Chapter 12: Open Innovation Through a Collaborative Community of Firms: An Emerging Organization Design

We develop a model of the multifirm collaborative innovation process using data on Blade.org, a collaborative community of more than 200 firms in the computer server industry. We argue that a collaborative community is a new way of organizing for open innovation, following the three established approaches of alliances, static networks, and outsourcing. A collaborative community of firms is a powerful organizational form for firms wanting to pursue product/service and market opportunities in environments where knowledge is complex and widely distributed. We expect this organizational form to be used increasingly in knowledge-intensive industries where continuous innovation is a strategic objective.