Navigating the open innovation paradox: an integrative framework for adopting open innovation in pharmaceutical R&D in developing countries

In this paper, we combine evidence from eight Indian pharmaceutical firms with extant literature and global best practices to conceptualize an integrative framework addressing the open innovation paradox (OIP), i.e., the tension between intellectual protection and openness. Firms in developing countries face additional challenges in the adoption of open innovation, such as the prevalence of open science norms, weak technology transfer systems, and mistrust between universities and industry; therefore, they employ open innovation selectively for pharmaceutical research. Prior research has examined the strategies to resolve OIP in the context of developed countries; the integrative framework proposed in this paper describes strategies for resolving the OIP in the context of developing countries. This framework illuminates the coping processes of the case firms and provides guidelines to uplift and accelerate the adoption of open innovation strategies in developing countries’ pharmaceutical sectors, and thus provides value to both theory and praxis.