Therefore, while several studies including Zeng et al. (2010) and Souitaris
(2001) have suggested that co-operation with external organisations and particularly
customers and suppliers positively correlates with innovation performance, our study
shows that such a relationship is, at best, indirect. Hence, from the RBV point of view, both
internal (knowledge and creativity) and external (customer and supplier relationships)
resources influence the level of absorptive capacity of the organization leading to increase
innovation performance. However, the internal resources showed more direct impact on
innovation performance