Solving Environmental Problems: Knowledge and Coordination in Collaborative Search

Anders Ørding Olsen, Wolfgang Sofka, Christoph Grimpe

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    Recent innovation and strategy research emphasizes the importance of firm’s search for external knowledge to improve innovation performance. We focus on such search strategies within the domain of sustainable innovation in which problems are inherently complex and the relevant knowledge is widely dispersed. Hence, firms need to collaborate. We shed new light on collaborative search strategies led by firms in general and for solving environmental problems in particular. Both topics are largely absent in the extant open innovation literature. Using data from the European Seventh Framework Program for Research and Technological Development (FP7), our results indicate that the problem-solving potential of a search strategy increases with the diversity of existing knowledge of the partners in a consortium and with the experience of the partners involved. Moreover, we identify a substantial negative effect from involving partners in a search consortium who collaborate for the first time. Our findings have implications for both the literature on firms’ search and the creation of sustainable innovation.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalLong Range Planning
    Volume50
    Issue number6
    Pages (from-to)726-740
    Number of pages15
    ISSN0024-6301
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Dec 2017

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