Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the use of open innovation (OI) practices and firm performance, and the role of organizational mechanisms (OMs) (formalization and decentralization) as moderator variables.Design/methodology/approach: The authors build a theoretical framework to define a set of hypotheses that are then verified in an empirical study. These theoretical propositions are tested by using the data gathered from a survey addressed to 244 firms in Spanish low- and medium-technology industries.Findings: With regard to inbound practices, the practices oriented to cooperate with partners in a R&D context have a positive influence. The results show that outbound practices, either by direct generation of revenues from licensing payments or, more indirectly, through the indirect marketing and technical benefits that can stem from revealing have a positive effect on firm performance. Coupled practices, which are related to participation in clusters and innovation networks, have the highest impact on firm performance. In the industrial context examined, decentralization exerts a positive effect which enhances the effect of outbound practices meanwhile formalization reduces their positive effect.Practical implications: This study helps practitioners in low- and medium-technology firms to determine which OI practices are most beneficial to firm performance and how formalization and decentralization can influence the relationship between OI and firm performance.Originality/value: This study helps determine the influence of OI practices in terms of inbound, outbound and coupled types through an analysis of low- and medium-technology firms. The OI literature is enriched by the types herein of the role of OMs, which includes an analysis of how formalization and decentralization moderate the influence of OI practices on firm performance.

Purpose: This paper seeks to examine empirically from a contingency perspective the influence of business strategy on the relationship between operations strategy and business results.Design/methodology/approach: Analysis is carried out on a sample of 76 Spanish ceramic tile firms. Data on strategies are gathered by means of a postal survey addressed to operations managers and information on firms' results is drawn from secondary sources. Operations strategy is represented by competitive priorities and business strategy is based on Miles and Snow's typology. Relationships are modelled in regression equations including interaction terms in order to test for the existence of a moderating effect.Findings: Existence of a moderating effect of business strategy on the relationship between operations strategy and firms' results is demonstrated. Specifically, in defender firms, the cost and quality priorities influence positively, whereas priorities of delivery and flexibility have a negative effect. No influence of operations strategy on firms' results is observed in analyser or prospector firms.Research limitations/implications: Limitations of this research include the reduced number of organisations investigated and the fact that all companies belong to a single industry. Also, the fact that strategy variables are based on self‐reporting measures identified by a single respondent.Practical implications: Practitioners must bear in mind the coherence between operations strategy and business strategy. In this work, details of business and operations strategy fits are given.Originality/value: The fit between operations strategy and business strategy is studied by focusing on the moderating role of business strategy.