Francesco Galati

The adoption of open innovation within the telecommunication industry

Purpose – The paper, covering the actual argument of open innovation, aims to answer two main research questions, namely: “Which open innovation approach is adopted by the companies belonging to the ICTs industry?” and “Which types of collaborations are carried out by the companies and which are the dynamics that characterize it?”. Design/methodology/approach – In order to answer the research questions a multiple case study methodology is adopted. The research framework was structured in three main phases: first, a literature review on the matter of open innovation in general and within the ICTs industry in particular, as well as of the specific features of the industry investigated, was carried out. Second, a list of questions containing the main issues that arose from the previous step has been designed for the case study protocol, to be used in the following structured interviews. Finally, structured direct interviews were conducted on three important Italian companies active in the telecommunications area. Findings – Results highlighted different ways to manage the open innovation processes, based on teamwork or task forces, and the different roles, more or less proactive, that an information communication technology (ICT) company may undertake within this process. Moreover, they show that ICT companies acquire external knowledge and skills mainly from universities and research centers, as well as from value chain’s actors (suppliers in primis). Originality/value – Still little attention has been paid to the understanding of the open innovation approach of Italian firms belonging to the ICT industry, thus the authors believe that this paper may represent a valuable basis for future research on the open innovation issues in the field of ICT.

Evaluating Performance of University Spin-Off Companies: Lessons from Italy

Academic spin-offs are very special start-up companies that are founded by an academic inventor with the aim to exploit technological knowledge that originated within a University setting in order to develop products or services. During the last two decades, academic spin-offs have received increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners, mainly due to their ability to advance industrial application of scientific knowledge. Much of the studies available in literature on this matter, however, have focused on USA’s spin-offs, while still little attention has been paid to the European countries, and to Italy in particular. Thus, the aim of our research is twofold: first, to fill this gap in literature. Second, to propose, on the basis of the above mentioned literature review, a model of ex-ante evaluation of the spin-off companies’ performance. Specifically, the research methodology followed was a combination of literature analysis and Delphi technique: we first extensively reviewed the extant literature on spin-off companies, then we proposed to a panel of expert the indicators that emerged from the literature as affecting the performance of academic spin-offs.

ICTs and knowledge management: an Italian case study of a construction company

Summary Purpose – The objective of this paper is to investigate the process of knowledge creation and transfer in project-based organizations, with particular reference to a construction firm, emphasizing first the importance of knowledge transfer, in tacit or explicit form, between the various actors of a project, and then the importance of the information and communication technology (ICT) in supporting project-based organizations (PBOs). Design/methodology/approach – Above all, a series of round-table meetings were developed with six managers of as many construction companies, with a twofold purpose: to understand how companies are managing knowledge, and to understand how a company may reach the excellence through its knowledge activities. Then, one out of these six companies was chosen as example of excellence and described as case study to further develop and investigate the knowledge management (KM). Findings – The adoption of a phased approach to manage knowledge appears to be a promising means of enhancing the management and transfer of new knowledge derived from the different projects; moreover, the case study shows how ICTs may be effectively used in KM. Research limitations/implications – The findings are limited due to the focused nature of the case study. Practical implications – This case study shows that KM is a powerful tool for PBOs, and allows every company to generate and disseminate knowledge, and to transfer it into activities that produce value for the enterprise as the main source of their competitive advantage. Originality/value – This paper is a real case study showing KM applications in the construction industry.

Which factors hinder the adoption of open innovation in SMEs

ABSTRACT The literature on open innovation (OI) is characterised by studies based both on large companies and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Among all, one of the less explored issues in SMEs is what impedes them to adopt OI. Thus, this paper has the threefold objective to identify which factors hinder the adoption of OI in SMEs, to investigate if different behaviours exist among SMEs in relation to these factors, and to understand if the same factors effectively influence the level of adoption of OI. Based on a survey on 157 Italian SMEs, we identified four main barriers (namely, ‘knowledge’, ‘collaboration’, ‘organisational’, and ‘financial and strategic’) and three profiles of firms, different in terms of innovativeness of the industries they belong to (knowledge intensive, medium-innovative, and less innovative) and hampering factors perceived (‘knowledge’, ‘financial and strategic’, and ‘collaboration’ and ‘organisational’ barriers). Moreover, we found that some of these factors effectively impede the adoption of the paradigm.

