Open Innovation: a pathway toward open strategy?

Objectives. This paper seeks to explain how and to what extent Open Strategy draws on Open Innovation and how different degrees of open strategy could occur as a result of the adoption of open innovation approach. Methodology. Since the relationship between open innovation and open strategy represents an empirically underexplored research area, we adopted an exploratory multiple case study design to develop new theoretical insights towards this topic. Findings. This study displays that the pathway towards open strategy could start by implementing open innovation approach. Moreover, once the open strategy is developed, it can influence open innovation process, and the level of strategy openness depends on how the firm shares information with external stakeholders, and on how the firm is able to transform external inputs in open strategic actions. Research limits. Given the exploratory nature of this research, we consider the theoretical linkages among open innovation and open strategy as the starting point for future research in this area. Thus, this study needs further empirical attention, and test for validity. Practical implications. Our theoretical framework can be used by practitioners to approach towards open strategy starting from open innovation approaches. It also displays two variables that managers should control to ration the openness of their strategy. Originality of the study. This study represents a first attempt to find a theoretical connection between open innovation and open strategy from the firm perspective.