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This study aims to explore how the absorptive capacity of emerging market multinationals (EMNEs) facilitates increased acquirer performance in industry exploration and technology exploration cross-border acquisitions (CBAs).

The research context for this study is Brazilian EMNEs and their CBAs. The final database contains 101 CBAs.

The authors find that industry exploration strategies negatively affect financial performance, but technology exploration strategies have a positive effect. The acquirer’s absorptive capacity can exacerbate the negative effects, except in instances of technology exploration strategies, where there is a demonstrable benefit from the acquirer’s absorptive capacity.

The study contributes first by providing a more nuanced understanding of the effects of absorptive capacity on postacquisition performance, depending on the type of knowledge explored. Second, by drawing on EMNE learning perspectives, the authors demonstrate the versatility of absorptive capacity in emerging markets.

The relationship between knowledge and innovation is well established in the strategy and entrepreneurship literatures. However, little is known about how absorptive capacity – the firm's ability to acquire, assimilate, and use new knowledge – effects innovation in new firms. We build on extant conceptual arguments from scholars who assert that the concept of absorptive capacity can be delineated into a number of individual components, and we test the influences of each component on innovation using a sample of new firms in the Swedish telecom, IT, media, and entertainment sectors. We find that while all of the components of absorptive capacity influence innovation in new ventures, acquiring new technological knowledge and employing mechanisms for exploiting new knowledge have the greatest effects. Our results provide a direct empirical test of the linkage between absorptive capacity and innovation, and suggest that the effects of these components of absorptive capacity on performance are more complex than previously articulated in the literature. We conclude with implications for future research surrounding absorptive capacity.

This research explores perceptions of knowledge management processes held by managers and employees in a service industry. To date, empirical research on knowledge management in the service industry is sparse. This research seeks to examine absorptive capacity and its four capabilities of acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation and their impact on effective knowledge management. All of these capabilities are strategies that enable external knowledge to be recognized, imported and integrated into, and further developed within the organization effectively. The research tests the relationships between absorptive capacity and effective knowledge management through analysis of quantitative data (n = 549) drawn from managers and employees in 35 residential aged care organizations in Western Australia. Responses were analysed using Partial Least Square-based Structural Equation Modelling. Additional analysis was conducted to assess if the job role (of manager or employee) and three industry context variables of profit motive, size of business and length of time the organization has been in business, impacted on the hypothesized relationships.

Structural model analysis examines the relationships between variables as hypothesized in the research framework. Analysis found that absorptive capacity and the four capabilities correlated significantly with effective knowledge management, with absorptive capacity explaining 56% of the total variability for effective knowledge management. Findings from this research also show that absorptive capacity and the four capabilities provide a useful framework for examining knowledge management in the service industry. Additionally, there were no significant differences in the perceptions held between managers and employees, nor between respondents in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Furthermore, the size of the organization and length of time the organization has been in business did not impact on absorptive capacity, the four capabilities and effective knowledge management.

The research considers implications for business in light of these findings. The role of managers in providing leadership across the knowledge management process was confirmed, as well as the importance of guiding routines and knowledge sharing throughout the organization. Further, the results indicate that within the participating organizations there are discernible differences in the way that some organizations manage their knowledge, compared to others. To achieve effective knowledge management, managers need to provide a supportive workplace culture, facilitate strong employee relationships, encourage employees to seek out new knowledge, continually engage in two-way communication with employees and provide up-to-date policies and procedures that guide employees in doing their work. The implementation of knowledge management strategies has also been shown in this research to enhance the delivery and quality of residential aged care.

The objective of this study is to analyze the process of reverse knowledge transfer (RKT) occurring in multinational companies (MNCs), examining whether headquarters' absorptive capacity and the human resource management (HRM) practices developed by the parent unit influence success.

The data were collected through a questionnaire completed by the human resource manager of multinational company (MNC) headquarters. The analysis has been carried out on a sample of 115 Spanish MNCs by using structural equation models (SEM).

The results indicate that a parent firm's absorptive capacity positively influences RKT and that, in turn, this absorptive capacity is greater if headquarters implement certain practices of employee staffing, training, participation and performance appraisal.

