Integration of innovations from suppliers in the value creation process

Abstract

"Purpose - Empirical studies and knowledge concerning supplier integration and open innovation practices and their management are limited up to now. Based on scientific literature it is assumed that an empirical view - into different sectors and companies in order to derive patterns or learning experiences for public procurement - could benefit to this discussion. Design/methodology/approach - Ten company case studies are based on semi-structured interviews and the consulting of different documents were used to study how the "internal organization" relationship between innovation department and procurement department is settled and how the "organization external" relations and their design process mainly in the direction of suppliers is arranged. Main Findings - Literature methods have been confirmed and these are used in the ten company case studies. Moreover differences in the industries (size, market volume, dynamic) are realized in the different methods used. Furthermore methods and procedure models are adopted within the different companies for the individual situation and regularly not directly transferred from literature. Research limitations - The implications for organizational routines are potentially confounded by the limited number and types of firms in the study. Practical implications - The understanding of procurement and innovation helps to study how innovations are accepted by industries. One possibility to foster innovation is to look for reciprocal benefits and share the financial advantages with the innovative supplier. Moreover new forms of internal collaboration (as described in the results chapter) and also more openness for external collaborations are needed. Furthermore the role of "specialists' innovation purchasers" should be clarified in practical implementation. Finally different forms of side events which procurer finds helpful to get in contact with innovative suppliers could be identified. Originality/value - The paper considers procurement as a possible driver to foster innovation. It emphasises of a mix of different methods of internal and external collaboration in order to find innovations from the market and integrate them in the value chain."