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Open innovation and growth in IT sector

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Abstract

IT services are overrepresented among high-growth innovative enterprises. The nature of innovation in IT requires knowledge search and collaboration, which together constitute the inbound open innovation (IOI) strategy. This study analyses whether the IOI strategies in IT service firms lead to different performance effects in comparison to other service and manufacturing firms. A quantile regression on multi-country data from the Community Innovation Survey indicates that innovative IT service companies share the same benefits from increased cooperation as other innovators, while displaying a strong growth dynamic compared to others. Therefore, IT service firms’ growth differential may not be related to external cooperation and knowledge sourcing.

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Notes

  1. In the empirical analysis, the definition for IT services is based on the NACE Rev. 2 classification. The included activities are listed in Table 4 in Appendix. In the text, the terms IT services, IT service firms and IT service companies are used interchangeably to indicate the same set of activities.

  2. The firm-level microdata coming from the Community Innovation Survey 2008 and used in this work were accessed with the permission of DG Eurostat, European Commission, at the Microdata Safe Center in Luxembourg. The authors bear sole responsibility for the results, their interpretation and conclusions.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg (grant number C12/IS/3982385 - Open Innovation Strategies in IT Service Firms). The authors are grateful to Eurostat for providing the access to the CIS data at Eurostat Microdata Safe Centre in Luxembourg. An earlier version of this study was presented in 2014 at INBAM Conference where it received the Best Paper Award in Service Business Track. The INBAM Conference participants and Service Business Track Chairs are thanked for useful comments.

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  1. IT for Innovative Services, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, 5, Avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, 4462, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Anna-Leena Asikainen

  2. Locks Heath, Southampton, United Kingdom

    Giovanni Mangiarotti

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  1. Anna-Leena Asikainen
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  2. Giovanni Mangiarotti
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Correspondence to Anna-Leena Asikainen.

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G. Mangiarotti was employed at Public Research Centre Henri Tudor when this research was conducted. Since 1.1.2015 Public Research Centre Henri Tudor is known as Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology.

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Appendix

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Asikainen, AL., Mangiarotti, G. Open innovation and growth in IT sector. Serv Bus 11, 45–68 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-015-0301-2

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