Facoltà: Ingegneria Gestionale per la Produzione Industrial
Collocazione: 8704
Autore: Salzillo Enrico
Data: 07/10/2010
Titolo: Open innovation in the automotive industry: a multiple case study
Relatore: Lazzarotti Valentina
Correlatore: Manzini Raffaella
Autorizzazione per la consultazione: NO
Le tesi si possono consultare unicamente in sede
The drawing up of this research is aimed at exploring the concept of Open Innovation and evaluating whether and in which extent it is adopted in the automotive field. Moreover, the intent is identifying which kinds of approaches are adopted by automotive companies and potential advantages and risks they may face when choosing Open Innovation strategies. Besides, the study is intended to fill a gap with the existing literature, as no specific studies about the theme were conducted. The research was developed with a combination of both deductive and inductive approaches. In particular, the former is adopted for the bibliographic research through secondary sources; in this case, the main sources were journal articles, books, and official companies’ press. The latter is present when gathering relevant information through face-to-face interviews, conducted with a semi-structured model. As a result, three case studies were developed. After providing a general definition of the word innovation, the literature review goes on by defining the closed innovation paradigm and some factors leading to the adoption of the Open Innovation approaches. Open Innovation is defined as firm’s capability to carry out internally and externally technology management tasks along the innovation process. In this way, the boundaries with the external environment become porous. The dissertation goes on by highlighting the main points about the potential adaptation of Open Innovation in the automotive industry in the following years. Besides, the future positive trend of aspects such as R&D expenditure and the increasing importance of suppliers will be highlighted, as considered enabler of Open Innovation approaches. However, the interviews shows how Open Innovation is already fully adopted by companies. In conclusion, after presenting three case studies, the findings are analysed according to five variables affecting the openness degree of the companies. It resulted that automotive companies already fully adopt Open Innovation strategies, and despite some potential risks, they are considered core elements for obtaining competitive advantage. In conclusion, despite the author highlighted hints for further researches, the intended gap can be considered filled.
