Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan
Firms collaborate with external actors to access resources for product innovation. However, little is known regarding the processes of initiating collaborations for product development. Drawing on data of six startups, this multiple-case study explores how firms initiate collaborations for product development to fulfill societal needs in emerging markets. Using the institutional logics perspective, our findings demonstrate that firms can achieve frugality in collaborations through implementing the social welfare logic and the commercial logic. Developing a process model of collaboration initiation, we show how the frugality-driven process interacts with the logic-driven process. This study contributes to the literature on collaborative innovation by revealing the collaboration initiation processes which highlight how initiation activities are guided by the logics. In addition, it offers fresh insights into collaborative innovation by revealing how firms can achieve frugality in collaborations which is useful in resource-constrained environments such as emerging markets. Also, the study offers implications for research on institutional logics by highlighting how the logics can be implemented in complementary ways to initiate collaborations.
