Cooperation for External Knowledge Acquisition from Inter-organizational Relationships as Antecedent of Product Innovation: The Mediating Role of Absorptive Capacity

Purpose This study aims to investigate the external knowledge search behaviors in terms of search breadth and search depth in family firms and the resultant product innovation in Indian context. The authors theorize the mediating role of absorptive capacity (potential and realized absorptive capacity) between knowledge sourcing from external sources and product innovation. Further, the authors examine the moderating role of crucial internal social capital of the family firm in enhancing the use of external knowledge for firm innovation activities. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a quantitative research design taking single informant for collection of data from 151 family small and medium enterprises in automotive sector in India. The authors use structural equation modeling to test hypothesized relationships. Findings The findings indicate that both search breadth and search depth of family firms are positively associated with product innovation in family firms. The authors also find evidence for partial mediating role of potential and realized absorptive capacity in the relationship between search breadth and innovation and search depth and innovation. The results show how family firms learning taking place while scanning external knowledge sources in terms of external absorptive capacity routines. Finally, the authors find that family firm internal social capital positively moderate the relationship between search breadth and depth, and product innovation. Practical implications Family firms need to innovate to remain relevant in the long-run and as such development of superior capabilities is of great significance to them. Family firm managers must be open to external knowledge as such knowledge help them improve the firm level of innovation through absorptive capacity. Further, family firms must realize and act upon the importance of their social capital for the integration and utilization of acquired knowledge. Originality/value This paper is amongst a few papers that take dynamic capability views of innovation in family firms wherein the authors theorize how external search breadth and depth lead to the development of potential and realized absorptive capacity in family firms. The importance of family firm internal social capital as a strong integrating and knowledge sharing mechanism that helps family firms transform external knowledge into innovation is also highlighted.

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Ambidexterity in External Knowledge Search Strategies and Innovation Performance: Mediating Role of Balanced Innovation and Moderating Role of Absorptive Capacity

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11185111 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (18) ◽

pp. 5111 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Choo Yeon Kim ◽

Myung Sub Lim ◽

Jae Wook Yoo

Keyword(s):

Absorptive Capacity ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Search Strategies ◽

Innovation Performance ◽

External Knowledge ◽

Mediating Role ◽

Modes Of Innovation ◽

Moderating Role ◽

External Knowledge Acquisition

The importance of external knowledge acquisition for innovation by firms is well established. In particular, there has been an increasing focus on the two distinct modes of firms’ external search strategies, which have a differential effect on their learning and innovation: search breadth and depth. By applying organizational ambidexterity lens, we hypothesize that pursuing high levels of both external search strategies is beneficial to achieve a balance between exploitative and explorative innovation, which, in turn, has a positive impact on the firm’s innovation performance. We also hypothesize that, even among the firms that maintain high levels of both search strategies, firms with higher absorptive capacity better achieve a balance between both modes of innovation, thereby producing higher performance. The findings on a multi-industry sample of Koran manufacturing firms confirm our hypotheses and imply that it is essential for firms to develop capabilities for different modes of external search activities in conjunction with internal absorptive capacity for superior innovation performance.

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How firms accumulate knowledge to innovate – an empirical study of Vietnamese firms

Management Decision ◽

10.1108/md-11-2020-1546 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Duy Quoc Nguyen

Keyword(s):

Developing Countries ◽

Knowledge Acquisition ◽

Absorptive Capacity ◽

Open Innovation ◽

Content Type ◽

Innovative Performance ◽

External Knowledge ◽

Knowledge Depth ◽

Exploratory Innovation ◽

External Knowledge Acquisition

PurposeOrganizational innovations are closely associated with organizational knowledge, and thus a firm builds its knowledge base to enhance its innovative performance. However, insights into this process are still limited, especially in the context of firms in developing countries. Building on the dynamic managerial capabilities literature and open innovation paradigm, this paper attempts to fill this gap by developing and empirically testing a model that investigates how firms in developing countries accumulate knowledge to innovate.Design/methodology/approachA model of a firm's knowledge accumulation and innovation is proposed in which it specifies relationships among absorptive capacity, knowledge breadth, research and development (R&D), knowledge depth, exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation, and then it is empirically tested by using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique based on the surveyed data of Vietnamese firms.FindingsThe results indicate that absorptive capacity positively influences both knowledge breadth and knowledge depth, knowledge breadth positively influences R&D, R&D positively influences exploratory innovation and knowledge depth, and knowledge depth positively influences exploratory and exploitative innovation.Practical implicationsThe study proposes an “acquire and develop” open innovation model for firms in developing countries in which firms acquire external technologies and then develop R&D (develop and design) capability to adapt acquired technologies to their local conditions to create new organizational-specific capabilities and exploratory innovation.Originality/valueThis study argues that external knowledge acquisition is beneficial to innovative performance of firms in developing countries via renewing their knowledge base. Furthermore, the study provides the unique evidence that novel external knowledge acquisition and internal R&D are fit to each other in the fit-as-mediation form in which novel external knowledge acquisition is mediated by R&D to positively influence exploratory innovation.

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Knowledge absorptive capacity: do all its dimensions matter for export performance of SMEs?

