Structure of the thesis. This thesis is structured as follows: Chapter 1 In this chapter I gave short introduction of my research, its objectives and relevance, applied methods and limitations. Chapter two provides a literature overview and a thematic analysis of both books and publications on the subject of open innovation. It also reviews the directions of research that have been considered important. In the third chapter, I explore the opportunities to link a firm’s value creation and capture strategy with open innovation. In the fourth chapter, results from the preceding two chapters are compared to provide an analysis of the present research field of open innovation and its linkage with value creation and capture. In this final chapter, conclusions are drawn, some recommendations are given and potentially important future directions for research are proposed. Much evidence identifies innovation as the main driver for companies to prosper, grow and sustain a high profitability (x.x. Xxxxxxx, 1988; Xxxxxxxxxxx, 1997). This means that the questions that are asked in research no longer revolve around why innovation is important. The focus instead lies on how to innovate and how innovation processes can be managed in a profitable way. A recently proposed and popularized model for the management of innovation is based on the need for companies to open up their innovation processes and combine internally and externally developed technologies to create business value. This notion of open innovation was first proposed by Xxxxx Xxxxxxxxxx (2003a; 2003c) and has quickly gained the interest of both researchers and practitioners, illustrated by a number of special issue publications, dedicated conferences and a rapidly growing body of literature. As a point of departure, Xxxxxxxxxx argues that internal R&D no longer is the invaluable strategic asset that it used to be due to a fundamental shift in how companies generate new ideas and brings them to the market (Chesbrough, 2003a; 2003c). In the old model of closed innovation, firms relied on the assumption that innovation processes need to be controlled by the company – it was based on self- reliance. Changes in society and industry has led to an increased mobility of knowledge workers and the development of new financial structures such as venture capital – forces that have caused the boundaries of innovation processes to start breaking up (Chesbrough 2003c). Chesbrough defines open innovation as: Open innovation has emerged as a model wh...
