Sectoral coordination architectures and the innovation value of openness in an emerging economy

This study examines how firm-level ecosystem openness relates to innovation across sectoral coordination architectures in an emerging economy. Integrating open-innovation, dynamic-capability, and sectoral innovation-systems perspectives, it distinguishes external collaboration, internal orchestration capability, innovation output, relative innovation performance, and sectoral coordination readiness. Using survey data from Vietnamese firms, the study applies robust path modelling, bootstrap inference, and permutation-based multigroup comparisons with non-overlapping measures. The findings support a consistent openness–capability–innovation sequence: openness is associated with stronger collaborative dynamic capability, which is linked to greater innovation output and improved relative innovation performance. Sectoral coordination readiness supports capability formation but does not strengthen the openness–capability relationship, while predicted differences across production–supplier, regulated-knowledge, and service-experience architectures are not supported. The study clarifies construct boundaries, avoids overstating ecosystem-level inference, and shows how measurement discipline can materially shape conclusions in emerging-economy innovation research.