Open innovation practices in the automotive industry: an exploratory comparison between Brazil and France

A decade and a half after its conception, Open Innovation (OI) is still a growing topic in the academic community. The automotive industry, however, is no stranger to the subject and activities that are now known as OI practices have been an integral part to automotive new product development activities for decades. The purpose of the present study is to analyze how open innovation occurs in the automotive industry and to compare exploratory results between Brazil's and France's automaker industries. The study introduces a brief literature review concerning the topics of Product Development Process (PDP) and OI, paving the path towards the analyzed constructs. The chosen research approach was that of a survey, with 57 responses from Brazilian automakers and 15 from French. Questions were designed and then analyzed under three main constructs: barriers and perceived risks in implementing OI projects, the main actors involved in OI, and the main OI activities or practices performed by those companies. After an overview of the results, the study also presents a comparative and critical analysis, providing insight into the interaction between how these constructs shape the way that the automaker industry innovates in those two countries.