Journal of Strategic Management Studies

Journal of Strategic Management Studies

The Effect of Knowledge Capacity on Strategic Innovation, Considering the Moderating Role of Competitiveness and Strategic Flexibility (Case Study of INOTEX Companies)

Document Type : Research

Authors
Amirhossein Tayebi Abolhasani 1
mohammadreza daneshvar deylami 1
shirin Asadi Khanghah 2
1 PhD. Student of Business Management, Allameh Tabataba'i University of Tehran
2 Master of Public Management, College of Farabi, University of Tehran
Abstract
With the expansion of the open innovation paradigm as the dominant paradigm in innovation management, the importance of knowledge absorption capacity has become more and more evident. The main purpose of the present research is to analyze the effect of knowledge absorption capacity on strategic innovation, while this study examines the role that competitiveness and strategic flexibility play in enhancing or weakening this relationship. The research method is quantitative and surveys based on a questionnaire. The statistical population of the research is small and medium enterprises of Iranian students who participated in the 7th International Exhibition of Innovation and Technology (INOTEX) in the summer of 2018, which is mostly up-to-date and includes 240 companies, which were selected randomly by 144 companies based on Cochran's formula. After assessing the validity and reliability of the collected data, using the Smart PLS software, the correlation matrix, structural equation test and fit model test were analyzed. Finally, it was found that knowledge absorption capacity is effective in strategic innovation. Also, strategic competitiveness and flexibility in the relationship between knowledge absorption capacity and strategic innovation play a moderating role. According to the results obtained, it can be seen that in the competitive world of today, organizations that have the ability to plan with a competitive approach and have strategic flexibility in creating adaptation to conditions at different times, they can better take the path of innovation.
Keywords
Absorptive capacity
strategic innovation
eenvironmental competitiveness
strategic flexibility

