Benefiting from External Knowledge in Open Innovation Processes

External Knowledge

Current research already highlights the value of EK (Bergman, Jantunen, & Saksa, 2009). Research on user in-novation (von Hippel, 1986), collective invention (Allen, 1983), or interactive value creation (Reichwald & Piller, 2006) are just a few examples to be named. Many of these studies focus on certain bearers of knowledge (e.g., Ahrweiler, Pyka, & Gilbert, 2011; Bogers, 2011; Kang & Kang, 2009; Tether & Tajar, 2008), branches (e.g., Hughes & Wareham, 2010; Lorentzen, 2005; Rohrbeck, 2010), company types (e.g., Laursen & Salter, 2006; Roberts, 2010; van Gils, Vissers, & de Wit, 2009), regions (e.g., Cantner, Joel, & Schmidt, 2009; Huggins & Johnston, 2009; Love, Roper, & Bryson, 2011), company sizes (e.g., Fletcher & Harris, 2011; Huggins & Johnston, 2009; Lichtenthaler & Ernst, 2007) or a combination of two or more categories mentioned above.