Open Innovation in Business Models

Abstract

The concept of open innovation is often identifid with the process of systematic, external exploration and the exploitation of knowledge. In this process, enterprises make decisions to include or limit the involvement of other businesses in the development and commercialization of the innovation processes. Open innovation seems to be the natural direction of evolution of business models. It provides much needed room for research and development for businesses that value cooperation and joint value creation. The relationship of open innovation to CSR is very important due to the idea of social dialogue, searching for profit generating solutions for businesses and society, product responsibility and listening to the voice of stakeholders. The choice of the open innovation model depends on the business model of the company [Sopińska, 2017]. The business model describes how and to what extent the company uses cooperation with external entities to generate value for customers and determines how to convert the technical parameters of a product or service into economic value. Open innovation is the organization’s openness to knowledge in order to maximize profis for all cooperating entities, capture value, use external resources, build competitive advantage, and use ideas coming from within the organization and business environment. The aim of the article was to highlight the essence of open innovation, to indicate the relationships that take place between open and closed innovations and to make models of open innovations more familiar. The adopted research method was the analysis of the available literature and its conclusions.