Absorptive Capacity Theory

Absorptive Capacity theory

Absorptive capacity is a firm’s ability to identify, assimilate, transform, and apply valuable external knowledge. Put another way, absorptive capacity is a limit to the rate or quantity of scientific or technological information that a firm can absorb. Conceptually, it is similar to information processing theory, but at the firm level rather than the individual level. Absorptive capacity was introduced by Cohen and Levinthal in 1990.

- Absorptive Capacity 是公司识别，吸收，转化，应用有价值的有价值的外部知识的能力。

- 公司层级，而非个人

- Cohen and Levinthal in 1990

Zahra and George (2002) extended the theory by specifying four distinct dimensions to absorptive capacity: acquisition, assimilation, transformation and exploitation. However, Todorova and Durisin (2007) seriously question Zahra and George's reconceptualization of absorptive capacity.

When absorption limits exist, they provide one explanation for firms to develop internal R&D capacities. R&D departments can not only conduct development along lines they are already familiar with, but they have formal training and external professional connections that make it possible for them to evaluate and incorporate externally generated technical knowledge into the firm. In other words, a partial explanation for R&D investments by firms is to work around the absorptive capacity constraint.

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It is useful to note that almost all organizational literature, including Cohen and Levinthal’s (1989; 1990) original work, treats absorptive capacity as an organizational-level construct (Lane et al. 2006). Although absorptive capacity does have antecedents and consequences, it is not composed of a statement of relations among concepts within a set of assumptions and boundaries. Thus, absorptive link building service capacity is a construct, not a theory.

- 组织层级

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