Prof. Marco Giarratana (Carlos III University)

Program

• Date: 23.06.2010
  Time: 12:00 - 13:30
  Location: Room 307, Schackstr.4/3rd floor

Open innovation and entrenchment behavior in inventive processes

By employing 5,525 observations from an inventors' survey, this article focuses on the balance between the use  of external and internal sources of knowledge in research projects that lead to patented inventions. Consistent with the hypotheses, the use of external knowledge correlates positively with the level of the investment in an R&D project that leads to a patent and with the knowledge endowment of the region where the project takes place. However, the occurrence of these two factors together creates entrenchment behavior: Firms reduce the use of sources that span organizational boundaries when they conduct large R&D investments in regions with rich knowledge endowments. Thus, fear of imitation might lead firms to renounce potential benefits of the combination of internal and external knowledge sources.