The Effect of the Open Innovation Approach on the Technology Absorptive Capacity in Defense Industries: The Case of Space Industries

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Ph.D. of Science and Technology Policy, University of Tehran, Iran

/jstp.2020.11.4.2058

Abstract

Absorptive capacity refers to "the ability of placement of novel ideas and merging them into integral processes," and such ability has been extensively considered as one of the main factors of organizations’ performance. Maximizing from the benefits from the external technological opportunities which can be realized through the form of "absorptive capacity" is among the most important topics that are being pointed out as competitive advantages. In order to address the threats and rapid changes of the business environment, we need various capabilities, for which generally internal capacities are not adequate and therefore, the open innovation approach must be placed on the agenda. As such and based on the duties assigned to the defense industries, they should have various capabilities beyond their internal capacities to cope with different threats. For this reason, they have put the open innovation approach on the agenda against their traditional behavior. The question of the present paper is investigating the place of the open innovation approach in enhancing the knowledge and technology absorptive capacity in the defense industries of I.R. Iran? This research is a practical study based on its goal and is a qualitative study based on its implementation and data collection method. The statistical population is comprised of researchers, experts and managers who individually have about a decade of direct experience in the area of space researches. The required information is gathered through literature review, in-depth interviews and thematic analysis. The data obtained from interviews are analyzed by using content analysis, historical analysis, interview and expert panel methods and they are also used to develop the proposed model. The validity and reliability of the investigated effect are discussed in the results section. Finally, this research revealed that the open innovation approach has a direct effect on the enhancement of the absorptive capacity of Iranian defense industries, and analyzed how the approach affects these industries.

References

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