The connection between absorptive capacity and open innovation in managerial perspective

The growing number of research dedicated to open innovation has determined a growth of company’s interest towards external sources of knowledge and of the interactions with these resources in order to obtain an added value. Absorptive capacity, together with the outside-in dimension of open innovation represent interconnected concepts. The present study examines their connection both in theory and in their representation in SMEs managers’ perception. The study that forms the base of the research is a survey conducted on companies’ managers who worked on open innovation projects. Although few studies dealing with the subject existed up until now, the vision of the managers was chosen to be examined due to the impact of a managerial decision over a company’s ability to learn from an exterior environment. In the future, open innovation is thought to be integrated in the management of innovation, this being the reason we view it as of utmost importance for the deepening of the managerial perspective regarding its influences and component elements.