Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Opening up innovation: the impact of contextual factors on the co-creation of IT-enabled value adding services within the manufacturing industry

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Information Systems and e-Business Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines the contextual factors that influenced an open innovation project failure. To this end the paper adds to the discussion on open innovation in non high-tech settings and highlights the importance of contextual factors as determinants of success or failure within the open innovation paradigm. It is based on a case study performed at PowerDrive, a manufacturer of hydraulic drive systems, and three of its customers, and follows their attempt to co-create new value-adding services through the innovative use of information technology in the form of a remote monitoring system. The study shows that open innovation project success cannot be measured only in terms of coherence with set targets of quality, time, and costs, but also has to include the creation of mutual value and the development of trust and strong inter-organizational relationships. Furthermore, the role and character of information technology has to be considered and accounted for and the social context made explicit. By managing the value creation process, the value proposal stands a better chance of indeed providing value.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arora A, Fosfuri A, Gambardella A (2001a) Markets for technology: the economics of innovation and corporate strategy. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Arora A, Fosfuri A, Gambardella A (2001b) Markets for technology and their implications for corporate strategy. Ind Corp Change 10(2):419–451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett M, Walsham G (1995) Using IT to support business innovation: a case study of the London insurance market. Scand J Inform Syst 7(2):3–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Berggren U, and Bergkvist T (2006) Industrial service innovations—a disregarded growth engine (Industriföretagens servicecinnovationer –en outnyttjad tillväxtfaktor), NUTEK, Report B2006:6, Available at: http://publikationer.tillvaxtverket.se. Accessed 6 May 2009

  • Bjorvatn K, Norman V, Orvedal L (2008) On the road to samarkand: globalisation and the Swedish economy, Expert report no. 21 to Sweden’s globalisation council, The globalisation council 2008, available at: http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/11/32/24/f4d9dafc.pdf. Accessed 6 May 2009

  • Chesbrough H (2003) The era of open innovation. MIT Sloan Manage Rev 44(3):35–41

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesbrough H (2006a) Open innovation: a new paradigm for understanding industrial innovation. In: Chesbrough H, Vanhaverbeke W, West J (eds) Open innovation. Researching a new paradigm. Oxford University Press Inc., New York, pp 1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesbrough H (2006b) Open innovation. The new imperative for creating and profiting from technology. Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesbrough H, Kardon Crowther A (2006) Beyond high tech: early adopters of open innovation in other industries. R&D Manage 36(3):229–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chesbrough H, Rosenbloom RS (2002) The role of the business model in capturing value from innovation: evidence from xerox corporation’s technology spin-off companies. Ind Corp Change 11(3):529–555

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chesbrough H, Schwartz K (2007) Innovating business models with co-development partnerships. Res Technol Manage 50(1):55–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Chesbrough H, Spohrer J (2006) A research manifesto for service sciences. Commun ACM 49(7):35–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen WM, Levinthal DA (1990) Absorptive capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation. Adm Sci Q 35:128–135

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dahlander L, Gann D (2007) How open is innovation? Presented at the DRUID Summer Conference 2007 on Appropriability, proximity, routines and innovation, Copenhagen, CBS, Denmark, June 18–20, 2007

  • Dodgson M, Gann D, Salter A (2006) The role of technology in the shift towards open innovation: the case of procter and gamble. R&D Manage 36(3):333–346

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elmquist M, Le Masson P (2009) The value of a ‘failed’ R&D project: an emerging evaluation framework for building innovative capabilities. R&D Manage 39(2):136–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleming L, Waguespack DM (2007) Brokerage, boundary spanning, and leadership in open innovation communities. Organ Sci 18(2):165–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallivan MJ (2001) Striking a balance between trust and control in a virtual organization: a content analysis of open source software case studies. Inform Syst J 11:277–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gulati R (2006) Alliances and networks. Strateg Manage J 19(4):293–317

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Han T, Yang B-S (2006) Development of an e-maintenance system integrating advanced techniques. Comput Ind 57(6):569–580

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaffe A, Trajtenberg M, Henderson R (1993) Geographic localization of knowledge spillovers as evidenced by patent citations. Q J Econ 108(3):557–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones MR, Karsten H (2009) Divided by a common language? A response to Marshall Scott Poole. MIS Q 33(3):589–595

    Google Scholar 

  • Jonsson K (2006) The embedded panopticon: visibility issues of remote diagnostics surveillance. Scand J Inform Syst 18(2):7–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Jonsson K, Westergren UH, Holmstrom J (2008) Technologies for value creation: an exploration of remote monitoring systems in the manufacturing industry. Inform Syst J 18(3):227–245

