Open Innovation in the German SME Sector - Development and Test of a Diffusion Model
Heiko Gewald, Matthias Birkle
Progress in Machines and Systems, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2012.
DOI: 
Link: http://www.dline.info/pms/fulltext/v1n2/2.pdf
Abstract:
Chesbrough (2003) described Open innovation (OI) as the new way for companies to generate innovations. Although inclusion of external parties into the corporate innovation process has also happened before, Chesborough was the first to describe the possibility to include multiple external agents simultaneously to innovate at a faster pace. In recent times several studies discussed this topic mainly arguing for the use of OI. This research puts the main studies in a time-wise perspective and argues for a phased model of the OI adoption process. The bespoke diffusion model is applied to the German SME market via a two-fold qualitative and quantitative empirical study. It becomes apparent that the current status of adoption of OI does not comply with the previously anticipated adoption rates. The paper reflects this finding by discussing barriers to reach the next levels of OI adoption.