Inter-organizational Cooperation as part of Open Innovation

Abstract

Innovation occupies an important place among factors determining the competitiveness of enterprises. In the context of turbulent environment, research on enterprise innovation emphasizes the fact that innovation processes can no longer focus only on internal knowledge. Innovative processes of modern enterprises are increasingly open to external knowledge or technology. This knowledge is often acquired on the basis of cooperation between the organizations. Involving external entities not only as observers but primarily as participants in the process of innovation at each of its stages contributes to the opening of organization boundaries. The purpose of the article will be to present inter-organizational relations established by organizations applying the concept of open innovation on the Polish market. Research on a sample of 105 innovative enterprises was conducted through a questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was developed based on a 5-point Likert scale. The aim of the study was to determine the type of relations, among others, in terms of their width and depth and measures used in the studies of Chesbrough, Vanhaverbeke and West; 2006).