ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY AND OPEN INNOVATION IN THE BRAZILIAN COSMETICS INDUSTRY

There is currently a growing interest in two concepts and practices related to open innovation and absorptive capacity, in particular with regard to the role played by individuals. This requires a deeper understanding of these concepts because the fundamental basis of any open innovation process is intrinsically linked to the absorptive capacity of an organization, regardless of the degree of openness adopted by innovative firms. This research aimed to understand in depth how these companies deal with different levels of absorptive capacity, since it is a variable that can impact open innovation processes. The cosmetic industry was chosen for its relevance in the Brazilian economic context, and also because it is deeply involved with innovation due to its characteristics of launching new products at every season of the year.. Also, the industry has been little explored by researchers. The findings indicate that the Brazilian market leading companies have a greater tendency to seek for external knowledge but also make use of knowledge from internal R&D, while others focused more on the internally produced knowledge. Assimilation is easiest in companies that invest in people's training or in those that select people with better abilities and qualification, which are large companies. The more open practices are, the more efforts are required, indicating greater complexity in management, and higher level of demand for absorption capacity. It has been confirmed a significant relationship between the concepts (i.e. greater intensity of open innovation suggest a greater commitment for absorptive capacity). More open companies have shown higher levels of absorption capacity, where the knowledge acquired externally are usually assimilated and related to existing knowledge.