Navigating Network Orchestration for Formal and Informal Open Innovation

Academy of Management Proceedings, vol. 2026

Abstract

Research summary: Network orchestration encompasses activities firms undertake to initiate and manage collaborative relationships with external partners in the context of open innovation (OI). Previous research identified network orchestration as enabler for firms to overcome the lack of hierarchical authority over external partners and extract value from OI. However, existing research does not fully reflect the heterogeneous nature of OI and offers a limited understanding of how network orchestration enhances innovation performance for different types of OI, such as formal and informal OI. Drawing on a dataset of 165 German firms, this study investigates how network orchestration affects the relationship between formal respectively informal OI and innovation performance. The study shows that network orchestration enhances the effect of formal OI on innovation performance, but it does not find such an effect for informal OI. Furthermore, it shows that the success of formal OI is enhanced by maintaining stable relationships with external partners and an active approach to managing network structures. In contrast, successful informal OI is characterized by serendipitous exchange with various stakeholders that provide access to diverse resource pools, without the need to actively manage network structures.

Authors 1

1. Nicholas Schwarz corresponding Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   RWTH Aachen University