Title: Linking business model and open innovation - success and failure of collaborations

Authors: Andreas Braun

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, BSP Business School Berlin Potsdam, 12247 Berlin, Germany

Abstract: Previous research highlights the importance and ubiquity of business models and inter-firm cooperations. However, both concepts are generally separately discussed. The influences of the intra-organisational business model upon inter-organisational collaboration - including the critical success and failure factors - are still largely unexplored. This paper is based on the case study of two bilateral inter-firm cooperations in innovation conducted by two small and medium-sized enterprises. Only one of the cooperations was successful; the other failed. Based on a ceteris paribus assumption (i.e., assuming widely stabile internal and external context factors), we show that the gap between ex-ante role perception and ex-post role behaviour constitutes a crucial condition for the success of inter-firm cooperations. Consequently, the comprehension of the enterprise's own business model and the collaboration partners' business model has an enormous influence on the inter-firm cooperation process. We will discuss the implications for inter-firm cooperation research and practice.

Keywords: open innovation; innovation management; business models; inter-firm collaboration; SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; modelling; role perception; role behaviour; inter-firm cooperation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2015.068440

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2015 Vol.19 No.1/2, pp.59 - 76

Accepted: 09 Jul 2014
Published online: 03 Apr 2015 *

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