Navigating Innovation Ecosystems – A Quantitative Inquiry into Openness, Environmental Innovations and Economic Performance of Innovative Firms

The dissertation examines three interrelated aspects of how innovative firms operate within their innovation ecosystems—understood here as the networks of actors, institutions, activities, and infrastructures that shape the development and success of innovation. The first aspect concerns firms’ pursuit of collaboration and external knowledge search, referred to as openness. The second addresses their efforts to develop and introduce innovations that reduce or eliminate environmental impact, namely environmental innovations. The third focuses on the consequences of these strategies for firms’ competitiveness, measured through indicators of productivity and financial performance.

The dissertation further investigates how innovative firms navigate their innovation ecosystems by managing the inherent complexities, trade-offs, and uncertainties that arise from institutional arrangements, external pressures, and available resources. It also explores how firms draw upon their internal capabilities—such as mechanisms for capturing value from innovations and absorbing external knowledge—to effectively respond to these challenges and leverage opportunities within the ecosystem.

Author: Hani Elzoumor, PhD
Supervisor: Daniel Ljungberg
Assistant supervisor: Ethan Gifford