Open Innovation as a Socially Embedded Process: The Interaction of Family, Firm, and Territory

This working paper investigates how the interaction among three social systems, family, firm, and territory, enables or constrains key mechanisms of open innovation within an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Building on research on family business, open and collaborative innovation, and entrepreneurial ecosystems, the study develops a process-oriented framework explaining how family-controlled organizations mobilize patient capital, legitimacy, governance choices, and symbolic resources to sustain open innovation initiatives over time. Empirically, the paper draws on an in-depth qualitative case study of an Italian company that has created an open innovation unit embedded in a long-standing family-controlled group and deeply rooted in its local territory. Using interviews, archival data, and project-level outputs, the study identifies five enabling mechanisms through which family, firm, and territory interact to mitigate classical barriers to open innovation. The paper contributes to family business and open innovation literatures by theorizing the social embeddedness of open innovation ecosystems and highlighting the distinctive role of family influence in shaping ecosystem-level innovation outcomes.