UNPACKING ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A STUDY OF KNOWLEDGE UTILIZATION FROM ALLIANCE PORTFOLIOS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Vasudeva, Gurneeta; Anand, Jaideep
• 署名单位: University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; University System of Ohio; Ohio State University
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/AMJ.2011.61968108
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 611-623
• 关键词: research-and-development; LOCAL SEARCH; INNOVATION; performance; exploration; networks; patents; IMPACT; FIRMS; collaboration

摘要

To understand how firms facing technological discontinuities utilize knowledge from alliance portfolios, we unpack absorptive capacity into latitudinal and longitudinal components, corresponding to use of diverse and distant knowledge, respectively. We find that a moderate burden on firms' latitudinal absorptive capacity, corresponding to medium diversity in their portfolios, contributes to optimal knowledge utilization. Simultaneously increasing the demand on firms' longitudinal absorptive capacity affects this relationship negatively. Highlighting important trade-offs between latitudinal and longitudinal absorptive capacities, our findings reveal two portfolio strategies, telescopic and panoptic searches, that optimize knowledge utilization. We address important dialectics concerning absorptive capacity constraints and knowledge utilization.