Open Innovation and Internationalization: Case of Brazilian Companies

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that evenin countries with little innovation generation such as Brazil, there are still a few highly innovative companies. Due to the concept of open innovation and their internationalization level, these companies find good partners abroad with which they developinnovation projects. We selected five cases of Brazilian companies that have been successful in terms of innovation because they have used Open Innovation and they are international companies Design/methodology/approach:This is a multiple case study. Inorder to identify the Brazilian companies which we investigated we used international organs or specialized media and considered the companies that had received recognition/prizes for being innovative. We carried out interviews with these companies in order to see how their innovations had been developed and we found that all of them used Open Innovation Concept. Findings: It is possible to find highly innovative companies even in countries having hostile business environments as Brazil. Being strong internationally and favorable to open innovation are key factors for companies to achieve success. Research/practical implications:This paper studies five Brazilian Companies and found that open innovation brings benefits to the companies operating internationally, and that emerging countries such as Brazil should increasingly stimulate those companies to have a wider global presence. Originality/value:This article shows that there is a practical way to increase the production of innovation even in emerging countries where that production is often low, as in Brazil. This procedure is more appropriate to companies already operating abroad and that adopt the concept of open innovation. This concept makes it easier for those companies to find partners and to provide the expertise they lack.