Subjects

  1. Aghazadeh, H., Estiri, M., & Osanlou, B. (2007). Competitiveness of Iranian enterprises. The Economic Research, 7(3), 38-58.
  2. Aguilera-Caracuel, J., Aragón-Correa, J.A., Hurtado-Torres, N.E., & Rugman, A.M., (2012). The effects of institutional distance and headquarters' financial performance on the generation of environmental standards inmultinational companies. Journal of Business Ethics.105 (4), 461–474.
  3. Ansari, M., & Haghshenas, M. (2016). Identify and explain the key success factors to change manufacturing companies into knowledge base in Iran by using Grounded Theory, 4(2), 41-74.
  4. Aryanto, R., Fontana, A., & Afiff, A. (2015). Strategic human resource management, innovation capability and performance: An Empirical Study in Indonesia Software Industry. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences, 211, 874-879.
  5. binaie Bash, A., Karami Fakhrabadi, M., & Firouzjaeian, M. (2014). Faculty of science: strategic innovation management framework, Pioneer Congress of Progress
  6. Booshehri, A., Bagheri, A., Tabaeian, K., & Namvar, K. (2016). Role of absorptive capacity in ambidexterity (exploration and exploitatopn) improvement., 4(1), 77-96.
  7. Camison, C., & Fore´s, B. (2010). Knowledge absorptive capacity: New insights for its conceptualization and measurement. Journal of Business Research, 63(7), 707–715.
  8. Carayannis, E.G., & Campbell, D.F. (2011). Open innovation diplomacy and a 21st century fractal research, education and innovation (FREIE) ecosystem: building on the quadruple and quintuple helix innovation concepts and the “mode 3” knowledge production system. Journal of the Knowledge Economy. 2 (3), 327–372.
  9. Chen, Y.-S., Ming-Ji, J.L., & Chang, C.-H. (2009). The positive effects of relationship learning and absorptive capacity on innovation performance and competitive advantage in industrial markets. Industrial Marketing Management, 38, 152–158.
  10. Cingöz, A., & Akdoğan, A. A. (2013). Strategic flexibility, environmental dynamism, and innovation performance: An empirical study. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 99, 582-589.
  11. Cohen, W. M., & Levinthal, D. A. (2000). Absorptive capacity: A new perspective on learning and innovation. In Strategic Learning in a Knowledge economy, 39-67.‏
  12. Cooper, V. A., & Molla, A. (2014). Absorptive capacity and contextual factors that influence green IT assimilation. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 271-288.
  13. Ebrahimpour, M., Nopasand Asil, S., & Ahmadi Saravani, M. (2015). The impact of strategic flexibility on companies market performance: The Mediating Role of open innovation. , 13(26), 5-16.
  14. Elahi, S., Kalantari, N., Azar, A., & Hasan Zadeh, M. (2016). The relationship between common innovation infrastructure, Absorptive Capacity and Innovative Performance at National Level. Innovation Management Journal, 4(4), 1-30.
  15. Fartash, K., Salami, R., & Moosavi Davoodi, S. (2014). Impact of absorptive capacity on technology competitiveness enhancement: key to the success of public organization (with emphasis on Iran). Quarterly Journal of Public Organzations Management, 2(2), 76-106.
  16. Feiz, D., & Rohalamini, A. (2013). The analysis of strategic thinking on strategic innovation of SMEs (Case Study: Khazra Industrial Park of Kerman), Industry and University, 22, 37-48
  17. Fosfuri, A., & Tribo, J. A. (2008). Exploring the antecedents of potential absorptive capacity and its impact on innovation performance. Omega, 36(2), 173-187.
  18. Gebaue, H., Worc, H., & Truffer, B. (2012). Absorptive capacity, learning processes and combinative capabilies as determinants of strategic innovation”European management journal, 30, 57-73.
  19. Ghasemi, M., Beygi Rad, E., Margir, A., & Shykhyany, M. (2018). The role of strategic innovation and open innovation on the performance of companies operating in the zone special economic Bushehr. Management Researches, 10(38), 225-249.
  20. Ghiasy, R., Yavary, A., Ahi, P., Ghanbary, H., & Altaha, H. (2015). Explain the dimensions of organizational forgetting and the capacity to absorb organizational knowledge, Journal of Training in Police, 3(4), 13-36
  21. Ghlichlee, B., & Makani, A. (2016). The entrepreneurial competencies, innovation and performance of knowledge-base enterprises. Journal of Strategic Management Studies, 7(27), 89-106.
  22. Glaeser, E. L. & Kerr, W. R. (2009). Local industrial conditions and entrepreneurship: How much of the spatial distribution can we explain?, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 18(3), 623-663.
  23. Haghighi, M.A., & Tayebi Abolhasani, S.A.H. (1979). Technology and innovation management, tehran: nora publications, Second Edition.
