Transferência de conhecimento no contexto da cooperação internacional: o caso da Sociedade Moçambicana de Medicamentos

Abstract

Despite the growth of International Technical Cooperation (ITC), especially horizontal (South-South), the literature concerning the process of Knowledge Transfer (KT) in the ITC context is still scarce. In order to analyze how the mechanisms of Knowledge Transfer and the absorptive capacity are interrelated in that process, this case study was conducted about the implementation of the Mozambican Medicines Society (SMM). From a literature review, Absorptive Capacity is considered a set of routines and organizational processes by which firms acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit knowledge to produce dynamic organizational capability. This can be divided in two dimensions: Potential Absorptive Capacity (PAC) and Realized (RAC). The PAC is the organization's ability to recognize and assimilate external knowledge. On the other hand, RAC corresponds to the capacity of the organization to transform and exploit knowledge. The higher levels of PAC and RAC in an organization, the greater the effectiveness of knowledge transfer is. The distance between the PAC and RAC can be reduced with the assistance of the mechanisms of KT. In international cooperation, the gap reduction between PAC and RAC is in line with the concept of Capacity Development presented by the model of South-South cooperation structuring in health. This model involves training for government workers at the beneficiary countries, resulting in strengthening the health organizations and institutional development in those countries. To perform the study, two variables were defined. The first variable, Mechanisms, is composed by training, movement of people, expatriation and manuals. The second variable, Absorptive Capacity, is composed of PAC (acquisition and assimilation), and RAC (transformation and exploitation). The data collection was done through studying official documents and a total of 29 interviews with 21 professionals from both managerial and operational positions, some of them were interviewed multiple times. The data analysis was done using the method of content analysis, with the assistance of the software NVivo. The results show that the mechanism movement of people influences the Potential Absorptive Capacity (PAC) while expatriation and creating manuals impact Realized Absorptive Capacity (RAC). Also, it was observed that the mechanisms of knowledge transfer in non-commercial basis can promote human development. However, the absence of governance structure, made it impossible to go beyond the level of training of public employees for structuring and improvement of institutions related to health policy. The theoretical contribution of this work is to demonstrate how the different mechanisms of knowledge transfer affect the PAC and RAC in the context of South-South cooperation.