Small- and medium-scale Italian winemaking companies facing the open innovation challenge

This article examines the impact of open innovation (OI) practices on the innovation activity of low-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Different external knowledge sources are considered, and the ability of SMEs to acquire and integrate external knowledge into their organizational boundaries for innovation purposes is assessed. The research draws on a sample of 191 Italian winemakers. The results show that SMEs with higher propensity to access and use external knowledge sources show a greater ability to innovate and that their absorptive capacity impacts the use of external sources. Several implications for theory and practice are drawn, underlining a number of suggestions for future research.