TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploitative and exploratory innovations in emerging economies
T2 - The role of realized absorptive capacity and learning intent
AU - Khan, Zaheer
AU - Lew, Yong Kyu
AU - Marinova, Svetla
N1 - Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Pervez Ghauri and two anonymous reviewers for their extremely helpful comments during the review process. We are also grateful to Oded Shenkar for his insightul comments on an earlier draft of the paper. This research was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund.
PY - 2019/6
Y1 - 2019/6
N2 - This paper investigates the mediating effect of learning intent in transforming local suppliers’ potential absorptive capacity into realized absorptive capacity and its impact on exploitative and exploratory innovation. Using survey data from 155 auto parts manufacturers in Pakistan, we find that local firms’ realized absorptive capacity enables them to develop both exploitative and exploratory innovations. The findings further suggest that local suppliers’ learning intent mediates the relationship between potential and realized absorptive capacity which in turn lead to both types of innovation. In the context of the emerging economy of Pakistan, local suppliers’ absorptive capacity is found to be critically important in spurring exploitative and exploratory innovation, but learning intent enables realized absorptive capacity and thus in conjunction with realized absorptive capacity supports innovation. Consequently, there would be a strong case for policy intervention to assist emerging economy firms in building their absorptive capacity and strengthening their learning intent as a route for promoting innovation and improving their value added position in the global value chains of multinational enterprises.
AB - This paper investigates the mediating effect of learning intent in transforming local suppliers’ potential absorptive capacity into realized absorptive capacity and its impact on exploitative and exploratory innovation. Using survey data from 155 auto parts manufacturers in Pakistan, we find that local firms’ realized absorptive capacity enables them to develop both exploitative and exploratory innovations. The findings further suggest that local suppliers’ learning intent mediates the relationship between potential and realized absorptive capacity which in turn lead to both types of innovation. In the context of the emerging economy of Pakistan, local suppliers’ absorptive capacity is found to be critically important in spurring exploitative and exploratory innovation, but learning intent enables realized absorptive capacity and thus in conjunction with realized absorptive capacity supports innovation. Consequently, there would be a strong case for policy intervention to assist emerging economy firms in building their absorptive capacity and strengthening their learning intent as a route for promoting innovation and improving their value added position in the global value chains of multinational enterprises.
KW - Automotive parts industry
KW - Exploitative innovation
KW - Exploratory innovation
KW - Knowledge transfer
KW - Learning intent
KW - Organizational learning
KW - Potential absorptive capacity
KW - Quantitative methods
KW - Realized absorptive capacity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85057864876&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://kar.kent.ac.uk/70539/
U2 - 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2018.11.007
DO - 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2018.11.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85057864876
VL - 28
SP - 499
EP - 512
JO - International Business Review
JF - International Business Review
SN - 0969-5931
IS - 3
ER -