The Thai SME Open Innovation Food-Machinery Flexibility Model

Abstract

Food machinery SMEs have been essential constitutional actors in Thailand’s food industry. Their participation in food innovation is considerably recognized. However, their innovation logics and practices remain poorly understood. To understand the role of open innovation (OI) in this change, specifically the OI logics and practices in new product development (NPD), the food-machinery framework has been chosen to analyze 109 NPDs in 2 Thai food machinery SMEs. This model identifies the various flows of knowledge between the different actors. The results demonstrated the new OI practices being absent from previous typologies, and six distinctive patterns within the same framework. These alternatives were revealed through the distinction between laboratory and industrial scales. The refined model demonstrated the ability of Thai SMEs to adjust OI logics and practices to the nature of the collaborative strategy associated with each NPD. Finally, the results exposed some Thai SMEs switching their business from generic machinery companies to innovation intermediaries.