Sosyal Sermaye ve Özümseme Kapasitesi İlişkisi: Kocaeli Örneği
Relation between Social Capital and Absorptive Capacity: Kocaeli Case

Summary/Abstract: In order not to lose their customers and to gain new customers under the pressure of the competitive environment, firms strive to gain an advantage over their competitors by innovating. Innovation efforts of firms are affected by the information resources they hold. In this direction, firms traditionally use the knowledge bases they have created through Research and Development (R&D) activities. However, firms also need information located outside their borders. Firms serach for the information they need outside their borders, find the appropriate one, transfer it into thier inside of the firm and apply it to their products or services, providing economic benefits. The ability of firms to transfer external information to their products constitutes their absorptive capacity. On the other hand, the social capital of a firm provides access to some resources. In this study, the effect of the social capital of the firms, in particular the external social capital outside the boundaries of the firm, on the firms’ absorptive capacity. In this context, as a result of the analysis conducted by using the structural questionnaire and the data obtained from 112 enterprises registered to Kocaeli and the Chamber of Industry, it has been determined that the social capital, in particular external social capital developed by firms’ relations with other actors has a positive effect on the information absorptive capacity.

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