Knowledge Transfer In Strategic Alliances: Moderating Effects Of Limited Absorptive Capacity And Powerful Relationships On Business Model Innovation Performance

In the era of knowledge economy, knowledge transfer is among the core strategic moves for company services which are in great need of maximizing their business in new sectors in which they have not previously operated. Although existing literature supports the positive direct effect of the incoming knowledge to an organization's performance, the effect of certain relational factors (which may play either the role of facilitators or impeders) has drawn limited research. This paper examines the effect of two relational factors -the level of absorptive capacity and the powerful relationships-on the knowledge transfer within strategic alliances. In consistency with prior work, this study supports that: (i) the transfer of external knowledge is a determinative factor for an organization's performance and (ii) the effective exploitation of the incoming knowledge follows in the wake of the organization's ability to absorb the knowledge that is externally derived. In an attempt to expand this prior work, the role of powerful relationships formed between partners in a strategic alliance, is perceived as a potential factor able to mitigate the negative moderating effect of the limited absorptive capacity on the direct relationship between knowledge and performance. The aforementioned relationships are depicted on a conceptual framework to empirically investigate the case of company services which are in great need of obtaining new knowledge in order to develop business model innovations, taking the Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) as a case study. Empirical evidence from 109 MVNOs operating across Europe are provided to support the moderating role of two specific factors in the knowledge transfer process within strategic alliances. The results indicate that organizations' limited absorptive capacity determines the positive direct relationship between the incoming knowledge and organizational performance. Moreover, the powerful relationships between knowledge seekers and keepers are found to be a relational factor to the transfer of knowledge which mitigates the negative moderating effect of limited absorptive capacity thus making this knowledge activity more effective.