Cultivating outside-out open innovation: How a corporate accelerator orchestrates its ecosystem
通过案例研究，揭示企业加速器如何构建生态系统并运用五种协调机制（共同设计、共同选择、共同加速、共同投资、调和）来推动外向型开放式创新，并识别出路径引导者这一新角色。
The outside-out mode of open innovation (OI) has recently been conceptualized to emphasize the influence of ecosystems on innovation outcomes. However, the impact of ecosystems on this emerging mode remains poorly understood, and the constituents, including underlying mechanisms, actors, practices, and actual outcomes of outside-out OI require further exploration. Adopting an in-depth case study approach, this paper investigates outside-out OI within an ecosystem centered around a corporate accelerator (CA). The study reveals how a CA constructs its ecosystem and demonstrates the five key orchestration mechanisms of outside-out OI: co-designing, co-selecting, co-accelerating, co-investing, and reconciling . It also identifies three distinctive practices of co-acceleration: startup matchmaking, business pivoting, and product validation . The study further advances the conceptualization of the outside-out mode by examining its benefits for different ecosystem actors. Finally, it identifies a new role in the CA context, a pathfinder that plays a critical role in the implementation of the outside-out mode by navigating, connecting, and inspiring startups . By linking ecosystem literature with OI literature, we demonstrate the influence of ecosystems on innovation outcomes and how a CA orchestrates outside-out knowledge flows within its ecosystem.