Alliance Portfolio, Internal Resources, and Innovation Performance of an Agribusiness Public Research Institute: The Embrapa Case

Abstract

This paper analyzes the phenomenon of open innovation in three Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) units through the interaction of their alliance networks, internal resources, and capabilities through a multiple case study analysis. The results show the importance of open innovation for an agribusiness public research institute because balancing internal and external resources and capabilities improves innovation. A well-structured alliance portfolio helps to mitigate the most relevant internal weaknesses related to the innovation processes, leading to a better innovative capacity. This work finds evidence for the existence of complementarity between internal and external resources and capabilities. However, the organization must present some level of internal capabilities, especially related to innovative culture, if they wish to take full advantage of this complementarity.