This study extends existing research on RKT by examining the absorptive capacity of headquarters. Its main contribution is to provide evidence that MNCs can improve their RKT through HRM practices developed by the parent unit. This is original because most studies on RKT focus on HRM practices used by subsidiaries.

Absorptive capacity is a knowledge-processing ability that hospitality organizations should hone to create competitive advantage in a fierce business environment. This study aims to examine an integrative model explaining how hospitality organizations infuse external knowledge into competitive advantage via absorptive capacity processes and opportunity-capturing abilities.

This study used structural equation modeling, using the R Lavaan package, with 288 survey responses collected from hospitality employees.

Structural equation modeling with multiple indirect relationships presents a holistic picture of how hospitality organizations develop externally acquired knowledge into organizational outcomes through detailed absorptive capacity processes. Unit size is found to positively moderate the indirect relationship between external acquisition and competitive advantage through knowledge transformation only. Competitiveness level negatively moderates indirect relationships through assimilation and transformation.

The findings highlight the importance of hospitality organizations’ knowledge management capabilities through acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation processes. These integrative mechanisms can be facilitated by intraorganizational coordinative processes through collective interpretations and applications of knowledge and effective organizational routines based on management and technical support.

This study proposes an integrative model encompassing a process perspective and the role of intraorganizational coordination in bridging potential and realized absorptive capacity.

This paper aims to study the role of absorptive capacities in coopetitive alliances that involve leakages of sensitive private knowledge regarding firms’ production processes.

This paper uses a game theoretic approach to model a differentiated product market in which two firms asymmetrically informed about the economic value of a business opportunity must cooperate to exploit this opportunity. Under coopetition, firms gain access to their partners’ core knowledge as the result of inevitable leakages of information. Firms differ in their absorptive capacities, which affects their abilities to leverage this new knowledge outside the collaborative activity.

Firms with superior absorptive capacities are more likely to devise alliances whose purpose is to gain access to their partners’ core knowledge. This opportunistic behaviour does not disappear even if firms compensate their partners for the damages caused by this deceptive business practice. This paper also finds that a highly specialised product safeguards firms with limited absorptive capacities against these opportunistic behaviours.

This paper provides a theoretical analysis of the role that absorptive capacities and product specialisation play in influencing the emergence of opportunistic behaviours in coopetitive alliances. The theoretical analysis underscores the extent to which the risk of opportunism associated with the exploitation of a partner’s specific core knowledge outside the scope of the cooperative activity affects not only the nature and intensity of market competition but also the incentives to pursue coopetitive alliances.

This paper aims to draw on a knowledge-based view to emphasize that internal technological and market knowledge is critical to developing absorptive capacity.

This is a conceptual paper, which draws on recent transformations of management practices. Thus, the paper builds on prior academic contributions.

Firms increasingly establish innovation processes that involve an active acquisition of external technologies, often through alliances and licensing. To explain differences across firms in external knowledge acquisition, marketing and product innovation researchers have recently adopted a process perspective of absorptive capacity, which refers to a firm’s ability to explore, retain and exploit external knowledge. This paper develops a conceptual framework with propositions relating technology orientation, responsive market orientation and proactive market orientation to the three process stages of absorptive capacity under different conditions of environmental dynamism.

Beyond the relevance of technology and market orientation for fostering internal innovation, this paper points to their importance for successfully acquiring external technological knowledge. In light of increasingly open innovation processes, absorptive capacity is an essential complement to internal innovation in linking technology and market orientation to firm performance.

The paper aims to explore the attributes and systemic characteristics of absorptive capacity in sustainability oriented firms in India. Such understanding shall pave a way to integrate knowledge about societal stakeholders with technological and market knowledge. The study may help other firms to benchmark their business process considering sustainability aspects to integrate a broader set of stakeholders in decision making.

A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to gather responses from 689 managers of 60 firms belonging to various industry sectors. Absorptive capacity of firms based on result of factorial analysis, variances explained by factors and rank of attributes is presented.

The study provides a glimpse of variability in steps taken by firms to remain competitive in current and future markets. This study highlights the importance of benefits sharing among alliance partners, knowledge-management processes, social integration for tacit knowledge and exploration of new knowledge sources. Surveyed firms require improvements in employee's skill set up-gradation, exploitation of knowledge spread across different departments and suitable training systems to promote knowledge sharing behaviour.

