This paper aims to identify the intangible outputs of a collaborative innovation project. Indeed, the outputs of innovation are discussed in the literature through the prism of performance or in terms of indicators. However, given the importance of resources, skills and knowledge from a strategic point of view, it seemed crucial to measure their impact following a collaborative innovation project. The determinants of a failure of a collaborative innovation project and of the process are studied. The work of this paper is based on 20 qualitative interviews of collaborative innovation projects in the HealthTech industry. The literature is based on the concepts of innovation, resources, skills and knowledge, as well as the collaborative aspect of the project, its management and its challenges but also when the innovation is considered as a sucess. The first part of the results focuses on the background of collaborative projects for innovation. All agree that they choose their partners for the complementarity of resources, skills and expertise. Then, the collaborative process, its challenges and its management are studied in the second part. The issues are related to the differences between the organizations involved in the project, the management of which is composed of formal and informal mechanisms. Finally, the results in fine of the projects are analyzed in the last part of the results. Our results show that measuring innovation is not enough to characterize the success or failure of a collaborative innovation project. By considering innovation as a process and not only as an outcome, but we can also consider the resources and knowledge needed to achieve this process. The results also highlight that the benefits of a collaborative innovation project must be considered beyond the success or failure of the innovation project. Indeed, it appears that the interviewees consider the entire project experience as a success rather than the commercialization of the innovation in fine.
The literature on coopetition has attracted great interest from management scholars in recent years. The benefits of coopetition have been highlighted in the literature. However, scholars also urged that cooperating and competing simultaneously creates tensions between firms at different levels. Coopetitive tensions have been investigated between firms of similar size and characteristics, namely, between large groups and between SMEs. To day, no research examined the nature of coopetitive tensions between asymmetric firms. This research contributes to filling this gap by revealing the specific nature of asymmetric coopetitive tensions, here between SMEs and large groups within the French defense industrial and technological base (DITB). The findings are the result of qualitative research involving CEOs, managers, and project leaders engaged in the management of a coopetitive relationship with an asymmetric size rival firm, as well as experts of the defense industry. Our research reveals the nature of cooperative tensions between SMEs and large groups, that differ from coopetitive tensions between same-size firms. We discuss these results by comparing the nature of asymmetrical tensions with those already observed in the literature. We also announce possible fields of research for the future.
