Technology portfolio perspective for analyzing open innovation: insights from Iranian high-tech SMEs

Providing evidence from less studied ecosystems contributes to the evolution of the Open Innovation (OI) theory. While previous studies investigate the pros and cons of OI in the context of developed countries, this article addresses OI adoption among high-tech SMEs in an emerging country. A multiple case study is pursued within the advanced materials sector in Iran, a sector suitable for opening windows of opportunity to a country endowed with natural resources. Thus, we deeply studied four high-tech SMEs through interviews with key managers, followed by a qualitative content analysis of the transcripts and documents. The results show that besides frequent inbound OI practices, the firms adopt several outbound OI practices. Additionally, this paper found two distinct types of OI behaviour (Selective vs. Non-selective) in relation to the firms' technology portfolio. Although SMEs that adopt OI in both core and non-core areas are exposed to the knowledge leakage risk, due to their smallness and lack of required resources they prefer to take advantage of external cooperation, at the same time they seek ways for handling leakage concerns through trust-building. This paper has practical implications for managers who think of extending their OI practices into the firms' core technologies.