Open Innovation in Startups: Competitive Strategies for Differentiation

Dear Colleagues,

The adoption of the open innovation paradigm implies opening the company to external sources as a key to competitiveness. Maintaining active communication channels with different stakeholders—customers, other companies, universities, research institutes, etc.—offers particularly significant benefits for any type of company. The combination of internal and external intelligence has led Chesbrough (2003) to study this concept since it was first introduced in the field of boundaries and networks management. However, the literature has associated this philosophy with companies characterized by their activities in changing environments, with high levels of technology and/or disruptive products, and which constantly make decisions in uncertain environments. In particular, start-ups seem to be connected to this philosophy as a direct consequence of their own reality. In any case, even today there is still a need for further development in this line, both because of the details involved in its implementation in this type of company and because of the lack of evidence on what performance can be directly attributed to open innovation.

Finally, going one step further, the internalization of this paradigm may be conditioned by the management style, and the proactivity that characterizes the business-promoting team, but so far, there is little research that also introduces variables such as gender, communication, or greater familiarity with digital environments as support tools to favour co-creation with stakeholders. Consequently, this Special Issue will focus on the management of their relationships with different stakeholders, and the contribution and effects this has on their differentiation strategies from different points of view: the definition of the business model, level of innovation, communication, reputation, etc.

Dr. Carlos de las Heras-Pedrosa
Dr. Patricia P. Iglesias-Sánchez
Dr. Carmen Jambrino-Maldonado
Guest Editors

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