Despite a growing number of Corporate Innovation Hubs (CIHs) in recent years, limited attention has been paid to understanding the key problems that arise among organizations collaborating through CIHs. In particular, organizations often experience Not-Invented-Here (NIH) and Not-Sold-Here (NSH) problems, i.e. negative attitudes towards absorbing external knowledge and towards sharing internal knowledge externally. Consequently, many CIHs fail to deliver and are regarded as “innovation theatres” rather than engines of renewal. By drawing upon an inductive multiple case study of five CIHs, their parent companies and associated startups, located in Silicon Valley (USA) and the Gothenburg region (Sweden), the article sheds light on how CIHs can mitigate NIH and NSH problems in knowledge transfer. Specifically, we investigate the causes, consequences and mitigating mechanisms of NIH and NSH problems among the organizations collaborating through a CIH. These findings are presented in a framework that connects causes and consequences with the corresponding mitigating mechanisms. We also present new theoretical implications for the literatures on NIH and NSH.

尽管近年来企业创新中心 (CIH) 的数量不断增加，但人们对了解通过 CIH 进行协作的组织之间出现的关键问题的关注有限。尤其是，组织经常遇到“未发明”(NIH) 和“未售出”(NSH) 问题，即对吸收外部知识和对外分享内部知识持消极态度。因此，许多 CIH 未能交付并被视为“创新剧院”而不是更新的引擎。通过对位于硅谷（美国）和哥德堡地区（瑞典）的五家 CIH、它们的母公司和相关初创公司进行归纳式多案例研究，本文阐明了 CIH 如何缓解知识转移中的 NIH 和 NSH 问题. 具体来说，我们调查原因，通过 CIH 合作的组织之间 NIH 和 NSH 问题的后果和缓解机制。这些发现在一个框架中呈现，该框架将原因和后果与相应的缓解机制联系起来。我们还对 NIH 和 NSH 的文献提出了新的理论意义。