open innovation (OI) is characterised by studies based both on large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Among all, one of the less explored issues in SMEs is what impedes them to adopt OI. Thus, this paper has the threefold objective to identify which factors hinder the adoption of OI in SMEs, to investigate if different behaviours exist among SMEs in relation to these factors, and to understand if the same factors effectively influence the level of adoption of OI. Based on a survey on 157 Italian SMEs, we identified four main barriers (namely, ‘knowledge’, ‘collaboration’, ‘organisational’, and ‘financial and strategic’) and three profiles of firms, different in terms of innovativeness of the industries they belong to (knowledge intensive, medium-innovative, and less innovative) and hampering factors perceived (‘knowledge’, ‘financial and strategic’, and ‘collaboration’ and ‘organisational’ barriers). Moreover, we found that some of these factors effectively impede the adoption of the paradigm.

KEYWORDS:

• Open innovation
• hindering factors
• SMEs
• Italy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Barbara Bigliardi graduated (with distinction) in 2004 in Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Parma. She is associate professor at the same university. Her primary research interests focus around knowledge asset and intellectual capital management, innovation, and entrepreneurship. She has authored or co-authored more than 60 papers published on international journal, as well as on national and international conferences proceedings. She acts as referee for more than 50 international scientific journals and conferences. She is also a member of the editorial board of three international journals and Associate Editor of two international journals.

Francesco Galati graduated (with distinction) in 2009 in Industrial Engineering and Management at the University of Parma. He is attending a PhD course in Industrial Engineering at the University of Parma. His research activities mainly concern knowledge asset and intellectual capital management, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He has authored or co-authored more than 25 papers published on international journal, as well as on national and international conferences proceedings. He acts as a referee for more than 20 international scientific journals.

ORCID

Barbara Bigliardi http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8588-7066

Francesco Galati http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7294-6183