How do foodservice companies organize for inbound open innovation? Empirical evidence from a Dutch organization

Purpose The aim of the paper is to analyze how actors in foodservice companies organize for inbound open innovation (OI). Design/methodology/approach This paper conducted a case analysis of a large and successful foodservice company operating in the Dutch market. Furthermore, drawing on 18 interviews and archive data, we identified the main organizational practices involved in the implementation of inbound innovation activities and the ways they are embraced are defined. Findings The results provide a holistic view of the main organizational practices a foodservice company implemented at different organizational levels, to exploit external knowledge coming from third parties and to promote the sharing and recombination of knowledge resources within the organization. The identified organizational practices reveal the main interaction patterns between relevant internal actors and other external parties in the company network, as well as between actors on different hierarchical organizational levels which allows processing relevant innovation information and make relevant decisions about it. Research limitations/implications Implications are provided in terms of both theory and practice. This paper helps foodservice companies to create an internal organizational environment that supports the exploitation of customer knowledge. Originality/value There are few studies on how companies organize themselves for OI in general, and especially in the foodservice sector.