  24. Haghshenas, M., & Keimasi, M. (2018). Identify and present the framework of strategic innovation components(Case study: Tehran Science and Technology Parks), 5(4), 169-205.
  25. Hajipour, B., Motameni, A., & Tayebi Abolhasani, A. (2017). Meta-synthesis of success factors for commercialize of products with advanced technology. Innovation Management Journal, 5(4), 19-54.
  26. Harvey, G., Skelcher, C., Spencer, E., Jas, P., & Walshe, K. (2010). Absorptive capacity in a non-market environment: A knowledge-based approach to analysing the performance of sector organizations. Public Management Review, 12(1), 77-97.‏
  27. Hashemi, S., & Yousefi, M. (2017). Clarifying the concept framework of open innovation and strategic leadership in high-tech companies. Journal of Strategic Management Studies, 8(29), 117-141.
  28. Hughes, B., & Wareham, J. (2010). Knowledge arbitrage in global pharma: a synthetic view of absorptive capacity and open innovation. R&D Management, 40(30), 324-343.
  29. Huizingh, E.K. (2011). Open innovation: state of the art and future perspectives. Technovation, 31(1), 2–9.
  30. Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, P., Olander, H., Blomqvist, K., & Panfilii, V. (2012). Orchestrating R&D networks: Absorptive capacity, network stability and innovation appropriability. European Management Journal, 30, 552-563.
  31. Jafarian Rad, S.M.J., Molavi, & H., Hazarah, Z. (2014). strategic innovation and innovation strategies - evolution, New Approaches-Challenges, National Conference on Entrepreneurship and Strategic Innovation, November
  32. Jansen, J.J.P., Van Den Bosch, F.A.J., & Volberda, H.W. (2006). Exploratory innovation, exploitative innovation, and performance: effects of organizational antecedents and environmental moderators. Management Science. 52(11), 1661–1674.
  33. Kazemi, H., & Nasri Nasrabadi, S. (2018). Studying the theoretical origins of absorptive capacity, rahyaft, 28(69), 81-96.
  34. Keeton, K. E., Richard, E. E., & Davis, J. R. (2018). Strategic innovation at NASA: the solution mechanism guide. The Journal of Business Inquiry, 16(1), 50-59.
  35. Khalilnezhad, S., & Daneshvar, M. (2017). The effect of knowledge-based culture on strategic innovation with regard to knowledge absorptive capacity and strategic flexibility. Journal of Strategic Management Studies, 8(30), 43-63.
  36. khoddami, S., & Osanlou, B. (2014). Survey achievement of customer agility based on mass customization strategy. New Marketing Research Journal, 4(3), 39-54.
  37. Kostopoulos, K., Papalexandris, A., Papachroni, M. & Ioannou, G., (2011). Absorptive capacity, innovation, and financial performance. Journal of Business Research, 64, 1335-1343.
  38. Kotabe, M., Jiang, C. X., & Murray, J. Y. (2017). Examining the complementary effect of political networking capability with absorptive capacity on the innovative performance of emerging-market firms. Journal of Management, 43(4), 1131-1156.
  39. Lee, K.H., (2009). Why and how to adopt green management into business organizations? The case study of Korean SMEs in manufacturing industry. Management Decision. 47 (7), 1101–1121.
  40. Lewin, A. Y., Massini, S., & Peeters, C. (2011). Microfoundations of internal and external absorptive capacity routines. Organization Science, 22(1), 81-98.‏
  41. Lichtenthaler, U., & Lichtenthaler, E. (2009). A capability-based framework for open innovation: complementing absorptive capacity. Journal of Management Studies. 46(8), 1315–1338
  42. Majidpour, M., Khaledi, A., Nasri, S., Saber, A., & Minaee, M. (2017). The role of absorptive capacity in effectiveness of international technology transfer: investigation of part suppliers in EF7 project. Innovation Management Journal, 6(3), 53-80.
  43. Marcus, A.A., & Fremeth, A.R., (2009). Green management matters regardless. Academy of Management Perspectives. 23(3), 17–26.
  44. Matthyssens, P., Pauwels, P., & Vandenbempt, K. (2005). Strategic flexibility, rigidity and barriers to the development of absorptive capacity in business markets: themes and research perspectives. Industrial Marketing Management. 34(6), 547–554.
  45. Mohammadi, S., Sharghi, V., & Veisi, S., (2018). The impact of strategic innovation on customer desire: the moderating role of innovation capabilities, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 6(12), 81-98.
  46. Moradi, M., Abdollahia, F., & Safardoust, A. (2013). To investigate the role of knowledge absorptive capacity on the relationship between learning from organizational error and organizational innovation. Management Studies in Development and Evolution, 19(69), 121-149.
