Construindo capacidade de absorção na relação grande empresa - startup: evidências a partir de estudos de caso brasileiros

Abstract

This work discusses the connection between Open Innovation (IA) and the Absorption Capacity (CA) theories. Ten years after Henry Chesbrough (2003) coined the term "open innovation", we observed an increase in practices related to this innovation model, in addition to the spread of its popularity. However, despite the large volume of informal information available, there are still many unanswered questions in the IA literature and also in professional practices. Therefore, the general objective is to analyze how the elements of Absorption Capacity present themselves in the relationship between large companies and technological startups, through the perspective of agents of change for Open Innovation. To achieve this objective, in addition to a literature review, it was performed a main case study of a large automotive company alongside six other control cases, in less depth, which, in total, 11 change agents of open innovation were interviewed. The results of the analyzes carried out show that there is a connection between the concepts of CA and IA, since the CA elements, connected together, contribute to the performance of inbound IA In particular, the importance of the company's internal trust in innovation work and the external company-startup trust were emphasized. Finally, actions were recommended that can increase the company's Absorption Capacity and consequently contribute to better Open Innovation practices with startups.