Title: Relationship between collaboration and innovativeness: a case study in an innovative organisation

Authors: Carlos Olavo Quandt; Marcelo Ferreira De Castilho

Addresses: Pontificia Universidade Católica do Paraná – PUCPR, Escola de Negócios, Rua Imaculada Conceição, 1155, Prado Velho, Curitiba, Paraná, 80215-901, Brazil ' Pontificia Universidade Católica do Paraná – PUCPR, Escola de Arquitetura e Design, Rua Imaculada Conceição, 1155, Prado Velho, Curitiba, Paraná, 80215-901, Brazil

Abstract: Collaboration shapes the culture of an innovative organisation and relates to its innovativeness, understood as a set of factors under control of the organisation that affect its ability to innovate. In order to verify the relationship between collaboration and innovativeness, a case study was conducted in an organisation that has a unique expertise in innovation. The research method was centred on content analysis of interviews with 16 respondents from three functional areas in three distinct hierarchical levels. The findings reveal that the organisation is able to sustain collaboration despite strong disagreement. The balance between autonomy (self-reliance) and interdependence (sharing), supported by close ties and goodwill (selflessness), among other factors, strengthened its social capital and thus supported its innovativeness. A theoretical framework of the relationship between collaboration factors and innovativeness is proposed.

Keywords: collaboration; innovativeness; product development; social capital; dynamic capabilities; innovation; case study; innovative organisations; autonomy; self-reliance; interdependence; sharing; close ties; goodwill; selflessness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2017.083400

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2017 Vol.21 No.3, pp.257 - 273

Received: 13 Jul 2015
Accepted: 26 Sep 2015
Published online: 27 Mar 2017 *

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