Innovation Openness in Supply-Side Relationships

Abstract

This research focuses on supply chain performance measurement systems (SCPMSs) and its purpose is to offer the most appropriate managerial practices that can help innovative firms that want to improve their performance in dynamic competitive contexts, reconfiguring internal products/processes and repositioning their supply in modern, innovative, and recently-established international production chains, which moreover are very different from the supply chains to which they belong. This is ongoing research, and, in this paper, it is intended to present the first cognitive results, still being studied and evaluated. The research focuses on a sample of 20 study cases, and its aim is to detect if small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) that innovate efficiently benefit from enhanced competitiveness. As far as the methodology adopted is concerned, the qualitative analysis of the cases was carried out with an inductive method. The 20 study cases belong to the fashion, mechatronics, automotive, and packaging systems, and they have been investigated as real research laboratories for 6 years. The first results suggest that there might be a close relationship between innovation, efficiency, and firm performance. In addition, many innovations are technology-driven and related, for instance, to business model re-configuration. This paper aims to benefit both practice and theory.