Researchers have used the absorptive capacity construct to explain various organizational phenomena. In this article we review the literature to identify key dimensions of absorptive capacity and offer a reconceptualization of this construct. Building upon the dynamic capabilities view of the firm, we distinguish between a firm's potential and realized capacity. We then advance a model outlining the conditions when the firm's potential and realized capacities can differentially influence the creation and sustenance of its competitive advantage.

https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5629&context=lkcsb_research

Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension

Unstable market conditions caused by innovation and increasing intensity and diversity of competition have resulted in organizational capabilities rather than served markets becoming the primary basis upon which firms establish their long-term strategies. If the strategically most important resource of the firm is knowledge, and if knowledge resides in specialized form among individual organizational members, then the essence of organizational capability is the integration of individuals' specialized knowledge. This paper develops a knowledge-based theory of organizational capability and draws upon research into competitive dynamics, the resource-based view of the firm, organizational capabilities, and organizational learning. Central to the theory is analysis of the mechanisms through which knowledge is integrated within firms in order to create capability. The theory is used to explore firms' potential for establishing competitive advantage in dynamic market settings, including the role of firm networks...

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/2635098.pdf

Prospering in Dynamically-Competitive Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration

A role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders proposes that perceived incongruity between the female gender role and leadership roles leads to 2 forms of prejudice: (a) perceiving women less favorably than men as potential occupants of leadership roles and (b) evaluating behavior that fulfills the prescriptions of a leader role less favorably when it is enacted by a woman. One consequence is that attitudes are less positive toward female than male leaders and potential leaders. Other consequences are that it is more difficult for women to become leaders and to achieve success in leadership roles. Evidence from varied research paradigms substantiates that these consequences occur, especially in situations that heighten perceptions of incongruity between the female gender role and leadership roles.

/pdf/role-congruity-theory-of-prejudice-toward-female-leaders-4ldbwpzzgm.pdf

Role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders.

The Social Psychology of Organizations.

The paper is concerned with spatial clustering of economic activity and its relation to the spatiality of knowledge creation in interactive learning processes. It questions the view that tacit knowledge transfer is confined to local milieus whereas codified knowledge may roam the globe almost frictionlessly. The paper highlights the conditions under which both tacit and codified knowledge can be exchanged locally and globally. A distinction is made between, on the one hand, the learning processes taking place among actors embedded in a community by just being there dubbed buzz and, on the other, the knowledge attained by investing in building channels of communication called pipelines to selected providers located outside the local milieu. It is argued that the co-existence of high levels of buzz and many pipelines may provide firms located in outward-looking and lively clusters with a string of particular advantages not available to outsiders. Finally, some policy implications, stemming from this argumen...

/pdf/clusters-and-knowledge-local-buzz-global-pipelines-and-the-29bsuyvekg.pdf

Clusters and knowledge: local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation

Understanding the phenomena of corporate longevity and self-renewing organizations has become an important topic in recent management literature. However, the majority of the research contributions focus on internal determinants of longevity and self-renewal. Using a co-evolutionary framework, the purpose of this paper is to address the dynamic interaction between organizations and environments in the realm of sustained strategic renewal, i.e. corporate longevity. To this end, we will focus on the competence of long-lived firms to coevolve due to the joint effect of managerial intentionality and environmental selection pressures. Building on coevolutionary framework, we develop a conceptual framework that highlights an organization’s coevolutionary competence. Two longitudinal case studies are presented illustrating the arguments.

Coevolutionary Competence in the Realm of Corporate Longevity: How Long-lived Firms Strategically Renew Themselves

Firm size, organizational flexibility, and performance: do small firms have a competitive advantage over larger firms? (summary)

This research explores how the strategy of firms evolves as a result of the imitation of several reference groups. In particular, it analyzes the extent to which firms replicate the strategic behaviors of successful firms, direct rivals and firms from the same category. Additionally, it examines potential variations in the speed of imitation depending on the reference group that is considered. Using a sample of firms of the Spanish retail banking sector from 1994 to 2009, our results show that, over time, firms tend to imitate the strategies of the three reference groups considered. The results also reveal significant variations in the speed of imitation depending on the reference group. We find that imitation to firms from the same category is faster than imitation to successful firms and direct rivals.

How imitation of multiple reference groups drives the evolution of firm strategy

/pdf/slim-managent-innovatief-organiseren-odc4p4yxng.pdf

Slim managent & innovatief organiseren

In this paper we address the question how organizational factors and the introduction of an intranet influence vertical and horizontal knowledge exchange processes within a firm in terms of knowledge exploration and exploitation. To this end, we develop a conceptual framework and propositions indicating how organizational factors like search practices, incentives, linking-mechanisms, prior knowledge, and the organization form impact on intracorporate knowledge exchange processes in terms of exploration and exploitation. Special attention is paid to the influence of the introduction of an intranet in this respect. The two contexts of ‘organization-enabled’ and ‘web-enabled’ knowledge exchange are suggested to be complementary for achieving both strategic goals of knowledge exploration and exploitation.

Managing concurrently the processes of knowledge exploration and exploitation: the influence of knowledge exchange determinants and the introduction of an intranet

Henk W. Volberda

Papers

Coevolutionary Competence in the Realm of Corporate Longevity: How Long-lived Firms Strategically Renew Themselves

Firm size, organizational flexibility, and performance: do small firms have a competitive advantage over larger firms? (summary)

How imitation of multiple reference groups drives the evolution of firm strategy

Slim managent & innovatief organiseren

Managing concurrently the processes of knowledge exploration and exploitation: the influence of knowledge exchange determinants and the introduction of an intranet