PhD Seminar

PhD Seminar by
Lucja Kalkstein, INO

Development of absorptive capacity: the case of the Innovation Consortium programme

Abstract:

The project analyses the effects of R&D collaboration on the absorptive capacity of companies using the results of a case study conducted on a sample of firms involved in a Danish Innovation Consortium project.

As the theoretical background, I employ the concept, which incorporates elements of organizational capabilities research into the existing absorptive capacity literature. Recent conceptualizations of absorptive capacity explicitly define it as a capability, and postulate that more attention should be paid to procedures and routines involved in absorption of knowledge from external sources, instead of focusing on the level of prior knowledge as the main determinant. This approach allows employing the findings from organizational capabilities literature, which has paid much attention to how firms use experience for building their capabilities, for investigating the process of improving absorptive capacity.

The case study aims to identify procedures and routines related to absorption of knowledge from project partners. Observing the emergence and refinement of changes in these procedures and routines is interpreted as a change (increase) in absorptive capacity of case companies. Further, the study aims to explain the relationships and factors that govern these changes.