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Companies may not only apply their knowiedge assets intemally, i.e. in own products and/or Services, they may also exploit the knowiedge assets extemally, i.e. commercialize them in disembodied form. While the extemal acquisition of knowiedge in general and the concept of absorptive capacity in particular have received great attention by researchers, the extemal exploitation of knowiedge has long been neglected despite its increasing importance in practice. To bridge the resulting gaps in prior research, the concept of desorptive capacity as a complement to absorptive capacity is proposed by taking a capability-based approach to the extemal knowiedge exploitation. Building on this theoretical concept, measures are developed, and data from a questionnaire-based study in 136 European Companies across industries is used to examine various hypotheses relating potential sources of desorptive capacity to the success of firms in extemally commercializing disembodied knowiedge. Thus, this work also constitutes the first large-scale study that intends to empirically identify success factors of extemally leveraging knowiedge assets. The findings of the study provide strong Support for the desorptive capacity concept, which helps to explain the discrepancies between the very positive view on the extemal knowiedge commercialization in most works in the literature and the considerable difficulties with managing these activities that are often perceived in practice.
Desorptive capacity
(2004)
As competition is becoming increasingly knowledge-based, companies do not only have to develop the competence of managing knowledge internally but also need the competence of managing the acquisition and emission of knowledge in order to appropriately leverage its value. Regarding the external acquisition of knowledge, a consistent theoretical framework has been developed with the concept of absorptive capacity probably being the most important construct. In research into absorptive capacity, it is assumed either explicitly or by implication that the knowledge is applied internally. However, companies may also directly commercialize disembodied knowledge which is a growing phenomenon in practice. This trend is especially remarkable against the background of the imperfections of the markets for knowledge, which make such external commercialization of knowledge a difficult task. Accordingly, a company should build up an organizational capability to adequately manage the external knowledge commercialization process. Therefore, we develop the construct of desorptive capacity as a complementary concept to absorptive capacity in the area of external knowledge exploitation. The construct is defined, and it is shown that desorptive capacity is path-dependent. Moreover, it is highlighted how a firm may actively manage its desorptive capacity. Finally, the issue of operationalizing desorptive capacity is addressed, and implications of the theoretical analysis for research and practice are presented.