And we shall spend the first million together : narrative as basis for a case study research process

Abstract

This work depicts the methodological rationale of a research about open innovation in SMEs. The general objective of the study is to understand how identity strategies determine the adoption and success of interactions among innovation practitioners, enabling open innovation to succeed among small firms and becoming an essential part of their business and informational strategy. The article aims at describing the choice of a specific qualitative approach, case study, linked to actor-network-theory epistemological background, as the study involves a series of innovation actors, and how narrative inquiry is chosen to be the most adequate approach to retrieve the information a case study needs to set its methodological pillars.