Abstract
The current paper focuses on the management of external knowledge as a central mechanism when organizations face threats from turbulent environments. Based on absorptive capacity (ACAP) theory, we emphasize ACAP's separation into potential and realized knowledge and suggest that each should be associated with three-dimensional stocks and distinguish between managing knowledge stocks and knowledge flows. Data from 522 managers from 12 Israli hospitals support the theoretical model. Organizations that manage both potential and realized ACAP stocks achieve better performance in a turbulent environment. The paper explores the practical and theoretical contivutions of the new suggested framework by linking environmental competitiveness, ACAP stocks, and performance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 13-25 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | European Management Journal |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 2009 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Sara Lev acknowledges the financial support provided by the Israeli Institute for Health Care. Avi Fiegenbaum acknowledges the financial support provided by the following funds: Davidson Fund, Technion Institute of Management (TIM), and “Idud” Fund of the Technion. We appreciate the comments and support from Professor Shasha and Dr Oren, the general managers of Rambam and Hillel Yaffe hospitals, respectively, and Professor Dovev Lavie. The authors are solely responsible for any mistakes and/or ideas presented in the paper.
Keywords
- Environmental competitiveness
- Hospital performance
- Knowledge flows and stocks
- Potential and realized absorptive capacity
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Strategy and Management