26th International Association for Management of Technology Conference - IAMOT 2017

The open innovation practice as proposed by (CHESBROUGH, 2003; 2013) is directly related to the organization's business model. Although the themes of open innovation and business model are discussed in the international literature with assorted characteristics, there is a research gap involving empirical studies in the context of public companies, since the literature focuses on investigating private companies. A number of studies aim to explore how organizations benefit from this activity (YUN et al., 2016, SAMADI, 2014, WEST, 2014, ADES et al., 2013, CHESBROUGH, 2012, FOSS et al., 2011, GIANODIS et al. ., 2010; CHESBROUGH, 2007). Thus, this article seeks to study the business model from the approach of the concept of open innovation, within the scope of public enterprise, a theme still little discussed in the sphere of technological management (FELLER, 2011). Inasmuch as, the present work is structured based on the following question: "How does the Brazilian Forest Research Corporation (EMBRAPA) - Forest Unit structure its business model to better manage the inherent issues of open innovation?" In this sense, the main objective of the study is to evaluate how a public company manages its business model in open innovation. Specifically, it is intended to analyze: i) the elements of the business model and their roles in performing open innovation; Ii) internal and external relationships inherent in open innovation; Iii) examine aspects related to the governance of the transactions, as well as the mechanisms used to manage open innovation (SAEBI, FOSS, 2015, ZOTT, AMIT, 2011). As far as the company's choice is concerned, it is worth mentioning that it is one of the main players in the world of tropical agroforestry research (BARBOSA, MACHADO, 2014, RADA, BUCCOLA, 2012). Therefore, the research strategy is qualitative, combined with the proposal to investigate a solid case in multiple dimensions, which are: social, economic, technological and scientific. The study involves large companies, covering the public and private spheres, whose structures allow the application of open innovation. As far as data collection is concerned, a set of semi-structured interviews with directors, managers and researchers of the company, are involved in R & D & I projects, as well as direct observation and documentary analysis, as guaranteed by (YIN, 2015; EISENHARDT , GRAEBNER, 2007). The corpus of the research is relevant because it is the main Brazilian company responsible for R & D & I in the national tropical agricultural sector. The contribution of this work will be in the following aspects: a) theoretical construction involving the themes business models and open innovation in public organizations; B) unpublished research that simultaneously analyzes the business model the practice of open innovation in a relevant research company in the agricultural sector, being this influential in a global context. We emphasize that it is of fundamental importance to understand how public companies seek to interact with private sector organizations, through the practice of open innovation. It is worth mentioning also that the present study is relevant to understand how the governments in their various spheres and, through their companies, disseminate innovations and knowledge society, both nationally and internationally. Keywords: Open Innovation; Business model; Public Organization; Agribusiness.