Purpose

This is one of the first empirical studies aimed at analyzing the interrelation between creative partnerships (CPs), absorptive (AC), knowledge application (KA) capacities and innovation performance in food companies.

Design/methodology/approach

We tested this on a sample of 112 Italian medium-sized food firms that established CPs through a partial least square (PLS) structural equation model (SEM) approach.

Findings

Results are in favor of an important role of CPs in the innovation process of food firms analyzed only if combined with the development of the two internal capacities investigated (AC and KA).

Research limitations/implications

Implications are provided in order to stimulate new and more forms of collaboration between CIs and food firms as well as more empirical studies on this topic.

Originality/value

Few studies in food companies keep into account the role of internal capacities that firms have to build with the aim of acquiring external knowledge through partnerships, in particular in the specific context of CPs. These specific kinds of partnerships are becoming increasingly important because they provide key nonoverlapping knowledge and propose new creative methods, ways and answers that differentiate the innovation process of food firms.

中文翻译：

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食品公司内部的创新：如何开展创新性合作以取得更好的业绩？

目的

这是旨在分析食品公司中创新伙伴关系（CP），吸收性（AC），知识应用（KA）能力和创新绩效之间相互关系的第一批实证研究之一。

设计/方法/方法

我们在112家意大利中型食品公司的样本上进行了测试，这些公司通过偏最小二乘（PLS）结构方程模型（SEM）方法建立了CP。

发现

结果表明，只有在结合所调查的两个内部能力（AC和KA）发展的基础上，CP才在所分析的食品公司的创新过程中发挥重要作用。

研究局限/意义

提供了一些暗示，以促进CI和食品公司之间新的和更多形式的合作，以及有关该主题的更多实证研究。

创意/价值

在食品公司中，很少有研究考虑到公司必须建立的内部能力的作用，以通过伙伴关系来获取外部知识，特别是在CP的特定背景下。这些特定类型的伙伴关系变得越来越重要，因为它们提供了关键的，不重叠的知识，并提出了新的创新方法，方式和答案，从而使食品公司的创新过程与众不同。