¶ … headline research objective is to determine which innovation models -- open or closed -- best aid an organization's innovation goals. The secondary question is how these forms of innovation can be successfully implemented in an organization. There are several other research questions that go along with this. The study is being conducted via interviews with five members of management in the research and development department of Company A. Some of the research objectives will pertain specifically to this one company.

Among secondary research objectives, one is to determine what method is most common in Company A. In most modern organizations, both methods are used to some degree, but whether they are used standalone depending on the project, or whether they are used simultaneously is a different issue altogether (Sviokla & Wasden, 2010).

The next secondary research objective is to determine what the actual, tangible outcomes are for each method. To the extent that open, closed, or a combination of these methods is used on a given project, this research will seek...

There are different measures for research & development outcomes. One might think that new products coming to market is one, but that depends on financial and marketing considerations, meaning that it is a less precise measure of innovation. Many studies use patents as a proxy for innovation, so that is what will be done here, to evaluate the innovation outcomes of the different types of innovation (OECD, 2004).
This leads to another research objective, which is to try to understand what types of projects utilize which innovation method. It is assumed that the company utilizes the innovation method that is feels will deliver the best result for a given project. As such, the research will seek to determine if there are any trends in the types of projects that are subject to each method. During the interview, the interviewer will seek to get knowledge of specific projects, and then determine what the innovation method for that project is, so that these can be matched between different innovation methods and different project types.

A fourth research objective for this study will be to determine what the perceptions are of each research method. There are a few different dimensions to this. First, the study seeks to determine if the perceptions of the methods different from the outcomes. That is to say, is a method preferred, and does the preferred method…