External resourcing for digital innovation in manufacturing SMEs

Abstract

Manufacturing SMEs face specific challenges in pursuing digital innovation, such as limited internal resources and less experience in identifying opportunities and in managing structured innovation processes. Hence, accessing complementary external resources is crucial for these firms to support their digital innovation processes. However, these complementary external resources are often distant and unfamiliar. Previous studies have paid limited attention to the process of how SMEs identify and evaluate these resources and put them to use in their internal organisation. Drawing on a resourcing perspective, we trace how actors in manufacturing SMEs engaged in external resourcing for digital innovation. We identify three distinct but interconnected resourcing practices: external pursuing, external browsing, and internalising. Zooming out, we also find that specific temporal patterns - convex for product and concave for process innovation - in resourcing practices and resourcing priorities were rooted in characteristics of innovation processes regarding the degree of interdependence of tasks and roles. We contribute to the digital innovation literature by unpacking how external resourcing can help manufacturing SMEs to address their specific challenges and further specify this process for product compared to process innovation.