Open innovation in networks: Building a Network Perspective and the Role of Firm in Networks

Open innovation in networks has been a popular topic for long, this paper rethinks the concepts of innovation network and network organization, and clarifies the differences between them based on the network perspective. Network perspective means that: network is the context of firms; market and hierarchy can be analyzed from a network approach. Within a network perspective, there are different levels of network, and a firm may not always has the power to “manage” innovation networks due to different levels of power. Based on the strength of a firm’s power, its role may varies from manager, to orchestrator, coordinator, and then to participator and adaptor.