OpenUp2Innovate

Special Episode: Open Innovation in mittelständischen Unternehmen

Christian Mohr is executive management board member and managing partner at UnternehmerTUM, the leading center for innovation and business creation in Germany. In this special episode we talked about middle-sized/ family owned companies and how different they deal with open innovation in comparison to bigger companies and start-ups.

Some family lead and middle-sized companies have been in business for decades and went quite well with their strategy. Through Corona though many were forced to rethink their business model and started to use digitalization and in some cases even broadened their way of thinking outside the firm's boundaries, hence use open innovation.

These companies have also a different and more down to earth set of values, which is deeply rooted in tradition and a sense of responsibility towards employees, who have been working in these companies for years and sometimes even generations. These values can sometimes hinder open innovation in terms of the willingness to try new things and take a risk, but can on the other hand be very helpful. Through the close connection and the smaller size, communication and idea generation within the company can be easier, which is an important factor for open innovation: when employees feel free to talk about ideas, it directly translates to the openness of companies to be able to share ideas across the firms' borders (for more information on that phenomenon read Human resources management and open innovation: the role of open innovation mindset by Engelsberger, A., Halvorsen, B., Cavanagh, J., & Bartram, T., 2021)

One of the biggest problems is, that many of these companies are scared of change. But in times of climate change, digitalization etc., this change is unavoidable, which makes these companies struggle. They are literally caught between tradition and adapting to their environment. Will they be able to sustain the close relationship to their employees and values, while adapting to the challenges of our time?

Christian Mohr on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/christian-mohr-921b56b7

Website UnternehmerTUM: https://bc.unternehmertum.de

Engelsberger, A., Halvorsen, B., Cavanagh, J. and Bartram, T. (2021), Human resources management and open innovation: the role of open innovation mindset. Asia Pac J Hum Resour. https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7941.12281