Integrating open innovation strategies with Quantum Economic Analysis

Abstract

The objective of the concept selection stage is to provide the idea that has the most commercial potential. Therefore, companies spend a lot of time at this stage to select the right ideas. Unfortunately, the concept selection tools used in this stage do not consider the dynamic synergies between the product, the organisation commercializing the product and the market that this product intends to serve, due to which new products fail despite doing the right things. These synergies are necessary to consider during this stage to reduce the rate of innovation failures. On the other hand, open innovation is a popular approach known to increase innovation success rates of new products through its several strategies and mechanisms. However, it lacks a tool that recommends what open innovation strategy is suitable in which specific situation. This study attempts to close the gap by integrating a tool known as Quantum Economic Analysis (QEA) that considers the dynamic synergies between the product, the company that commercialises the product and its market at the concept screening stage. Currently, this tool does not provide any strategic insight to increase the probability of commercial success. This research modifies QEA to equip it with strategic insights that increase its managerial usefulness. Now, the tool not only provides the different conditions needed for increasing the probability of commercial success but also suggests a suitable open innovation strategy if a company fails to meet a specific QEA condition. The tool provides a universal method that applies to any given product, company, or market. The research investigates and highlights the fallacies and challenges of existing concept screening methods and open innovation. Then, it elaborates on QEA, its characteristics and usability. It analyses several case studies through an exploratory qualitative design to extract open innovation strategies and mechanisms used to commercialise products. Lastly, the study provides some guidelines to implement this tool within an organisation's existing innovation processes.