Open Innovation In Food Firms: Implementation Strategies, Drivers And Enabling Factors

Open innovation has so far been studied mainly in research-intensive industries, while still little attention has been devoted to the more traditional ones. Our study addresses this gap by focusing on low-tech industries, and on the food one in particular by exploring if and how open innovation is implemented by food companies. Drawing on a database collected from food firms operating in Italy and adopting quantitative techniques, we investigate the implementation strategies of the open innovation paradigm, conscious that food companies are adopting an open approach to innovation. Results show that they mainly implement two different strategies, according to different sets of drivers and enabling factors. These strategies should be referred to with the terms “open market pull” and “open technology push”.

Factors affecting technology transfer offices' performance in the Italian food context

In recent years, growing attention has been devoted to the commercialisation of knowledge and technologies developed by universities and public research institutions. A central role in this particular process is played by the technology transfer offices (TTOs), which are on the one hand in charge of promoting the transfer of knowledge and technology to external companies, and on the other hand are also responsible for protecting and licensing the intellectual property of the research organisation. This paper is focused on a TTO operating in the food context, with the specific objectives of identifying the performance indicators and the main factors affecting its performance and, finally, analysing the relationships among these factors. Results highlighted the importance of both external and internal factors for the performance of a TTO operating in this context. In addition, we found both direct and indirect relations within these factors.

At what level is your organization managing knowledge

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to combine different perspectives concerning knowledge management (KM), thus developing a theoretical framework that could be used, as a basic strategic tool, both to control and to plan KM level of implementation. Design/methodology/approach – Bringing together previous research in KM and providing an analysis of the main issues discussed in the literature, an integrative framework for evaluating the level of implementation of knowledge management within organizations is proposed. Findings – The major contribution is the final theoretical framework proposed, which allows the possibility to dynamically analyze the evolution of the KM maturity level of an organization, thus assuming a relevant strategic importance. Research limitations/implications – The model proposed provides only the basis for an extensive analysis on the topic. Further research could focus on the quantitative development of the suggested framework. Practical implications – The paper is very useful...

Which factors are perceived as obstacles for the growth of Italian academic spin-offs?

ABSTRACT During the last decades, academic spin-offs have received increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners, mainly due to their ability to advance industrial application of scientific knowledge. In the past, scholars believed that these organisations were subjected to fast growth after their establishment. Only in the last decade, scholars realise that the fast-growing perspective hypothesised was an oversimplification, as the majority of high-tech academic spin-offs growth slowly or remain small in size for long time. The aim of our study is to investigate the reasons that inhibit the growth of established academic spin-offs, focusing on the Italian context. Through the implementation of the Delphi technique and of the fuzzy logic we derive new and relevant results, for scholars, spin-offs’ managers and policy-makers.

How to effectively manage knowledge in the construction industry

Purpose – The aim of this paper is twofold: to understand if it is possible to find similarities and dissimilarities among the construction companies in terms of knowledge management (KM) process, identifying the main tools and techniques adopted by the same companies within this process; second, to emphasize and study more in depth the best KM techniques that emerged from the cases in the context of the Italian construction industry. Design/methodology/approach – On the basis of available studies on KM within the industry investigated, multiple case studies were developed to reach the aforementioned objective, involving 14 Italian construction companies. Findings – The outcomes obtained from the case studies allow drawing some conclusions on the KM process adopted by the companies investigated, as well as on the type of tools and techniques adopted by the same companies in the KM process. Research limitations/implications – The case study is based on 14 single cases and, therefore, we must keep in mind t...

Does different NPD project’s characteristics lead to the establishment of different NPD networks? A knowledge perspective

ABSTRACT In today’s highly competitive and globalised marketplace, firms need more and more to develop new knowledge and capabilities to leave behind their competitors, thus gaining market share. Knowledge is fundamental for success because a firm that knows more, often develops more sustainable competitive advantage. Networks, like those oriented to New Product Development, seem to be valuable means of learning, as firms could not achieve alone the same results, or at least not as quickly. Through this integrative systematic review, we are interested in understanding whether different New Product Development projects correspond to different New Product Development networks in terms of knowledge exchanged among the partners involved. Our results highlight the presence of four types of New Product Development networks deriving from the combination of the degree of innovation characterising the project and its mode of development. Implications and future research are also proposed.