Evolving a Value Chain to an Open Innovation Ecosystem: Cognitive Engagement of Stakeholders in Customizing Medical Implants. (February 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Randhawa, Krithika; West, Joel; Skellern, Katrina; Josserand, Emmanuel
• Is Part Of: California management review. Volume 63:Number 2(2021)
• Page Start: 101
• Page End: 134
• Publication Date: 2021-02
• Subjects: open innovation -- ecosystems -- cognitive framing -- business models -- 3D printing -- dominant logic -- strategy process -- value creation; Industrial management -- Periodicals; Industrial management; Management; Bedrijfseconomie; Periodicals; 658.005
• DOI: 10.1177/0008125620974435
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0008-1256

Abstract

While open innovation ecosystems allow a firm to harness external sources of value creation, these external ties can also constrain its ability to adapt its innovation strategy to pursue new opportunities. This article looks at how an incumbent firm approached such constraints, and used cognitive artifacts to transform its value chain into a collaborative ecosystem. It examines the case of a 3D printing-enabled shift to mass customization of orthopedic medical implants. The results demonstrate how firms can use artifacts to build a shared understanding across heterogeneous stakeholders as they explore and develop new open innovation models, and how this process can be managed flexibly to avoid adopting a locally (rather than globally) optimal strategy.