Search Patterns and Absorptive Capacity: A Comparison of Low- and High-Technology Firms from Thirteen European Countries

Christoph Grimpe and Wolfgang Sofka

No 07-062, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: Searching for externally available knowledge has been characterised as a vital part of the innovation process. Previous research has, however, almost exclusively focused on hightechnology environments, largely ignoring the substantial low- and medium-technology sectors of modern economies. We argue that low- and high-technology firms differ in their search patterns and that these moderate the relationship between innovation inputs and outputs. Based on a sample of 4,500 firms from 13 European countries we find that search patterns in low-technology industries focus on market knowledge while they are built around differences in technology sourcing activities for high-technology industries.

Keywords: Absorptive capacity; search strategies; low-; medium- and high-technology sectors; open innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L60 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-eec, nep-ipr, nep-pr~, nep-knm and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:6800

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