Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Evangelia Siachou, S<strong>of</strong>ia Daskou and Peter Yannopoulos
MMs on one or more <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> specifically discussed dimensions <strong>of</strong> absorptive capacity. Specifically, we
hypo<strong>the</strong>size that market driven and customer driven MMs adopted by entrepreneurs, aid <strong>the</strong>m to sort
out incoming knowledge, in terms <strong>of</strong> its utility, in <strong>the</strong>ir decision making. In o<strong>the</strong>r words, <strong>the</strong> absorptive
capacity <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurs who adopt customer driven or market driven MMs, is consequently
enriched, as <strong>the</strong>y are more able to value incoming knowledge, are also more able to assimilate that
knowledge and may be more apt to use it to generate business growth, than entrepreneurs who have
not developed <strong>the</strong>se particular types <strong>of</strong> MMs. Therefore <strong>the</strong> hypo<strong>the</strong>ses are stated as follows:
H1: Market driven MMs aid entrepreneurs to recognize <strong>the</strong> value <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> incoming
knowledge.
H2: Customer driven MMs aid entrepreneurs to recognize <strong>the</strong> value <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> incoming
knowledge.
H3: Market driven MMs aid entrepreneurs to assimilate incoming knowledge.
H4: Customer driven MMs aid entrepreneurs to assimilate incoming knowledge.
H5: Market driven MMs aid entrepreneurs to apply knowledge into commercial ends.
H6: Customer driven MMs aid entrepreneurs to apply knowledge into commercial ends.
On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand, <strong>the</strong> findings encourage us to hypo<strong>the</strong>size that self centered and competitor
centered MMs block <strong>the</strong> absorptive capacity <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurs, in that <strong>the</strong>y prevent entrepreneurs from
valuing new knowledge, and limit <strong>the</strong>ir capacity to digest it, and even make use <strong>of</strong> it. Specifically we
can now hypo<strong>the</strong>size that:
H7: Self centered MMs block <strong>the</strong> absorptive capacity <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurs at its whole.
H8: Competitor centered MMs block <strong>the</strong> absorptive capacity <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurs at its
whole.
At this point, what is <strong>of</strong> major importance is <strong>the</strong> negative effect that <strong>the</strong>se two types <strong>of</strong> MMs have on
<strong>the</strong> third dimension <strong>of</strong> adsorptive capacity, i.e. <strong>the</strong> ability <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurs to make useful application
<strong>of</strong> incoming knowledge to <strong>the</strong> daily routine and tasks <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir managerial performance.
Fur<strong>the</strong>ring in <strong>the</strong> views <strong>of</strong> Mowery and Oxley (1995), that absorptive capacity reflects a spectrum <strong>of</strong>
organizational capabilities <strong>of</strong> effective utility <strong>of</strong> tacit knowledge, we content that <strong>the</strong> concept also
reflects similar capabilities at an individual level (entrepreneurial capabilities). Potentially, <strong>the</strong>
entrepreneurs who only espouse <strong>the</strong> types <strong>of</strong> competitor and self centered MMs, lack <strong>the</strong> opportunity
to adopt and effectively implement best practices, thus <strong>the</strong>y focus only on mere acquisition <strong>of</strong> patterns
or imitations <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>ferings <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir competitors. In addition <strong>the</strong>se entrepreneurs appear not capable
<strong>of</strong> solving complex problems as <strong>the</strong> aforementioned MMs prevent <strong>the</strong>m from benefiting from <strong>the</strong>ir
learning experiences. This conclusion is consistent with <strong>the</strong> view <strong>of</strong> Kim (1998) who posits that
problem solving skills are consequent to absorptive capacity. Finally, consistent with <strong>the</strong> work <strong>of</strong>
Todorova and Durisin (2007) <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> relationships in exploiting incoming knowledge, <strong>the</strong> study
findings permit us to infer that <strong>the</strong> relationships <strong>the</strong> entrepreneurs develop in <strong>the</strong> networks, may
facilitate <strong>the</strong>m to potentially become more able to absorb incoming knowledge.
The major limitation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> method was that <strong>the</strong> research design could not overcome <strong>the</strong> degree <strong>of</strong>
lack <strong>of</strong> cooperation between <strong>the</strong> interviewers and <strong>the</strong> subjects. The entrepreneurs were on occasion
unavailable, inpatient, and overly busy. In addition <strong>the</strong> limited funding was one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> main obstacles
<strong>of</strong> securing additional interviews, which would allow <strong>the</strong> researchers to triangulate <strong>the</strong> data submitted
by <strong>the</strong> entrepreneurs. One limitation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> study itself relies on <strong>the</strong> fact that <strong>the</strong> sample used was
localized in a specific region <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> country. Although <strong>the</strong> sample comprised <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> census <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
networks yet its size was ra<strong>the</strong>r limited. Therefore one <strong>of</strong> our considerations <strong>of</strong> future research is to
conduct a cross cultural analysis using data <strong>of</strong> samples <strong>of</strong> different national and international regions.
In those studies we hope to identify additional types <strong>of</strong> MMs as well as <strong>the</strong>ir distinct functionality in <strong>the</strong>
various defined dimensions <strong>of</strong> absorptive capacity <strong>of</strong> entrepreneurs. We are also particularly
interested in discovering <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> powerful network relationships in <strong>the</strong> degree and pace <strong>of</strong> new
knowledge absorption.
References
Ancona, D. and Caldwell, D. (1992) “Bridging <strong>the</strong> boundary: External activity and performance in organization
teams”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 150-169.
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