Abstract
ABSTRACT Purpose: In this study, the notion of absorptive capacity (AC) and its configurations were adopted as a reference with the general goal of understanding the development stage of processes and routines of the acquisition, transformation and application of knowledge in the context of a public research company. Originality/value: One of the mobilizing factors in the agricultural sector in Brazil is the generation of new products and processes. In this case, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Agency (Embrapa) has played a role, especially in the absorption, internalization and generation of agricultural knowledge and innovations. In its processes, it involves its decentralized units and scientific and technological partners through research and development (R&D) processes. Identifying and systematizing the most effective forms and configurations in processes and routines associated with the dynamic of knowledge appropriation in a diverse and dynamic environment such as Embrapa constitutes a major challenge for scholars. However, recent studies have highlighted the growing diffusion of the debate on the AC construct. Design/methodology/approach: For this purpose, a case study was conducted involving Embrapa and three of its R&D projects. The study found evidence of intra-organizational and interorganizational alliances, as well as resulting important innovations. Findings: The principal contribution was identifying, in a public research company, the presence of routines and processes similar to those observed in the configurations of AC analyzed in the literature and the consolidation of routines and processes of knowledge absorption at the intra-organizational and interorganizational levels.
Highlights
The acquisition of external knowledge by the organization has proved to be increasingly important to the generation of innovations (Lane & Lubatkin, 1998; Lin, Su, & Higgins, 2016)
The final phase of research and development (R&D) projects, post-project, involves analyzing the results obtained (Mikulskienė, 2014), with this phase characterized by exploration of technology transfer actions, which involves knowledge acquisition through contact with clients and other companies, aiding new projects and, representing the cyclical process of absorptive capacity (AC), through which the results provide feedback for the innovation system, as proposed by Lane et al (2006)
The evidence related to each of the three categories that constitute the configuration of AC within the R&D projects in question makes it possible to consider the strong possibility that the company in which these projects were conducted has a consolidated and consistent absorption capacity for external knowledge
Summary
The acquisition of external knowledge by the organization has proved to be increasingly important to the generation of innovations (Lane & Lubatkin, 1998; Lin, Su, & Higgins, 2016). It should be emphasized that the performance of public research companies in emerging countries will depend increasingly on their capacity to access external knowledge and add it to the capacities of their geographically dispersed internal units (Santos, 2006) This construction will require considerable improvement in the ability to organize knowledge that is spread over decentralized units and in the hands of external technological partners (Cyrino & Barcellos, 2006). It is precisely because of this magnitude that it is difficult to identify and systematize the most effective forms and configurations in the dynamic of appropriating knowledge in a diverse and comprehensive environment, such as the operations of public research companies in the Brazilian agricultural sector.
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