Stakeholders’ involvement in additive manufacturing innovations

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM, 3Dprinting) is gaining increasing attention in the manufacturing industry as a collection of novel advanced technologies, supply chains and processes. Firms implementing AM are active in innovation, but successful innovation requires support from other firms in the supply chain and secondary stakeholders. This exploratory study seeks new knowledge on secondary stakeholders’ involvement in AM innovation activities. The findings reveal who the secondary stakeholders are and their scope of involvement in the AM firms’ innovation process. The study contributes by characterizing the network complexity in AM innovations and guiding AM firms’ actions toward stakeholders.