Business-to-business open innovation: COVID-19 lessons for small and medium-sized enterprises from emerging markets

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120883Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • SMEs from emerging markets are the most vulnerable types of firms, especially in times of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • SMEs should embrace business-to-business open innovation, as business partners’ resources may be their savior.

  • SMEs should collaborate with business customers and competitors, as they can provide the resources required for developing relevant innovations in a timely manner.

  • Managers should see the COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to rapidly engage in business-to-business open innovation.

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from emerging markets are the most vulnerable types of firms, especially in times of crisis due to time and resource constraints. Thus, this paper aims to help SMEs from emerging markets in choosing the right business partners with whom to cooperate to develop relevant innovations in crisis periods in general, and during the COVID-19 pandemic in particular. To obtain relevant insights, qualitative data from SMEs in Bosnia and Herzegovina were collected in March-April 2020. The findings show that SMEs have embraced new collaborations with business customers and competitors, and developed a collaborative mindset opposed to the traditionally competitive way of doing business in emerging markets. Based on the findings, this paper presents a set of recommendations for managers, and suggests several future research opportunities around the management of openness in the context of SMEs from emerging markets.

Keywords

Business-to-business open innovation
Coopetition
COVID-19
Crisis periods
Emerging markets
Small and medium-sized enterprises

Cited by (0)

Stefan Markovic received the PhD degree (cum laude) in management sciences from ESADE Business School, Spain, in 2016. He is currently an Associate Professor in Marketing and Chair of the Marketing Ethics Research Cluster at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. In addition, he is Chair of the Special Interest Group on Branding, a Member of the Executive Committee and the National Representative of Denmark at the European Marketing Academy (EMAC). Stefan's research addresses various intersections between marketing, branding, innovation, and ethics. He has published several articles in renowned international academic journals, including Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Brand Management, and IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management. He is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, and Associate Editor for Interdisciplinary Research with Industrial Marketing Management.

Nikolina Koporcic earned her PhD in Economics and Business Administration in 2017, at the Åbo Akademi University, where she is currently an Assistant Professor in International Marketing. In addition, Nikolina is Visiting Assistant Professor at the Luleå University of Technology. She is also a Docent at the Turku School of Economics, University of Turku. Nikolina's research focuses on corporate branding, entrepreneurship, and co-creation of value in business-to-business relationships and networks. In particular, she is studying the importance of Interactive Network Branding for SMEs in business markets. Besides academic articles published in Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, the IMP Journal, and Econviews, Nikolina has published two books with Emerald Publishing.

Maja Arslanagic-Kalajdzic is Associate Professor of Marketing at the School of Economics and Business at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Her research focus is on business relationships, accountability, and international marketing. She has published in several journals such as Journal of Business Ethics, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of International Marketing, International Marketing Review, Journal of Macromarketing, British Food Journal, and Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. She serves as an Associate Editor for Special Issues at Industrial Marketing Management.

Selma Kadic-Maglajlic holds a PhD in Marketing from the University of Ljubljana. Currently, she is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Department of Marketing at Copenhagen Business School. Her research focuses on interpersonal interactions, emotions and ethics in selling and sales management. Her work has been published in various international journals, including the Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, Journal of Macromarketing, and Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. She serves as an Associate Editor for Special Issues at Industrial Marketing Management.

Mehdi Bagherzadeh received the PhD degree (cum laude) in management sciences (innovation management) from ESADE Business School, Spain, in 2016. He is currently an Associate Professor of Innovation Management at the Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, and Academic Director of the MSc in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, NEOMA Business School, France. His research has been published in academic journals, such as Journal of Management, Journal of Business Research, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and Journal of Business Ethics. He has co-edited a special issue on open innovation from a project-level perspective for Industrial Marketing Management. His research interests include open and collaborative innovation, particularly at project level. He serves as Reviewing Editor at Technovation.

Nazrul Islam is Associate Professor of Innovation/Entrepreneurship and an interdisciplinary pathway lead for global policitcal economy at the University of Exeter Business School, England, UK. He holds a PhD in innovation management. His research interests include innovation in high-tech industries, the management of emerging and discontinuous innovations. His research was published in the leading international journals and he has complemented his peer reviewed journal efforts with three books. Prof Islam's research received awards including the ‘Brad Hosler Award for Outstanding Paper’ from USA; and the ‘Pratt & Whitney Canada Best Paper Award’ from Canada. Prof Islam serves on the board of directors for Business and Applied Sciences Academy of North America. He currently serves as an Associate Editor of Technological Forecasting & Social Change and Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning.