While recent studies in open innovation emphasize the synergies between in-bound and out-bound knowledge flow, empirical results are inconsistent. In this study, we argue that in order to engage simultaneously in both “buying” and “selling” activities, firms need to develop specific capabilities to manage knowledge inflows and outflows, e.g., absorptive and desorptive capacities. We build on key aspects of open innovation and knowledge management literature, arguing that absorptive and desorptive capacity are complementary rather than substitute, and engaging simultaneously in both activities should allow firms to develop their financial performance. We test our model using a sample of 541 New Zealand firms that are deeply involved in international collaborations and find empirical evidence that absorptive and desorptive capacity are not independent and the balanced development of these capabilities has higher impacts on firm’s performance. Further, our findings indicate that technology licensing capability is not a stand-alone task, and its interplay with absorptive capacity plays a key role in the development of a firm’s performance.

虽然最近对开放式创新的研究强调了入站和出站知识流之间的协同作用，但实证结果并不一致。在这项研究中，我们认为，为了同时参与“购买”和“销售”活动，公司需要发展特定的能力来管理知识的流入和流出，例如吸收和解吸能力。我们以开放式创新和知识管理文献的关键方面为基础，认为吸收和解吸能力是互补的而不是替代的，同时参与这两种活动应该允许公司发展他们的财务绩效。我们使用 541 家深入参与国际合作的新西兰公司样本测试我们的模型，并发现经验证据表明吸收和解吸能力不是独立的，并且这些能力的平衡发展对公司绩效有更高的影响。此外，我们的研究结果表明，技术许可能力不是一项独立的任务，它与吸收能力的相互作用在公司绩效的发展中起着关键作用。