ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to chronicle the development of the concept of absorptive capacity as first defined and described by Wesley M. Cohen and Daniel A. Levinthal in their 1990 article Absorptive Capacity: A New Perspective on Learning and Innovation (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990). As this concept quickly approaches a quarter of a century since its introduction, it is bound to have seen changes in one way or another and in the following sections we shall attempt to give an overview of its evolution through the years. How has it been adapted and used? In what way does it exist in use today – if at all?