keitacheick
Breadth and Depth of Innovation The authors found that firms are…
Breadth and Depth of Innovation
The authors found that firms are increasingly using open innovation to ensure improvement in their technology adoption and capabilities. Bernal et al. (2019) indicated that firms, over time, tend to concentrate more on the breadth of innovation rather than the depth, usually relying on external sources of knowledge instead of internal. The authors also found that the studied firms usually get medium to high levels of breadth that they maintain over a significant period. The studies used available information and data from the Technological Innovation Panel database (PITEC). They collected quantitative data from the available firms’ technological movements over time, clearly understanding different firms’ innovative behavior. The studies also relied on theoretical foundations and previous research to find contrasting information about technology use. The PITEC database is a great way to explore technological advancements in firms, especially since the PITEC questionnaire is administered annually with a wide range of questions regarding technological knowledge.
Therefore, based on the data collection process and the authors’ literature review and theoretical foundations, the conclusions and discussions in section 5 are viable. These discussions are based on research and data from the research. The patterns established in the study are clear and based on evidence-based foundations. Other studies have corroborated the authors’ analysis of the breadth and depth of innovation. Canh et al. (2019) found that firms mostly adopt breadth as a dimension of openness due to its radical impacts on innovations and impacts on the number of external sources available. Bernal et al. (2019) also found that firms with high levels of technology breadth tend to maintain their innovative behavior on open innovation since they generate benefits. However, the study failed to make a greater connection between innovation and resource availability. Although firms concentrate more on the breadth of innovation, there could be a justifiable reason, especially when resources are involved. Larger firms have more resources for innovation than smaller firms (Liem et al., 2020). Bernal et al. (2019) provided important insights that firms can utilize to optimize their use of open innovation.
References
Bernal, Salazar, & Vargas. (2019). Understanding the open innovation trends: An exploratory analysis of breadth and depth decisions. Administrative Sciences, 9(4), 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci9040073
Canh, N. T., Liem, N. T., Thu, P. A., & Khuong, N. V. (2019). The impact of innovation on the firm performance and corporate social responsibility of Vietnamese manufacturing firms. Sustainability, 11(13), 3666. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11133666
Liem, N. T., Khuong, N. V., & Canh, N. T. (2020). Buyer-supplier contract length and the innovation of supplier firms. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 6(3), 52. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc6030052
Question 1
You state, “Although firms concentrate more on the breadth of innovation, there could be a justifiable reason, especially when resources are involved.”
In your view, what might additional “justifiable reasons” be?
