Developing a sustainable competitive advantage: absorptive capacity, knowledge transfer and organizational learning

Abstract

This study proposes a theoretical model to investigate a sustainable competitive advantage (CA) by developing the absorptive capacity (AC), knowledge transfer (TR), organizational learning (OL) and in Taiwan’s financial and high technology industries. Structural equation modeling is employed to examine the influence between each variable and whether their relationships are varied in these two different industries. The study population comprises the top 100 financial and top 1000 high-technology enterprises in Taiwan published by Common Wealth Magazine in 2012. A total of 345 valid responses were collected. The research results indicate that OL serves as partial and full mediators between AC, TR and CA respectively. In addition, moderating effect exists in different industries on the theoretical model. Finally, discussion and implications are described for concluding research findings.