Early Purchaser Involvement in Open Innovation- the case of an advanced purchasing function triggering the absorption of external knowledge in the French automotive industry

International audienceThis paper investigates the mechanisms that trigger the absorption of external knowledge in an innovative French automotive firm. An ethnographic-inspired study conducted by an academic embedded within the Innovation Purchasing Department has enable us to present a rare and new function of Purchasing that plays an important role between potential new suppliers and Research and Development personnel

Distributions of infant haemoglobin at 6 months of age by studies.

<p>Distributions of infant haemoglobin at 6 months of age by studies.</p

Full Path analysis model of infant Bayley Cognitive scores at 6 months of age.

<p><i>W1: 12–20 weeks of gestation; W2: 32+ weeks of gestation; W3: 8 weeks postpartum; W4: 6 months postpartum.</i></p><p><i>RMSEA – root mean square error of approximation.</i></p

Significant pathways of the factors of infant Bayley Cognitive scores at 6 months of age.

<p>Single-headed arrows represent statistically significant directional paths (only significant paths were presented, for more details see <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0074876#pone-0074876-t003" target="_blank">Table 3</a>). Path coefficients are interpreted as regression coefficients. <i>IDA: iron deficiency anemia; CMD: common mental disorders; WAZ: infant weight-for-age Z-score.</i></p

Characteristics of infants.

<p>⁽¹⁾Anaemia defined as haemoglobin < 11 g/dL;</p><p>⁽²⁾Significant tests include one-way ANOVA, nonparametric k-sample test on the equality of medians, and chi-square test, where appropriate.</p><p>Characteristics of infants.</p

Baseline characteristics of the participants.

<p>⁽¹⁾Anaemia defined as haemoglobin < 11 g/dL;</p><p>⁽²⁾Significant tests include one-way ANOVA, nonparametric k-sample test on the equality of medians, and chi-square test, where appropriate.</p><p>Baseline characteristics of the participants.</p

Birth outcomes, health and development of 378 infants.

<p><i>[SD]: Standard deviation; (%): Percentage; {range}: Min–max.</i></p

General characteristics of the 378 pregnant women who attended four waves.

<p><i>[SD]: Standard deviation; (%): Percentage; {IQR}: interquartile range.</i></p

Numbers of participants and attrition by studies.

<p>Numbers of participants and attrition by studies.</p

Scatter plots of ferritin and haemoglobin in early and late pregnancy in 378 women, Ha Nam province, Viet Nam in 2010.

<p>References lines for iron deficiency (ferritin < 15 ng/ml) and anaemia (Hb < 11 g/dL).</p