The effects of the involvement of lawyers on open innovation collaborations
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2016-10-12
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en
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Abstract
There are more advisors than ever in the Netherlands. However, recently doubts have arisen with regard to the return of external advisors. As external advisors in open innovation processes lawyers are often involved. Also regarding this professional group doubts have arisen with regard to the added value of lawyers to open innovation collaborations. On the one hand lawyers are mentioned to be ‘deal breakers’, but they are also known for their professional knowledge. Exactly this tension between the necessity of lawyers in open innovation collaborations on the one hand and the problems that they cause, such as delays due to bureaucratic overload, when involved in open innovation processes on the other hand is the point of discussion in this thesis. The goal of this study is to answer the question, if at all, in which configurations lawyers provide added value in open innovation processes and when lawyers are included in the process how the collaboration between the collaboration partners can be smoothened. The findings of the research show that there are several functionalities related to the involvement of lawyers in the open innovation process. First of all, the involvement of lawyers can lead to a reduction of trust- and coordination problems because of the increased quality of contracts. A contract made by a lawyer is much more detailed and takes into account many more possible future contingencies than a contract made by entrepreneurs amongst themselves would. Therefore, due to the involvement of lawyers, contracting parties trust the drafted contracts to be more complete and binding and are therefore less anxious regarding sharing sensitive information and risks of opportunistic behaviour of the partner. Secondly, the involvement of lawyers can also lead to a reduction of trust- and coordination problems because of the mediation role of lawyers and accelerative effect due to this role. When the lawyer plays a mediating role in the collaboration trajectory a reduction of problems is expected because of the shared interest the lawyer serves. The mediating role of the lawyer is aimed at bringing parties together and therefore trust problems decrease. However, the involvement of lawyers can also cause an increase of trust- and coordination problems. Due to the signal of distrust caused by the involvement of lawyers an increase in trust problems can be expected. The involvement of lawyers could also lead to tougher negotiations because parties become more critical of one another and it could impair the trust building process and eventually even lead to dilution of enthusiasm for the collaboration. Another dysfunctionality could be the inhibitory effect of the involvement of lawyers. This inhibitory effect is due to lawyers paying a lot of attention to minor details, small aspects are being reviewed and enhanced by lawyers and this takes time. Lawyers are often not very well accustomed to open innovation collaborations and therefore raise all sorts of obstacles which delay the process. In general the involvement of lawyers means an extra link in communication lines which makes communication and discussions more complex and slower. Also agency related trust- and coordination problems can occur. These problems however mainly occur when there is a shared lawyer and have to do with the fact that the lawyer’s loyalty can be questioned. The occurrence of trust- and coordination problems and agency related trust- and coordination problems differed relating to the different extents of involvement of lawyers. The findings of this research lead to the conclusion that the added value of lawyers on open innovation collaborations differed very much between the different extents of involvement and that the most desirable extent of involvement is that of a joint lawyer.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen