• ISSN: 2010-0248 (Print)
    • Abbreviated Title: Int. J. Innov.  Manag. Technol.
    • Frequency: Quarterly
    • DOI: 10.18178/IJIMT
    • Editor-in-Chief: Prof. Jin Wang
    • Managing Editor: Ms. Nancy Y. Liu
    • Abstracting/ Indexing: Google Scholar, CNKI, Ulrich's Periodicals Directory,  Crossref, Electronic Journals Library.
    • E-mail: ijimt@ejournal.net
HOME > Archive > 2022 > Volume 13 Number 3 (Aug. 2022) >
IJIMT 2022 Vol.13(3): 58-63 ISSN: 2010-0248
doi: 10.18178/ijimt.2022.13.3.922

Why do SMEs Implement Open Innovation? The Case of Portugal

Jorge Julião, Inês Ferreira, and Marcelo Gaspar

Abstract—The concept of open innovation is gaining popularity in both the world of engineering and management. However, despite this growing interest, most existing studies tend to focus mainly on large companies. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore the drivers of the implementation of the open innovation concept in SMEs. This study uses a survey carried out through an online questionnaire that was sent to some Portuguese SMEs. The results show that there is a high level of receptivity to implement open innovation. The findings also suggest the existence of a positive relationship between the application of open innovation and the level of satisfaction with the R&D unit’s performance. Overall, SMEs seem to be more motivated to apply open innovation to improve their innovation process and capacity than to reduce costs, share innovation risks, or improve reputation. Moreover, findings also demonstrate that the main drivers for the adoption of open innovation vary along with company size. For micro-enterprises, the main driver is to complement internal skills. Small enterprises look for the most effective way to develop new products and services whilst medium-sized enterprises are mainly driven to monitor market trends and improve their innovation process.

Index Terms—Innovation, open innovation, innovation implementation, innovation drivers, innovation benefits, SMEs.

Jorge Julião and Inês Ferreira are with Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto, Portugal (e-mail: jjuliao@ucp.pt, resgroup.cpbs@porto.ucp.pt).
Marcelo Gaspar is with School of Management and Technology, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Leiria, Portugal (e-mail: marcelo.gaspar@ipleiria.pt).

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Cite: Jorge Julião, Inês Ferreira, and Marcelo Gaspar, "Why do SMEs Implement Open Innovation? The Case of Portugal," International Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 58-63, 2022.

Copyright © 2022 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).

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