Technology Absorption in Large and Small Enterprises: A Proposal for Comparative Research 1

Abstract

It is hypothesised that small enterprises have certain learning characteristics which enable them to adopt new technologies faster than large enterprises. The entrepreneurial work structure of small enterprises are exemplary for large enterprises where cognitive and goal dissonance amongst members act as impediments to technology absorption. Several other factors point to superior absorption performance of the small enterprises. This position contrasts the view that large enterprises, owing to their higher R&D spending have higher absorptive capacity, and therefore are expected to learn quicker than small enterprises. The paper proposes an empirical research for ascertaining this hypothesis.