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein HK, Myers MD (1999) A set of principles for conducting and evaluating interpretive field studies in information systems. MIS Q 23(1):67–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kothandaraman P, Wilson DT (2001) The future of competition: value-creating networks. Ind Mark Manage 30:379–389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee J, Ni J, Djurdjanovic D, Qiu H, Liao H (2006) Intelligent prognostics tools and maintenance. Comput Ind 57(6):476–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maglio, Spohrer (2008) Fundamentals of service science. J Acad Mark Sci 36:18–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markus L, Robey D (1998) Information technology and organizational change: causal structure in theory and research. Manage Sci 34(5):583–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mason J (2002) Qualitative researching, 2nd edn. Sage Publications, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Miles MB, Huberman AM (1994) Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook. Sage Publications, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Monteiro E, Hanseth O (1996) Social shaping of information infrastructure: on being specific about the technology. In: Orlikowski W, Walsham G, Jones MR, DeGross JI (eds) Information technology and changes in organisational work. Chapman & Hall, London, pp 325–343

    Google Scholar 

  • Normann R, Ramirez R (1993) From value chain to value constellation: designing interactive strategy. Harv Bus Rev 71:65–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Orlikowski WJ, Iacono S (2001) Research commentary: desperately seeking the “IT” in IT research–a call to theorizing the IT artifact. Inform Syst Res 12(2):121–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pisano GP (1990) The R&D boundaries of the firm: an empirical analysis. Adm Sci Q 35:153–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Poole MS (2009) Response to Jones and Karsten, “Gidden’s structuration theory and information systems research”. MIS Q 33(3):583–587

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter M (1985) Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance. Free Press, NY, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers EM (1995) Diffusion of innovations, 4th edn. The Free Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rouse WB, Baba ML (2006) Enterprise transformation. Commun ACM 49(7):67–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanoevska-Slabeva K, Heitmann M (2003) Impact of mobile ad hoc networks on the mobile value system. Paper presented at the 2nd international conference on mobile business (ICMB), Vienna, Austria, 23 June 2003

  • Tallman S, Phene A (2007) Leveraging knowledge across geographic boundaries. Organ Sci 18(2):252–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van de Ven AH (2005) Running in pack to develop knowledge-intensive technologies. MIS Q 29(2):365–378

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Ven AH, Polley DE, Garud R, Venkataraman S (1999) The innovation journey. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanhaverbeke W (2006) The inter-organizational context of open innovation. In: Chesbrough H, Vanhaverbeke W, West J (eds) Open innovation. Researching a new paradigm. Oxford University Press Inc, New York, pp 205–219

    Google Scholar 

  • Vanhaverbeke W, Van de Vrande V, Cloodt M (2008) Connecting absorptive capacity and open innovation (February 7, 2008). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1091265

  • Vargo SL, Lusch RF (2004) Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. J Mark 68:1–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vargo SL, Lusch RF (2008) Service-dominant logic: continuing the evolution. J Acad Mark Sci 36(1):1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vargo SL, Maglio PP, Akaka MA (2008) On value and value co-creation: a service systems and service logic perspective. Eur Manage J 26:145–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Von Hippel E, Von Krogh G (2003) Open source software and the “private-collective” innovation model: issues for organization science. Organ Sci 14(2):209–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walsham G (1993) Interpreting information systems in organizations. Wiley, Chichester

    Google Scholar 

  • Westergren UH (2007) Partnership outsourcing evolution—the process of creating and maintaining a network of actors. In: Österle H, Schelp J, Winter R (eds) Proceedings of the fifteenth European conference on information systems, University of St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland, pp 1179–1189

  • Westergren UH (2007) From senses to sensors -strategies for maintaining and enhancing competence in a virtual organization. In: Crowston K, Sieber S, Wynn E (eds) Proceedings of IFIP 8.2/9.5 conference on Virtuality and virtualization, Portland, OR, USA, 28–31 July 2007, pp 281–293

  • Westergren UH, Holmstrom J (2008) Outsourcing as open innovation: exploring preconditions for the open innovation model in the process industry. In: Proceedings of ICIS 2008, Paris, France

  • Yin RK (2003) Case study research: design and methods, 3rd edn. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Informatics, Umea University, 90187, Umea, Sweden

    Ulrika H. Westergren

Authors
  1. Ulrika H. Westergren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ulrika H. Westergren.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Westergren, U.H. Opening up innovation: the impact of contextual factors on the co-creation of IT-enabled value adding services within the manufacturing industry. Inf Syst E-Bus Manage 9, 223–245 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-010-0144-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-010-0144-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation