Title: Open innovation: how intangibles matter

Authors: Emilia Lamberti; Francesca Michelino; Antonello Cammarano; Mauro Caputo

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the composition of companies' intangibles portfolio and relate it to the degree of openness of their innovation processes, assessed after an accounting perspective. The analysis is performed on a sample of 234 world top research and development (R&D) spending firms in the bio-pharmaceutical and technology hardware and equipment industries for the period 2010-2012, for a total of 702 consolidated annual reports examined. Results show that the intangibles portfolio of open companies contains mainly R&D and patents. Conversely, firms registering a significant amount of goodwill on balance sheet are less open in their innovation processes.

Keywords: open innovation; intangible assets; innovation metrics; annual reports; accounting standards; biopharmaceutical industry; technology hardware and equipment industry; intangibles; R&D; research and development; patents; goodwill.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCM.2015.075350

International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2015 Vol.6 No.2, pp.108 - 139

Received: 30 Nov 2014
Accepted: 19 Nov 2015

Published online: 15 Mar 2016 *

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