  47. Moradi, M., Valipour, M., Yakide, K., Safardost, A., & Abdolahian, F., (2013). Investigating the Role of Knowledge Capturing Capacity on Innovative Performance of Organizations (Case Study: Pharmaceutical Companies and Insurance Companies Present in Tehran Stock Exchange), Journal of Business Management Perspective, 13, 79-102.
  48. Motamani, A., & TayebiAbolhasani, A. (2017), Technology management, Tehran, Negah Danesh.
  49. Mousavi, S., Vahdati, H., & Jafari, S. (2018). A survey of the effect of electronic and traditional services quality on banking system competitiveness: A Case Study of Saderat Bank Customers in the City of Khorramabad. Journal of Business Administration Researches, 10(19), 253-276.
  50. Nasr Isfahani, A., Ansari, R., & Molaee Khorasqani, R. (2016). Investigating the effect of absorptive capacity’s knowledge on corporate entrepreneurship (Case of Isfahan Science & Technology Town). Journal of Entrepreneurship Development, 9(2), 377-395
  51. Oke, A., Prajogo, D.I., & Jayaram, J., (2013). Strengthening the innovation chain: the role of internal innovation climate and strategic relationships with supply chain partners.  Supply Chain Management. 49(4), 43–58.
  52. Park, B. I. (2011). Knowledge transfer capacity of multinational enterprises and technology acquisition in international joint ventures. International Business Review, 20(1), 75-87.‏
  53. Popa, S., Soto-Acosta, P., & Martinez-Conesa, I., (2017). Antecedents, moderators, and outcomes of innovation climate and open innovation: An empirical study in SMEs, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 1-9.
  54. Rahmatabadi, F., Nayebzadeh, M., & Davoodi Raknabadi, S. (2018). Investigating the effect of leadership style and organizational learning on competitiveness with employee innovation mediation and innovation process among Yazd telecommunication staff, New Research Approaches in Management And Accounting, 7, 52-37.
  55. Ramazanian, M., Moradi, M., & Basagzadeh, N. (2012). The impact of knowledge sharing process and knowledge-based ability on innovation capacity, Public Administration Perspaective, 11, 111-91.
  56. Razavi, S.M., & Akbari, M. (2011). Innovation system, Tehran: Tehran University Press.
  57. Ritala, P., & Hurmelinna-Laukkanen, P. (2013). Incremental and radical innovation in coopetition- the role of absorptive capacity and appropriablity. Product Development & Management Association, 30(1), 154-169.
  58. Roberts, N., & Stockport, G. J. (2009). Defining strategic flexibility, Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 10, 27-32.
  59. Roberts, N., Galluch, P. S., Dinger, M., & Grover, V. (2012). Absorptive capacity and information systems research: Review, synthesis, and directions for future research. MIS quarterly, 625-648.‏
  60. Salarzehi, H., & Dejkam, J. (2012). Identify and prioritize the factors affecting SME’S competitiveness of The Sistan and Balouchestan Fishery’s Industrial Cluster using the Analytic Network Process. Industrial Management Studies, 9(24), 115-139.
  61. Sammut-Bonnici, T., & Paroutis, S. (2013). Developing a dominant logic of strategic innovation. Management Research Review, 36(10), 924-938.
  62. Sanchez, R. (1995). Strategic flexibility in product competition. Strategic Management Journal, 16(S1), 135–159.
  63. Schlegelmilch, B. B., Diamantapoulos, A., & Kreuz, P. (2003). Strategic innovation: the construct, its drivers and its strategic outcomes. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 117-132.
  64. Senoubar, N., Salmani, B., & Tajvidi, M. (2011). The Effect of Innovation Stimuli on Innovation Capacity of Knowledge-Based Firms. Science and Technology Policy, 4(2), 91-103.
  65. Soraati Ashtiani, N. (2008). Strategic innovation, Institute for International Energy Studies, 2(87), 171-143.
  66. Spithoven, A., Vanhaverbeke, W., & Roijakkers, N. (2013). Open innovation practices in SMEs and large enterprises, Small Business Economics. 41(3), 537–562.
  67. Tamayo-Torres, I., Ruiz-Moreno, A., & Verdú, A. J. (2010). The moderating effect of innovative capacity on the relationship between real options and strategic flexibility, Industrial Marketing Management, 39, 1120-1127.
  68. Yongping, X., Yanzheng, M., & Haomiao, Z. (2011). Analysis of influence of network structure, knowledge stock and absorptive capacity on network innovation achievements. Energy Procedia, 5, 2015–2019.
  69. Zahra, S. A., & George, G. (2002). Absorptive capacity: a review, reconceptualization, And Extention. Academy Of Management Review, 27(2), 185-203.
Journal of Strategic Management Studies
Volume 11, Issue 42
Summer 2020
Pages 189-212

  • Receive Date 01 October 2019
  • Revise Date 12 December 2019
  • Accept Date 19 January 2020