Implementing open innovation for radical innovation: three successful cases in the SAES group

Purpose Radical innovation is still a debated concept in the field of innovation management. Very often, firms cannot pursue radical innovation due to the lack of access to markets, right expertise and financial resources. This issue is even more relevant nowadays, as companies have started to open their innovation activity to external partners. Despite the surging interest in the topic of radical innovation in a context of open innovation, scholars have shown how it can be difficult for companies to achieve the desired outcomes because of a failure to implement the right organizational forms of collaboration with external partners. The paper examines how companies implement successful open innovation cases that lead to successful radical innovations through dedicated organizational forms of collaboration. Design/methodology/approach The present article leverages three qualitative cases of open innovation projects where SAES group (or the “Company”), an Italian technology-based company, has exploited open innovation through dedicated organizational forms of collaboration to pursue radical innovation. Findings The findings show how the analyzed cases have required the Company to implement three different forms of collaborations: (1) equity alliance, (2) acquisition and (3) joint venture to pursue radical innovation. In addition, the results give some suggestions about the decision-making processes of the Company and show how a set of both rational and soft factors, such as technical, cultural, geographical, dimensional and human, have to be considered in implementing open innovation for radical innovation. Originality/value The results of this study reinforce and enrich existing research on the factors that decision-makers can evaluate for deciding which open innovation modes are the most suitable for leading to successful radical innovations.