Building Absorptive Capacity for Inbound Open Innovation: the role of Knowledge Brokers

One of the key drivers of open innovation is the ability of a firm to exploit external sources of innovation to nurture its innovation processes. Actively searching the external environment, however, it is not enough if the firm lacks the competences to screen and select external technology and knowledge as well as to internalise them. The ability of a firm to absorb in practice the technology or knowledge once acquired is of paramount importance for a firm willing to become an open innovator. In this paper, we investigate, through a three-year participant observation in a large multinational firm, the potential role of knowledge brokers to act as externally organised forms of absorptive capacity.