Adopting open innovation in supply networks

Knowledge distribution compels firms to search outside for new knowledge to sustain their competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper concerns the role of network structures and inter-organisational relations on ‘purposive knowledge inflow.’ It also aims to suggest network conditions for enhancing knowledge flow in different types of open innovation practices with suppliers. Based on the past research, four types of open innovation approaches, through which focal firms can gain access to their suppliers’ knowledge, are considered. Building on extensive open innovation literature and social network theory, we develop a conceptual model that identifies network conditions for each open innovation practice with suppliers. The contribution of this paper is in extending the body of the literature in open innovation research by proposing a framework that conceptualises the role of social networks in open innovation practices. The proposed framework can be useful to practitioners in adopting the most favourable network conditions and also classifies supply network conditions based on the open innovation practices.