JultikaUniversity of Oulu repository

The purpose of the respective study is to empirically address the influence of absorptive capacity and strategic partnerships on firm international performance. In particular, the objective is to find out whether those two dimensions, individually, have a relationship with the international performance of Finnish companies. Prior academic research shows that globalization and related competitive pressures have ensued in a situation in which companies actively evaluate new knowledge management processes and strategic partnering opportunities. Particularly, absorptive capacity and strategic partnerships have been identified as vital and major sources of firm competitive advantage for firms competing within the globalized business environment. However, it is not explicit that these concepts can continuously be turned into increased firm performance and, thus, are worth to examine in varied circumstances. Furthermore, these constructs have limited empirical research conducted in terms of their direct influence on firm performance. Accordingly, this study aims to fulfill this research gap and provide vital information for companies conducting their operations on international scale. This study is in the form of a quantitative research focusing on Finnish companies conducting international operations. The data were collected with a structured questionnaire utilizing the key informant technique in Finland in 2013 with a total of 98 respondent firms. SPSS software is used to run the statistical analysis of the study and to determine the relationships between the studied concepts. Consistent with prior research, the results of the study support the notion that there is a significant relationship between organizational absorptive capacity and firm international performance. Conversely, the results indicate that there is not a relationship found between strategic partnerships and firm international performance. In addition to these findings, the results show that strategic partnerships have a significant relationship with firm absorptive capacity suggesting that strategic partnerships may indirectly, through organizational absorptive capacity, influence firm international performance. The study and the given results provide several implications to companies and their managers concerning firm international operations. First and foremost, given the results of the study, there is a need for managerial action that builds and supports organizational absorptive capacity and strategic partnerships to enable increased firm international performance.