Search results for "absorptive capacity"

Absorptive Capacity and Social Capital: Innovation and Environmental Regulation

2010

Norwegian paper and pulp mills are subject to strict environmental regulation. The mills conduct research and development for reducing pollution. Absorptive capacity indicates their competence. Firms are part of a social network of connections with external actors that include other paper and pulp mills, suppliers, customers, research institutes, and universities that help them in developing technologies. These relations represent their social capital. Some firms have access to more and better resources than other firms. Measuring firms’ absorptive capacity and access to social capital, we analyze their success in reducing pollution levels. There is a strong interaction effect between absor…

Does innovativeness reduce startup survival rates?

2015

There are two competing hypotheses explaining how innovativeness influences the survival of startups: On the one hand, innovativeness is argued to foster survival-enhancing attributes (e.g., market power and cost efficiency) and capabilities (e.g., absorptive capacity). On the other hand, an innovative startup faces (and bears the associated risks of) liabilities of newness and smallness that exceed those of its non-innovative counterparts. The available empirical literature addressing this theoretical tension mostly supports the former hypothesis; we suggest that this finding is, in part, driven by the common practice of employing an ex post measure that already embodies a degree of succes…

Perceived reason to hinder ACAP increase

2014

We derive through literature review that lack of internal R&D investment, lack of contribution into absorptive capacity (ACAP) nurturing at the initial phase of a project, and lack of adequate training prevent ACAP improvement. We conduct 41 interviews using a case study method on four organizations. Based on the empirical findings, it is revealed that most of practitioners know how ACAP can be improved. But still, they do not offer the important incentives and follow some traditional ways of performing their tasks. We further explore what prevents practitioners from implementing practices towards ACAP improvement. From our empirical findings we identify and analyze perceived reasons that h…

Determinants of silent and explicit industrial design

2018

This paper investigates the relationship between the use of silent or explicit design (SD or ED) and the characteristics of firms or sectors that use each of these types of design in Argentina. The findings show that SD differs from ED and that the differences have important implications for the creation of policies to support competitiveness as well as for the development of business strategies. The study contributes to the literature by identifying three groups of dimensions. (1) Structural. Neither size nor barriers to the use of design bear relation to the use of design. (2) Dynamic. SD and ED have different effects on competitiveness based on the different links each type of design has…

Project complexity and team-level absorptive capacity as drivers of project management performance

2018

Abstract Many believe that project complexity reduces project management performance. However, so far research has failed to establish this causal relationship conclusively. We extend research on project complexity by introducing the concept of team-level absorptive capacity and by studying its role as mediator between project complexity and project management success. Applying structural equation modelling to a sample of 285 respondents, we find an unequivocal, direct and positive statistical association between project complexity and delays and overspending. Further, we show that team-level absorptive capacity is critical for successful project management, but also that absorptive capacit…

Balancing on a tightrope: Managing the boundaries of a firm-sponsored OSS community and its impact on innovation and absorptive capacity

2014

Realizing the innovation potential of OSS communities, firms now create or sponsor their own open source software (OSS) communities, generally as part of an open innovation strategy. However, maximizing the innovation capability of a sponsored OSS community is a challenging task since firms cannot rely on traditional hierarchical authority to control community members. Furthermore, a firm's efforts to manage its sponsored community may also impact the firm's absorptive capacity, or its ability to effectively absorb and leverage the valuable knowledge created by the community. Thus, the purpose of this article is to investigate two research questions: 1) How does the boundary management of a…

Two Views for Understanding How TQM Fosters Learning and Value Innovation: Absorptive Capabilities and Action-Based Management

2014

In the last decade some frameworks have tried to explain how to devise strategies for innovation in value by determining the needs of customers and non-customers, also creating new industries in which competition becomes irrelevant (Hax, The delta model. Reinventing your business strategy. New York: Springer, 2010; Kim and Mauborgne, Blue ocean strategy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2005; Madhok and Marques 2013). These reference frameworks are based on a common set of principles: Value is created through the relationship with the customer (Priem, Acad Manag Rev 23; 219–235, 2007; Vargo and Lusch 2008); Strategy is considered to be a continuous process of exploring new opportuniti…

ESSAYS ON THE DRIVERS OF FIRM COMPETITIVENESS

2020

Exploring the common blockchain adoption enablers: the case of three Italian wineries

2021

Purpose This study aims to explore and describe the main enabling factors affecting the implementation of blockchain technology (BCT) in a strategic sector such as the wine industry, as well as the motivation behind this choice. Design/methodology/approach In light of the novelty of the phenomenon studied, a case study approach was adopted analyzing three Italian wineries. A conceptual framework, based on the dynamic capabilities, absorptive capacity and dominant logic theories, was developed. Primary and secondary data were collected. Findings Results show that wineries working in a highly dynamic and competitive market invest more in knowledge acquisition and internal assimilation and le…

Knowledge management in franchising : a research agenda

2019

PurposeThis paper aims to offer a comprehensive systematic review of knowledge management (KM) in franchising literature over the past 29 years.Design/methodology/approachBy means of bibliometric citation analysis, ISI Web of Science (WoS) database is used to analyze articles from 1990-2018. A total of 169 articles by 369 authors across 40 countries published in 113 journals from 200 institutions were clustered and examined through HistCites and VOSviewer.FindingsThe exploration of KM in franchising is associated with 3 factors: governance structure; performance outcome; and franchise network growth. The findings also reveal that KM in franchising is still an emerging discipline encompassin…