Early efforts to develop absorptive capacity and their performance implications: differences among corporate and independent ventures

This paper examines the performance implications of efforts in absorptive capacity development for new ventures, companies in their eight first years of existence. We distinguish between corporate ventures (CVs) and ventures created by independent entrepreneurs (IVs) and explore the extent to which...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of technology transfer Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 485 - 509
Main Authors Larrañeta, Bárbara, Galán González, José Luis, Aguilar, Rocio
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer US 01.06.2017
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Absorption costing
Absorptive capacity
Absorptivity
Business and Management
Chemical vapor synthesis
Commercial Law
Economic Growth
Entrepreneurship
Industrial Organization
Innovation/Technology Management
Knowledge acquisition
Management
L26
Absorptive capacity
Corporate ventures
New ventures
Performance
L25
Independent ventures
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Summary:This paper examines the performance implications of efforts in absorptive capacity development for new ventures, companies in their eight first years of existence. We distinguish between corporate ventures (CVs) and ventures created by independent entrepreneurs (IVs) and explore the extent to which they vary in: (1) the emphasis on building different absorptive capacity dimensions and (2) their performance gains from absorptive capacity dimensions. Using data from 140 new ventures, our results show that CVs emphasize potential absorptive capacity (combining external knowledge acquisition and assimilation) more than IVs. Conversely, IVs focus more on exploiting external knowledge. We also find that efforts in activating realized absorptive capacity (combining external knowledge transformation and exploitation) have a negative effect on the performance of new ventures that is stronger for CVs than IVs. Yet, this negative effect of realized absorptive capacity on new venture performance is mitigated when combined with efforts in potential absorptive capacity in the case of CVs. The implications of our study for research into the multidimensional nature of absorptive capacity and the dynamic capabilities approach are discussed.
ISSN:0892-9912
0892-9912
1573-7047
DOI:10.1007/s10961-016-9488-1