Title: Innovation in small and medium enterprises: the impact of open innovation practices on firm's performance

Authors: Gabriele Santoro

Addresses: Department of Management, University of Torino, Corso Unione Sovietica, 218 bis, 10134, Torino, Italy

Abstract: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are widely recognised as an important source of innovation and economic development. Moreover, recent studies suggest a new 'open' model in innovation management process. Although this new open model has established as a common feature in many industries, yet, it is unclear whether SMEs have open-up their boundaries, and whether this strategic choice can enhance firm's performance. From this point of view, the aim of the paper is to evaluate the effect of openness in innovation on Italian SMEs' performance, using a new parameter to assess the degree of openness in introducing new products. Results show that Italian SMEs do engage in open innovation and this strategy has deep and positive effects on performance.

Keywords: open innovation; innovation performance; small and medium enterprises; Italian SMEs; external sources of knowledge; research and development.

DOI: 10.1504/GBER.2017.086601

Global Business and Economics Review, 2017 Vol.19 No.5, pp.508 - 520

Received: 10 Nov 2015
Accepted: 26 Dec 2015

Published online: 13 Sep 2017 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article