నైరూప్య

Knowledge Integration in Open Innovation: A Conceptual Comparison

Kleber LuísCeladon

This article is based on a PhD thesis that examined open innovationan d its relationship with knowledge integration, comparing less open and more open firms. Theability to integrate knowledge is related to competitive advantage, and this study sheds light onto OI at each different firm. The main findings show that, different levels of openness in innovation, demand firm-specific mechanism for KI. Also, openness increases complexity in management. The understanding of how firms select their knowledge for appropriation and differentiation is also considered. The Brazilian cosmetics market was chosen for the empirical work because it occupies the 3rd position in the world´s ranking and this industry is under researched. A cross-case comparison is used.