Realised absorptive capacity, technology acquisition and performance in international collaborative formations: an empirical examination in the Korean context

The research objectives of this paper are twofold. First, it attempts to identify the critical factors facilitating the acquisition of technology from foreign partner firms and performance enhancement in international collaborative formations. Second, it compares these factors across Western and Japanese sub-samples. A new concept, realised absorptive capacity, is employed to achieve these objectives. Using a sample collected through a questionnaire-based survey, our results show that trust and communication are critical components in transforming new knowledge, while active managerial involvement of the foreign firm and the participation of foreign expatriates are the keys to applying it for business operations. In particular, components consisting of the ability to exploit new knowledge (i.e. active managerial involvement of foreign firm, participation of foreign expatriates and provision of training) are closely associated with performance enhancement. In addition, our results confirm that there clearly exist different patterns of learning mechanisms and incompatible behaviours in improving performance between the two sub-samples. Based on the results, the authors suggest implications and future research avenues.