Sustainable development and incumbents' open innovation strategies for a greener competence‐destroying technology: The case of electric vehicles
研究了汽车制造商在从内燃机转向电动汽车过程中，如何利用开放式创新策略开发电池这一关键部件，分析了26年间13家车企的合作伙伴关系变化，发现技术不确定性影响合作广度与深度呈倒U型关系。
Abstract Given that entire industries face sustainable development challenges, it is important to understand the dynamics that lead incumbents to develop competence‐destroying sustainable product innovations. This paper provides a longitudinal analysis of automobile incumbents' open innovation strategies during the era of shift from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles by describing the process through which they leverage open innovation for the provision and development of electric batteries, the most distinct component of electric vehicles. The paper analyses the strategies of 13 carmakers over a period of 26 years and identifies a path‐based open innovation framework for green technology characterised by an inverse U‐shaped breadth and depth of partnerships correlated to different levels of technological uncertainty until carmakers start moving from market to hierarchy by producing in‐house electric batteries.