Absorptive Capacity, Environmental Turbulence, and the Complementarity of Organizational Learning Processes

Does incremental and radical innovation performance depend on different types of knowledge accumulation capabilities and organizational size?

“…Despite the advantages, the literature reports that internally generated knowledge has lower potential for introducing radical innovation performance (Rosenkopf and Nerkar, 2001), which limits its ability to create and/or sustain competitive advantages (e.g., Laursen and Salter, 2006;Lichtenthaler, 2009). Internally generated knowledge results from a previous knowledge base or stock in the firm, and is associated with incremental innovation performance that seeks to enhance existing organizational products, processes and methods, make operations more effective, improve quality and lower costs in a situation where the environment is fairly stable (Bierly and Chakrabarti, 1996;Dewar and Dutton 1986).…”

“…The benefits and tangibility of dynamic capabilities depend on the underlying knowledge accumulation processes that allow firms to develop, gain, reshape and put into use new internal and external knowledge (Lichtenthaler, 2009). Analyzis of the knowledge accumulation process (Jiménez-Jiménez and Sanz-Valle, 2011) should pay attention to two sub-processes: internal knowledge creation and external knowledge absorption.…”

“…The use of knowledge from external sources expands a firm's knowledge base, enhances its recognition of opportunities and threats, eases the constraints from scarcity of internal resources-especially knowledge resources-, provides access to new ideas that promote the generation of new products and technology (Gupta et al, 2006;Lichtenthaler, 2009) and enables the firm to improve and use existing knowledge and capabilities to transform its operations (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). …”

“…In this vein, Laursen and Salter (2006) argue that although a diverse knowledge base may enhance the development of a variety of knowledge, without sufficient integration and implementation of new external knowledge through absorptive capability that knowledge will simply fail for radical innovation performance. Firms, therefore, need market knowledge about the application and commercialisation opportunities for their technological knowledge (Lichtenthaler, 2009). …”

Capacidade de Absorção, Aprendizagem Organizacional e Mecanismos de Integração Social

“…O ambiente dinâmico no qual as organizações atuam levam-nas à permanente necessidade de se adaptar e desenvolver melhorias em seus processos, permitindo-lhes sobreviver e evoluir diante das demais (Lichtenthaler, 2009). Para tanto, elas precisam estar atentas à identificação de oportunidades e captura de conhecimento externo, que atua como elemento gerador de inteligência ao viabilizar a adaptação e otimização das atividades realizadas no contexto organizacional (Liao, Welsch, & Stoica, 2003).…”