Development of absorptive capacity over time and across boundaries:  The case of R&D consortia

Abstract

Absorptive capacity (AC) has been identified as the ability of firms to acquire, assimilate, and apply external knowledge, and thus as a pre-condition for learning from knowledge environment. However, extant literature has focused on AC as (1) a static and (2) a firm-centred concept. In particular, there is little conceptual framing and empirical evidence of how AC develops over time and across boundaries. Taking R&D consortia as the unit of analysis and based on insights from three in-depth case studies of collaborative R&D, our contribution is a framework for AC development over time and across inter-organizational, intra-organizational, and practice boundaries at different stages of collaboration in R&D consortia. Using this framework, we identify a set of mechanisms which enable the development of AC and we discuss the preconditions for these mechanisms. For R&D managers, our research implies that in order to enhance effectiveness of knowledge transfer and learning in R&D consortia they need to develop a strategy that (1) supports learning and AC development throughout the whole cycle of the collaboration, not only by focusing on intra-firm capabilities, but in particular by providing flexible interfaces for overcoming a variety of interaction and learning boundaries between heterogeneous R&D partners, and (2) enables the integration of created and acquired knowledge within the organization once the collaboration is over.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2017.02.007
Divisions: College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Marketing & Strategy
College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School
Additional Information: © 2017, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Uncontrolled Keywords: Absorptive capacity,Boundaries,Case study,R&D consortia,Geography, Planning and Development,Finance,Strategy and Management
Publication ISSN: 1873-1872
Last Modified: 04 Oct 2024 07:16
Date Deposited: 15 Feb 2018 08:08
Full Text Link: https://curve.c ... 29daab121e77/1/
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2017-10-01
Published Online Date: 2017-03-15
Accepted Date: 2017-03-14
Authors: Omidvar, Omid (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-5232-7940)
Edler, Jakob
Malik, Khaleel

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