New perspectives on learning and innovation in cross-sector collaborations

This study explores whether absorptive capacity, one of the most important concepts in the literature on inter-partner learning and innovation in alliances, can be directly transposed to cross-sector alliances. The results of the analysis suggest that current models of absorptive capacity only imperfectly reflect the learning and innovation dynamics characteristic of cross-sector alliances, due to differences in alliance partners, their goals, and the type of innovations they pursue. This article introduces the concept of relational capacity for Social Innovation, a model better suited to the analysis of learning and innovation in the context of cross-sector alliances, especially those operating at the base of the economic pyramid.