Enhancing Knowledge Acquisition through the use of ICT

For firms in complex, uncertain, and high-velocity environments a source for competitiveness is their external knowledge-related relationships. Information and communication technologies (ICT) can play an important role in knowledge-intensive processes and flows. Using the dynamic capability and absorptive capability views the paper presents and discusses how ICT can be used to enhance knowledge acquisition from external sources. Absorptive capability is a dynamic capability pertaining to knowledge creation and utilization that enhances a firm’s ability to gain and sustain a competitive advantage. Four capabilities compose a firm’s absorptive capacity: acquisition, assimilation, transformation, and exploitation. This paper focuses acquisition, which is a firm’s capability to identify and acquire externally information and knowledge that is critical to its operations. The paper discusses how ICT can be used to enhance knowledge acquisition. The core business process used for illustration is (new) product development.