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This study seeks to analyze theoretically and empirically how different intermediate strategic variables related to knowledge (combinative capabilities and absorptive capacity) and strategic flexibility influence the relation between CEOs' social networks and organizational performance. To date, very little research has analyzed the direct and indirect relationships between these variables.

Based on the literature, a theoretical model is developed that shows the interrelations between these variables. The methodology used was LISREL analysis. The model is then tested using data from 203 Spanish organizations.

This investigation shows the influence of CEOs' social networks (larger networks with strong ties) and capabilities (combinative capabilities and absorptive capacity) on the level of strategic flexibility. It then shows the influence of their strategic flexibility level on organizational performance. It adds theoretical and empirical arguments to the importance of CEOs' social networks for the organization.

Today's information and knowledge society requires new CEOs who can confront a reality based on knowledge and foster strategic flexibility to achieve improvements in organizational performance. However, organizations sometimes fail to achieve sustainable competitive advantage due to their limited understanding of the relationships between these strategic variables. This paper develops a complete framework of the capturing of knowledge and information from outside the organization performed by CEOs and the process they use to assimilate, transform and use this knowledge in the organization.

The purpose of this paper is to theoretically develop and empirically explore knowledge absorption, combination and desorption within and between organizations.

On the basis of knowledge-based view and absorptive capacity, the authors have conducted a multiple-case study to develop a theoretically grounded and empirically supported model of intra- and inter-firm knowledge cycles.

Firms identify their knowledge gaps and stocks, both tacit and explicit, undertaking efforts to fill the latter and maximize the value of the former. The paper finds that knowledge exploration, integration and exploitation both within the firm and between firms relies on absorptive, combinative and desorptive capacities. Further, as such capacities are organizationally expensive to maintain, firms will often emphasize one capacity over the other and focus either internally or externally to meet organizational goals.

While there is extensive research into absorptive capacity and some into combinative capacity, there is little empirical investigation of desorptive capacity and none into the integration of the three concepts; this paper seeks to fill that gap. Moreover, the resulting novel integrative model allows managers and researchers to identify the various capacities in use and their applications within the firm and between firms.

This chapter revisits central knowledge-based mechanisms that explain variance in value creation through mergers and acquisitions (M&As). It places the organizational capabilities of absorptive capacity and combinative capability in the context of M&As. Absorptive capacity – i.e., the combining firms’ ability to explore new knowledge – relies on the extent of prior related experiences of acquirers and their acquired firms, and available complementary knowledge among the two. Combinative capability – i.e., the combining firms’ ability to combine and recombine available existing knowledge – depends on the opportunity, motivation, and ability to share knowledge. The chapter concludes with several contextual factors that intensify the roles of knowledge, and reveal important contradictory roles in the development and value of absorptive capacity and combinative capability.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the organizational mechanisms of call centers that are associated with a firm's combinative capabilities and that help to facilitate a firm's absorptive capacities.

The study identifies mechanisms in terms of three types of combinative capabilities: system capabilities, coordination capabilities, and socialization capabilities. A strategy using multiple case studies was adopted; the research is primarily based on 12 interviews in four call centers from industries and public agencies in Taiwan.

The study explores seven organizational mechanisms: centralized information deployment and knowledge encapsulation, active monitoring and avoidance of organizational inertia, information hubs and communication, an interactive control system, a training center and career development, relational asset creation, and job embeddedness. The contingency factors on the development of these mechanisms are also suggested.

The paper bridges the “organizational mechanisms‐combinative capabilities” concepts and the proposed mechanisms and contingency factors should be taken into account in call center design and implementation.

If organizational mechanisms are properly designed, call centers can take on more responsibilities in managing the organization's knowledge assets.

By including a firm's combinative capabilities, the analysis provides a vocabulary that researchers and practitioners can employ in similar contexts so future call center designs and implementations can be compared and benchmarked.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize existing knowledge‐based dynamic capabilities research into a single typology for managerial and academic use.

Based on the resource‐based and knowledge‐based views, this study conducts a theoretically grounded typology development exercise based on an extensive review of the existing dynamic capabilities literature.

The paper identifies seven frameworks presented in the literature that showed some consistency in underlying concepts but conflict in nomenclature and application. Identifying over 80 uses of knowledge‐based dynamic capabilities in the literature review, three complementary dimensions that are common amongst the frameworks are identified and integrated into a consistent typology of eight knowledge‐based dynamic capabilities to encompass the extant literature.

Addressing fragmentation in the knowledge‐based dynamic capabilities discourse, the paper advances the concept of knowledge‐based dynamic capabilities by organizing the existing literature and frameworks into a comprehensive and consistent typology. Moreover, this integrative typology allows managers and researchers to identify those capabilities in use and the commonalities between them. Finally, the paper identifies a new knowledge‐based dynamic capability that has not yet been identified in any existing framework.

This study aims to empirically examine the conditions for latecomers to successfully pursue path-creating catch-up strategies. In particular, the company is divided into two conditions: the external environment, which refers to the gap in the market share between the leaders and latecomers, and the internal capacities of the company, such as the company’s absorptive capacity, re-combinative capabilities and technological innovation leadership.

