In order to collaborate with customers in new product development efficiently, companies need to maintain some inherent competence that allows them to both understand the external party's processes and absorb external knowledge. The aim of this study was to operationalise absorptive capacity for...

Customer integration is an integral element of the innovation process today. Yet, despite the potential for integrating external knowledge into new product development (NPD) processes, companies often fail to benefit sufficiently from customer integration. Research attributes this failure to...