Title: Absorptive capacity and innovative enterprise systems: a two-level framework

Authors: Abdelkader Daghfous

Addresses: American University of Sharjah, School of Business and Management, P.O. Box 26666, Sharjah, UAE

Abstract: The literature on innovation and technological change frequently reminds us that it is very difficult to improve a process that is not well understood. However, a review of past research indicates an implicit consensus that absorptive capacity is a generic organisation-level construct. This paper attempts to present a new conceptualisation of absorptive capacity, which divides absorptive capacity into two distinct levels. The first level represents the firm|s general domain-neutral absorptive capacity that its employees/units possess. The second level represents the absorptive capacity in specific areas of knowledge such as customer relationship management, total quality management, knowledge management, including a more extensive discussion of supply chain management.

Keywords: absorptive capacity; innovation; learning; innovative enterprise systems; supply chain management; SCM; customer relationship management; CRM; total quality management; TQM; knowledge management; technological change.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2007.011475

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2007 Vol.4 No.1, pp.60 - 73

Published online: 30 Nov 2006 *

Full-text access for editors Access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article