Because firms supported by the government tend to be conservative in their decision-making and technology development strategies, governmental assistance is likely to negatively affect path-creating catch-up strategies. This study surveyed small to medium enterprises in the Korea IT industry and analyzed the latecomers’ catch-up strategies from internal and external environment perspectives.

After ensuring its innovation capacity by developing of internal capacity, it turned out to lead to path-creative catch-up strategy and market disparity and government dependence moderates this relation. While market disparity has a positive moderation effect, government dependence showed a negative moderation effect.

The authors proposed and tested hypotheses of how a firm’s path-creative catch-up strategy is adopted and succeeds. Regarding the internal conditions, the authors statistically proved that absorptive capabilities, re-combinative capabilities and technology innovation leadership are important factors for a firm’s technology innovation capacity.

The dynamic capabilities perspective focuses on the ability of an organization to develop its resource base in order to meet environmental expectations. Therefore, it is closely interrelated to the issue of managing the interaction of exploration and exploitation. The competence of continuously optimizing the interaction of exploration and exploitation has been referred to as organizational ambidexterity. Managing this interaction implies resolving a firm's permanent struggle to overcome the barriers related to the right configuration between exploration and exploitation.

By incorporating the concept of combinative capabilities as balancing routines into the conceptualization of ambidexterity we distinguish structural, interaction, and socialization capabilities that are deployed in overcoming these barriers to resource (re)configuration.

Drawing on knowledge management and barriers to resource configuration we expect that the way organizations deploy combinative capabilities to manage the interaction between exploration and exploitation depends on the observed barriers to resource (re)configuration. By combining the constructs of barriers to resource reconfiguration, ambidexterity, and combinative capabilities we intend to gain more insight in the way organizations manage the actual interaction between exploration and exploitation. Our paper will introduce a set of propositions indicating the relationship between ambidexterity, barriers to resource (re)configuration, and combinative capabilities as balancing routines.

This work aims to develop a configurational model to explain how relational trust and combinative capability can jointly improve the relationship between innovativeness and firm's performance.

The empirical study was developed on a sample of 224 companies in the footwear industry in Spain. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses in order to confirm the proposed configurational model.

The partial results demonstrate the significant effect of relational trust on the innovativeness-performance relationship but, unexpectedly, reveals the non-significant effect of combinative capability on this relationship. The triple interaction effects model provides new insights into the positive effect of combinative capability on the innovativeness-performance relationship once firms gain relational trust from their contacts.

The cross-sectional nature of the study imposes a limitation on the results. Nevertheless, due to the detailed information required to achieve the aims of the research, a longitudinal study could be excessively complex. In any event, the cross-sectional approach of the study accomplishes the proposed aim.

Managers should involve the employees of the firm in order to improve the effectiveness of continuous innovation, encouraging them to establish trusting relationships with external agents and contributing to combine the relevant external knowledge with the individual and collective knowledge available in the firm.

This work contributes to the existing literature with a more complete picture of the influence of innovativeness on firms' performance, highlighting that performance is affected by the coherence of the configuration of innovativeness, relational trust and combination capability.

Chinese companies are increasingly using cross‐border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to source knowledge or strategic assets. For many, global acquisitions have proven to be highly problematic and value‐destroying. The purpose of this paper is to address this critical acquisition failure issue from an absorptive capacity perspective.

Guided by the framework that focuses on how acquiring a firm's weak absorptive capacity damages its ability to assimilate, integrate and apply external new knowledge, one high‐profile Chinese failed acquisition: TCL acquisition of France's Thomson's TV business in 2004 is analyzed empirically.

Acquisition performance of Chinese overseas M&A is found to be substantially affected by the acquiring firm's absorptive capacity at multiple dimensions. Research limitations/implications – The absorptive capacity construct provides an insightful account for differentials in Chinese overseas M&A performance.

For decision makers interested in formulating and implementing overseas M&A strategy, appropriate evaluation of their own firms’ absorptive capability should be the first step to take. Originality/value –This is the first paper to apply absorptive capacity arguments to Chinese resource‐driven M&A strategy, and will prompt business academicians and practitioners to think about M&A strategy in new and innovative ways.

This study aims to examine direct effects of qualified team gatekeepers on absorptive capacity (AC), and the mediating roles of combinative capabilities – knowledge integration capability (KIC) and interteam coordination.

A social networking analysis was used to analyze a unique data set collected from all members of 32 Japanese research and development (R&D) teams to identify key individuals who perform daily gatekeeping functions. This study analyzed the data through partial least squares structural equation modeling with higher-order latent variables. Finally, cross-validation tests were used with holdout samples to test the model’s predictive validity.

Qualified gatekeepers directly contribute to teams’ realized AC but not to their potential AC. Furthermore, qualified gatekeepers can improve their teams’ capability to absorb and exploit external knowledge by facilitating their capability to consolidate knowledge, that is, its KIC and interteam coordination.

Unlike prior research that asks top managers to identify team gatekeepers, this study used social network analysis to identify these vital individuals. This study provides a new framework indicating how qualified gatekeepers impact the AC of R&D teams through the examination of both the direct and indirect paths of gatekeeping abilities, two combinative capabilities as mediators and team AC.