Absorption capacity is defined as "the ability of a firm to assimilate the value of new information and assimilate it for its application to commercial purpose". We work at individual, group, company and national levels. The precursors are pre-based information (information stocks and information flows) and communication. Studies include a firm's innovation performance, aspiration level, and organizational learning. To be innovative, it has been said that an organization must develop its absorbent capacity.

Cohen and Levinthal's Model

The concept of absorbent capacity was first described by Cohen and Levinthal as "the ability of a firm to understand the value of new information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial purposes." For them, the absorption capacity largely depends on the previous relevant information and background diversity. Therefore, they make a sound investment in research and development efforts ("R & D"), which are at the heart of the models for the development of absorption capacity. Suction capacity is seen as cumulative, ie it is easier for a firm to invest continuously in absorbent capacity than to invest more easily. Efforts to improve the absorption capacity in a period will facilitate accumulation in the next phase.

The impact of absorbent capacity on cumulative and expectation formation can never assimilate and exploit new information in this area once a firm has ceased to invest in absorbent capacity in a rapidly moving area. the value of this information. Absorbent capacity is said to be a reason for firms to invest in R & D rather than just achieving results (eg patents). Internal R & D teams increase the absorbent capacity of a company. A firm's investment in R & D directly affects its absorption capacity. The more a firm invests in research and development, the more it will be able to fully understand the value of new external information.

Cohen and Levinthal also stressed that diversity allows individuals to make “new associations and connections bağ. They therefore encourage the recruitment of various teams to ensure that various individuals work together and expose themselves to ways of looking at other things.

Model of Zahra and George

Cohen and Levinthal were very focused on investing in R & D to improve one's absorbent capacity, but many other researchers later showed that many other areas could be explored to improve the absorbent capacity of an organization. This led to a study by Shaker Zahra and Gerry George, and to reformat the definition, which broadened the concept to a large extent and described it as having two different absorbent capacities: potential suction capacity and realized suction capacity. They define their new absorption capacity: a set of corporate routines and processes in which companies acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit information to produce a dynamic organizational capability.

Research on issues related to the development of absorbent capacity included studies focused on research and development, knowledge management, organizational structures, human resources, external interactions, internal interactions, social capital, supplier integration, customer integration and inter-institutional compliance. All of this research provides a better absorption capacity that allows any firm to develop absorbent capacity that improves the different areas of their organization.

Today, theory includes organizational learning, the industrial economy, the resource-based outlook of the firm, and dynamic capabilities. This theory has undergone a major refinement and today the absorption capacity of a firm is often conceptualized as a dynamic ability.

The two concepts of absorption capacity are:

Purchasing: Ability of the company to be aware of technology, to define and to benefit from the effective advantages of technology.

Innovative Routines: Practical routines that define a range of competencies that the firm can safely carry out and are the focus of the company's innovation efforts.

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