Firms are increasingly collaborating with outside partners to access external knowledge that
will enable them to successfully innovate and remain competitive in the marketplace. To apply
external knowledge they must have a distinctive capacity to absorb knowledge. One of the main
influencing factors for absorptive capacity is a knowledge-friendly organizational culture
because the knowledge absorbing behavior of individuals can be better coordinated through
implicit values and norms than through structural coordination instruments. When focusing on an
organization's overall behavior it is important to investigate in detail how a
knowledge-friendly organizational culture influences absorptive capacity. Therefore the author
analysis the relationship between organizational culture and absorptive capacity and shows how
a knowledge-friendly organizational culture should be designed to support the absorption of
external knowledge in SMEs.
