Title: Rethinking the role of external collaboration in product innovation

Authors: Tania Von der Heidt; Don Scott

Addresses: Southern Cross University, School of Commerce and Management, Military Drive, Lismore NSW 2480, Australia. ' Southern Cross University, School of Commerce and Management, Military Drive, Lismore NSW 2480, Australia

Abstract: Investigating the associations between inter-organisational relationship- and innovation-oriented antecedents and consequences of cooperative multiple stakeholder product innovation and their effects on overall firm performance of Australian manufacturing firms, we found that involving external stakeholders in product innovation indirectly enhanced the quality of stakeholder relationships, but did not predict market- or technical-based product innovation outcomes as hypothesised. The key driver of overall firm performance was market-driven product innovation performance, which was predicted by product innovation strategy and product innovation spending. Our results suggest the need for simultaneous consideration of product innovation- and multiple external stakeholder-based strategic orientations in enhancing business success.

Keywords: external collaboration; inter-organisational relationships; IORs; stakeholder orientation; relationship quality; product innovation; innovation performance; structural equation modelling; SEM; Australia; manufacturing firms; strategic orientation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2012.044077

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2012 Vol.15 No.1/2, pp.59 - 90

Published online: 31 Jul 2014 *

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