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Concealing or revealing? Alternative paths to profiting from innovation

Hallberg, Niklas Lars LU and Brattström, Anna LU (2019) In European Management Journal 37(2). p.165-174
Abstract
According to the resource-based view, knowledge concealing is fundamental for firms’ ability to prevent competitor imitation and profit from innovation. Open innovation scholars have recently challenged this idea, proposing instead that knowledge revealing can foster industry-wide collaboration and enhance the value of innovation. Reconciling these two perspectives requires a more detailed understanding about the tradeoffs between concealing and revealing. In this paper, we therefore develop a model that outlines the effects of knowledge revealing on the i) value of innovation, ii) the price of products stemming from the innovation, iii) the comparative cost of innovation, as well as the relevant moderators of these effects. Our analysis... (More)
According to the resource-based view, knowledge concealing is fundamental for firms’ ability to prevent competitor imitation and profit from innovation. Open innovation scholars have recently challenged this idea, proposing instead that knowledge revealing can foster industry-wide collaboration and enhance the value of innovation. Reconciling these two perspectives requires a more detailed understanding about the tradeoffs between concealing and revealing. In this paper, we therefore develop a model that outlines the effects of knowledge revealing on the i) value of innovation, ii) the price of products stemming from the innovation, iii) the comparative cost of innovation, as well as the relevant moderators of these effects. Our analysis shows that knowledge revealing may have a positive effect on profits when there are strong indirect network effects; when firms are protected from imitation by causal ambiguity, complementary assets, and intellectual property; and when the innovating firm faces high technological uncertainty. Implications for the resource-based view and research on open innovation are outlined. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
selective revealing, open innovation, resource-based view, value appropriation, value creation
in
European Management Journal
volume
37
issue
2
pages
10 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85063284276
ISSN
0263-2373
DOI
10.1016/j.emj.2018.04.003
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7848a768-731a-4976-babd-0ed4f4c980a6
date added to LUP
2018-03-29 14:00:44
date last changed
2022-04-17 19:34:42
@article{7848a768-731a-4976-babd-0ed4f4c980a6,
  abstract     = {{According to the resource-based view, knowledge concealing is fundamental for firms’ ability to prevent competitor imitation and profit from innovation. Open innovation scholars have recently challenged this idea, proposing instead that knowledge revealing can foster industry-wide collaboration and enhance the value of innovation. Reconciling these two perspectives requires a more detailed understanding about the tradeoffs between concealing and revealing. In this paper, we therefore develop a model that outlines the effects of knowledge revealing on the i) value of innovation, ii) the price of products stemming from the innovation, iii) the comparative cost of innovation, as well as the relevant moderators of these effects. Our analysis shows that knowledge revealing may have a positive effect on profits when there are strong indirect network effects; when firms are protected from imitation by causal ambiguity, complementary assets, and intellectual property; and when the innovating firm faces high technological uncertainty. Implications for the resource-based view and research on open innovation are outlined.}},
  author       = {{Hallberg, Niklas Lars and Brattström, Anna}},
  issn         = {{0263-2373}},
  keywords     = {{selective revealing; open innovation; resource-based view; value appropriation; value creation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{165--174}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{European Management Journal}},
  title        = {{Concealing or revealing? Alternative paths to profiting from innovation}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2018.04.003}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.emj.2018.04.003}},
  volume       = {{37}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}