The sample of study covers respondents mainly from Health, Safety and Environment/Sustainability/Clean Development Mechanism departments so leading to certain biasness in their perception.

The study may lead organizations to transform business processes to integrate stakeholder's concerns and expectations.

The study may help organisations to develop important attributes of absorptive capacity for effective integration of stakeholders considering sustainability challenges.

This research article enhances understanding on common aspects of absorptive capacity, dynamic capability and sustainability strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce CEO succession (and subsequent TMT turnover) as a knowledge enabler. Focusing on absorptive capacity, an important dynamic capability involving the acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation of knowledge, this paper highlights the role of a new CEO in emphasizing specific facets of the knowledge management (KM) process to fulfill expected strategic mandates.

This paper presents a conceptual framework that underscores the importance of CEO succession as a knowledge enabler by depicting its influence on the various dimensions of absorptive capacity. To this end, this paper develops an integrated set of propositions that unpack the influence of different types of CEO successions that trigger and enable different KM processes involved dimensions of absorptive capacity.

The theoretical framework presented in this paper suggests that given a certain succession context (forced or voluntary turnover of predecessor) different types of CEO succession, combined with possible executive turnover, will constitute a reorientation in top management experience and expertise. This will in turn trigger certain dimensions of absorptive capacity (potential or realized), to fulfill specific strategic mandates such as strategic change or strategic continuity.

This paper presents a theoretical framework that underscores the importance of studying CEO succession in conjunction with their influence on different knowledge dimensions of absorptive capacity. CEO succession (and subsequent changes in top management team composition) is suggested to be a knowledge enabler. Based on the context of CEO turnover (forced vs voluntary) and the amount of change undergone in TMT composition, different types of CEO succession (based on their origin) are suggested to have different challenges to overcome and different strategic mandates to fulfill. Fulfilling these strategic mandates will require an emphasis on different facets of the KM process, which is encompassed in the dimensions of absorptive capacity. This will, in turn, resolve questions about which knowledge activities the organization needs to invest its resources in and resources allocation decisions may become easier.

Based on their origin, three kinds of CEO succession have been described in this paper – insider-follower, insider-contender and outsider succession. Each of these types of succession encounter different challenges and are expected to fulfill different kinds of strategic mandates. Accordingly, this paper proposes that each kind of CEO succession trigger and enable the knowledge components of absorptive capacity (knowledge acquisition, knowledge assimilation, knowledge transformation and knowledge exploitation) in different manners. This will in turn, allow firms to prioritize the allocation of resources toward different kinds of knowledge activities related to absorptive capacity.

This paper suggests that the CEO succession event, although broadly discussed in management research, has been overlooked when it comes to KM in organizations. Given that strategic leadership is one of the powerful enablers of organizational practices and outcomes, this paper emphasizes that different types of CEO succession may be able to influence the KM process by enabling the different dimensions of absorptive capacity (potential and realized).

Open innovation and information systems have been key topics in the theoretical domain, but little empirical research thoroughly examines how information technology (IT) capability affects open innovation performance. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between IT capability and open innovation performance and to expose the inner mechanism at the firm level.

This paper collected firm-level data in China; 232 usable questionnaires from different firms were collected. Then, the study used a structural equation model by AMOS for hypothesis testing.

The results indicate that both internal IT capability and external IT capability have positive impacts on open innovation performance; potential absorptive capacity and realized absorptive capacity mediate the relationship between external IT capability and open innovation performance. Additionally, realized absorptive capacity plays a mediating role in the relationship between internal IT capability and open innovation performance.

These findings indicate that practitioners should pay attention to the important relationship between absorptive capacity and IT capability and open innovation performance in Chinese businesses.

Existing research has emphasized the influence of IT on open innovation, but empirical studies have not thoroughly focused on the inner mechanisms of the effect of IT capability on open innovation performance. Drawing on firm capability theory, this paper classifies IT capability as internal and external IT capability and absorptive capacity as potential and realized absorptive capacity. Then, this paper confirms the mediating role of absorptive capacity between IT capability and open innovation performance.