Absorptive capacity management as organizational competitiveness factor

Ekonomije zasnovane na znanju odlikuje izražena zavisnost od usvajanja i primene znanja u cilju unapređenja konkurentnosti. U takvim sredinama se velike količine relevantnih znanja nalaze kako unutar, tako i izvan samih organizacija. U sve dinamičnijem okruženju, na dostizanje konkurentske prednosti utiče sposobnost organizacije da koristi tokove znanja za svoje potrebe. Organizacije teže kontinuiranom snabdevanju novim znanjem u cilju unapređenja svojih tekućih rešenja u poslovanju, poboljšanja proizvoda, stvaranja novih prilika za sticanje prednosti nad konkurentima, osnaživanja sopstvenih baza znanja i predviđanja daljeg razvoja tržišta. Ovi uslovi povećavaju važnost koncepta apsorpcionog kapaciteta, koji označava sposobnost pribavljanja, asimilacije, prilagođavanja i iskorišćavanja znanja od strane organizacije. Iako postoje mnogobrojne studije koje se bave podelom apsorpcionog kapaciteta na njegove činioce i proučavanjem njihovih karakteristika, istraživanje u ovom radu je usmereno na proučavanje odnosa dimenzija i komponenata apsorpcionog kapaciteta, kao i izraženosti njihovog pojedinačnog uticaja na nivo apsorpcionog kapaciteta u organizacijama koje potiču iz tehnološki i znanjem intenzivnih industrija. U tom cilju, konstruisan je i primenjen model za evaluaciju apsorpcionog kapaciteta, koji prati tok znanja u organizaciji, od njegovog usvajanja do primene, zasnivajući se na podeli apsorpcionog kapaciteta na pomenute dimenzije i komponente. Analizom rezultata dobijenih na bazi primene modela za evaluaciju kapaciteta apsorpcije znanja ispitana je mogućnost analiziranja uticaja apsorpcionog kapaciteta na konkurentsku moć organizacije, što je i glavna hipoteza ovog doktorskog rada. U svrhu istraživanja primenjena je metodologija kvantitativnog i kvalitativnog istraživanja na bazi upitnika. Prikupljeni podaci su analizirani pomoću modela za evaluaciju kapaciteta apsorpcije znanja uz primenu diskriminacione analize u vidu statističke metode. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da je moguće analizirati nivo kapaciteta apsorpcije pomoću indikatora u modelu, te da je dostupno, odnosno postojeće relevantno znanje najuticajnija determinanta kapaciteta apsorpcije.Knowledge-based economies are highly dependent on adoption and application of knowledge for improving their competitiveness. In such environment, huge amounts of relevant knowledge are located within and outside organizations. Increasingly dinamic global market forces organizations to use their knowledge flows for their needs, in order to achieve competitive advantage. Organizations strive towards continuous knowledge accumulation so they can improve their business solutions and products, create new market opportunities, strengthen their knowledge base and predict future of the market. These terms increase the importance of the absorptive capacity concept, which relates to acquiring, assimilation, transformation and application of knowledge by organization. Although there are many studies which deal with the division of absorptive capacity into constituents and analyze their characteristics, this research is examines the relations between absorptive capacity dimensions and components, as well as the intensity of their influence on the absorptive capacity level of organizations from technology and knowledge intensive industries. For that purpose, the absorptive capacity management model which monitors knowledge flow from the acquiring to the application of knowledge has been designed and applied. The model is based on the division of the absorptive capacity into dimensions and components. The results of the application of the absorptive capacity evaluation model were analyzed in order to explore the possibility to assess the influence of the absorptive capacity on the competitive strength of an organization, which represents the main hypothesis of this doctoral dissertation. For the purpose of the research, quantitative and qualitative methodologies based on a survey were applied. The received data were analyzed with the absorptive capacity evaluation model, by the application of the discriminant analysis as a statistical method. The results of the research show that it is possible to analyze the absorptive capacity level by the indicators in the model, and that the available relevant knowledge represents the most influential determinant of the absorptive capacity