Collaborative Advantage: How Open Organizations Thrive in Volatility

＂A must-read for every innovator and transformator!＂

- - Franziska Tschudi Sauber, President of the Board, Weidmann Group

＂Collaborative Advantage is packed with great examples and useful insights into innovating for the future. It is an essential guide for anyone interested in Open Innovation.＂

- - Henry Chesbrough, author of Open Innovation, Professor UC Berkeley

＂In today’s dynamic markets, companies need to collaborate to have access to all assets and capabilities necessary to out-innovate competitors. However, to collaborate effectively is an organizational capability that needs to be build and nurtured. This book shows how.＂

- - Claudio Feser, Co-Founder Leadership Practice McKinsey & Company

＂Transformation is a necessity in the new business environment. Collaborative Advantage outlines how to do it in a sustainable way.＂

- - Marianne Janik, CEO Microsoft Germany

The world is changing faster than ever before. Technological disruptions, AI, digital value chains, new ecosystems, and hyper competition are challenging companies. How can managers keep up with the speed of change? Dominant thinking has centered around the concept of ’competitive advantage, ’ - taught to generations of MBA students. But this is no longer enough. Instead, leaders have to think much more in terms of which networks and partnerships they can leverage in order to create and secure the future of their company. Collaborative advantage is the new imperative for the next decades.

In this book, the authors analyze how exceptional leaders have not only survived but thrived in volatility by skillfully orchestrating agile collaborative networks with customers, partners and start-ups. In-depth case studies and personal reflections of these leaders provide you with actionable inspirations for your own practice. Underpinned with cutting edge research, it illustrates how these collaborations can be managed in a data-driven way.

Raphael Boemelburg is currently a visiting scholar at the Rotterdam School of Management. After completing his Master of Science in Psychology he worked in the start-up sector in Silicon Valley on products around the algorithmic assessment of emotions and relational dynamics. He conducted research at institutions such as Stanford University, the University of Miami, the Excellence Cluster Languages of Emotions and the Rotterdam School of Management. His research received awards such as the best paper award from the Academy of Management in 2019. Boemelburg has served in corporate functions for multinational companies in corporate venturing, corporate innovation management and transformation consulting.

Oliver Gassmann is Full Professor of Technology and Innovation Management at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and director of its Institute of Technology Management. After completing his PhD in 1996, he was leading Corporate Research at Schindler Corporation. Gassmann published in the leading academic journals on technology management and innovation. He has founded several spin-off companies and is acting in various boards of international companies and institutions. Gassmann has been recognized as one of the most active innovation scholars (IAMOT), as one of the leading economists of Germany (FAZ). In 2014 he has been awarded by the Scholary Impact Award by the Journal of Management, in 2015 by the Citation of Excellence Award by the Emerald Group. He is a widely renowned keynote speaker and advisor of several Fortune 500 companies.