Die Netzwerkebenen von Genossenschaften als Innovationsraum – am Beispiel der BÄKO Österreich

The discussion about open innovation versus closed innovation suggests examining the innovation phenomenon in cooperatives, since they interact on different network levels and so one can come to a more differentiated view. BÄKO Austria - the purchasing cooperative of bakers and confectioners - as a long-standing and therefore obviously adaptable cooperative was chosen as the object of investigation. The five qualitative interviews are analyzed using the Gioia method in order to contribute to the further development of the theoretical considerations for the innovation process. Our investigation shows that the BÄKO takes in information from all actors and checks it for its innovation relevance, so that innovation impulses can come from outside and / or from inside and so different levels of actors are involved. In general, the results show that every actor should be seen as a possible source of innovation impulses and that cooperatives lose their market success and legitimacy vis-à-vis their members if they do not know how to use their fundamentally existing innovation in the interests of the members.