World Journal of Entrepreneurship Management and Sustainable Development ◽

10.1108/wjemsd-09-2015-0041 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Godwin Mwesigye Ahimbisibwe ◽

Stephen Korutaro Nkundabanyanga ◽

Gideon Nkurunziza ◽

David Nyamuyonjo

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Acquisition ◽

Absorptive Capacity ◽

Design Methodology ◽

Sampling Error ◽

Export Performance ◽

Hierarchical Regression ◽

General Effect ◽

Firm Level ◽

External Knowledge ◽

External Knowledge Acquisition

Purpose In this paper we aim to study the relationship between knowledge absorptive capacity (KAC) of exporting SMEs in Uganda and their export performance. Design/methodology/approach This study is correlational and cross-sectional, and adopts firm-level data collected via questionnaires from Ugandan exporting SMEs. As we use the sub-domains of KAC to predict export performance and therefore these sub-mains are expected to be correlated, we apply hierarchical regression as an appropriate tool for analysis when variance on a criterion variable is being explained by predictor variables that are correlated with each other (Pedhazur, 1997). Using this tool we analyze the effect of a given sub-domain after controlling for other indicators (sub-domains) of KAC; a “control” achieved by calculating the change in the adjusted R2 and the significance of this change. Findings We find that only external knowledge acquisition (a dimension of potential absorptive capacity) and external knowledge application (a dimension of realised absorptive capacity) are the only significant predictors of export performance in our model. Contrary to previous thinking, we find that external knowledge assimilation and transformation are not significant predictors of export performance. Taken together, our independent variables explain about 35.4 percent of the variance in export performance of SMEs in Uganda. Research limitations/implications The use of hierarchical regression is susceptible to problems associated with sampling error. However, the likelihood of these problems is reduced by our interaction with the data Practical implications – Our results imply that the initial focus of exporting SMEs should be on external knowledge acquisition and application. Originality/value Unlike most of the export performance literature, which have focused on the general effect of knowledge absorptive capacity as a global variable, this study explores the role played by the four dimensions of KAC and methodologically isolates the contribution played by each individual dimension in the context of exporting SMEs in a developing nation. As such we uncover the reality that not all the sub-domains of KAC are significant for export performance of SMEs in a developing country context.

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Impact of External Knowledge Inflow on Product and Process Innovation of Korean SMEs: Absorptive Capacity as a Mediator

Clothing and Textiles Research Journal ◽

10.1177/0887302x19860913 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 37 (4) ◽

pp. 219-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

So Won Jeong ◽

Jae-Eun Chung ◽

Jung-Sim Roh

Keyword(s):

Absorptive Capacity ◽

Process Innovation ◽

Government Agencies ◽

External Knowledge ◽

Mediating Role ◽

Sources Of Knowledge ◽

Product And Process Innovation ◽

Product And Process ◽

The Relationship

We examine the role of external knowledge inflow in improving the product and process innovation of Korean exporting small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the textiles, apparel, and footwear industries. Building on the resource-based view (RBV), we investigate how five sources of knowledge inflow (suppliers, customers, competitors, universities, and government agencies) contribute to product and process innovation through absorptive capacity (AC) as a mechanism to explain the link between external knowledge inflow and innovation. Conducting a path analysis, we found that knowledge inflow from customers and government agencies had a positive effect on AC, subsequently enhancing product and process innovation. Additionally, knowledge inflow from universities and government agencies also affected process innovation and product innovation, respectively. We also demonstrated the mediating role of AC in the relationship between external knowledge inflow and innovation. Korean SMEs should thus invest in developing the knowledge sources of customers, universities, and government agencies to enhance AC and innovation.

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Overcoming the false dichotomy between internal R&D and external knowledge acquisition: Absorptive capacity dynamics over time

Technological Forecasting and Social Change ◽

10.1016/j.techfore.2015.11.025 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 104 ◽

pp. 57-65 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

Stefano Denicolai ◽

Matias Ramirez ◽

Joe Tidd

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Acquisition ◽

Absorptive Capacity ◽

External Knowledge ◽

False Dichotomy ◽

External Knowledge Acquisition ◽

Over Time

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Alliance partners diversity for open innovation: The role of network position and external knowledge acquisition

2015 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET) ◽

10.1109/picmet.2015.7273121 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Chun-Hsien Wang ◽

Ching-Hsing Chang ◽

Chih-Cheng Lo ◽

Sean Hsiang Yin

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Acquisition ◽

Open Innovation ◽

External Knowledge ◽

Network Position ◽

Alliance Partners ◽

External Knowledge Acquisition

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Organizational Absorptive Capacity and Responsiveness: An Empirical Investigation of Growth–Oriented SMEs

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice ◽

10.1111/1540-8520.00032 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 63-86 ◽

Cited By ~ 223

Author(s):

Jianwen Liao ◽

Harold Welsch ◽

Michael Stoica

Keyword(s):

Knowledge Acquisition ◽

Absorptive Capacity ◽

Strategic Orientation ◽

Knowledge Dissemination ◽

Future Research ◽

Organizational Responsiveness ◽

External Knowledge ◽

Future Research Directions ◽

The Relationship ◽

External Knowledge Acquisition

This study examines the relationship between firm absorptive capacity and organizational responsiveness in the context of growth–oriented small and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs). By testing the different dimensions of absorptive capacity, external knowledge acquisition and intrafirm knowledge dissemination were found to be positively related to organizational responsiveness. In addition, the relationships between absorptive capacity and organizational responsiveness were moderated by environmental dynamism and the SMEs’ strategic orientation. Results demonstrate that the responsiveness of growth–oriented SMEs is expected to increase if (1) they have well–developed capabilities in external knowledge acquisition and intrafirm knowledge dissemination; (2) they have a well–developed external knowledge acquisition capability and adopt a more proactive strategy, such as being a prospector; (3) they face a turbulent environment and have a well developed internal knowledge dissemination capability. Implications and future research directions are provided.

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