Open at Birth? Why New Firms Do (or Don’t) Use Open Innovation

Open innovation is about firms harnessing knowledge flows across firm boundaries, but limited research has examined the nature and antecedents of these flows for startup firms. From a new sample of startup firms making 3D printers, we show how their degree of openness for inbound and outbound knowledge flows relates to the firms' initial capabilities and founding strategies. From this, we suggest that the patterns of openness are influenced more by initial factor endowments than a firm-specific process of emergent strategy development