30 Years of Academic Research Proves Best Practice Transfer Fails Without Absorptive Capacity Assessment. 30 Years of Industry Webinars Ignore This Finding.
By Jon W. Hansen | Procurement Insights
The Question No One Asks
Is Johnson & Johnson’s success with technology an indication of general market success?
The answer, backed by three decades of research, is no.
J&J’s success is an indication of J&J’s organizational readiness — their governance structures, decision rights, data architecture, executive sponsorship, and absorptive capacity. It is not evidence that other organizations can replicate those results by watching a 45-minute webinar.
Yet this is precisely what the ProcureTech industry has assumed for 30 years.
The Hackett Webinar: A Case Study in Disconnect
On January 28, 2026, The Hackett Group hosted a LinkedIn Live webinar: “AI’s Turning Point: How Agentic Enterprises Pull Ahead.”
Three principals presented. Bosch, Johnson & Johnson, and MTN Group were featured as case studies. The promise: “25%+ improvements in customer experience, productivity and compliance.”
The webinar showcased MTN achieving a 95% reduction in contract review time. Impressive. But the format assumed what it could not verify: that attendees possessed the organizational capacity to absorb, implement, and sustain similar results.
This assumption has a name in academic literature. It’s called the “internal stickiness” problem. And it was solved — theoretically — in 1996.
What Gabriel Szulanski Proved in 1996
Gabriel Szulanski’s landmark research, published in the Strategic Management Journal, studied 271 observations of 122 best-practice transfers in eight companies.
His findings were unambiguous:
“Contrary to conventional wisdom that blames primarily motivational factors, the major barriers to internal knowledge transfer are knowledge-related factors such as the recipient’s lack of absorptive capacity, causal ambiguity, and an arduous relationship between the source and the recipient.”
Translation: Best practices fail to transfer even within the same company — with the same culture, the same systems, the same executive sponsorship — primarily because the receiving unit lacks the absorptive capacity to implement what they’re shown.
The Three Barriers Szulanski Identified:
Lack of Absorptive Capacity — The recipient organization cannot recognize, assimilate, and apply the knowledge being transferred.
Causal Ambiguity — Recipients don’t know which specific elements of the source’s practice actually drove the success. They copy the visible outputs without understanding the invisible preconditions.
Arduous Relationship — The transfer requires ongoing support, clarification, and adaptation that a one-time knowledge transfer cannot provide.
The Devastating Implication for Webinars
If best practices fail to transfer internally — within the same company, with aligned incentives, shared systems, and direct support — what chance does an external webinar have?
Transfer Context
Shared Culture
Shared Systems
Ongoing Support
Success Likelihood
Same company, same division
✅
✅
✅
Still fails due to absorptive capacity gaps
Same company, different division
✅
Partial
Limited
Lower
Different company, same industry
❌
❌
❌
Much lower
Via 45-minute webinar to 5 attendees
❌
❌
❌
Near zero
The Hackett webinar operated on the implicit assumption that showing J&J’s success would help attendees replicate it. Szulanski’s research proves this assumption is structurally flawed.
The 30-Year Gap: What Analyst Firms Never Cite
I searched for evidence that any major analyst firm — Gartner, Forrester, McKinsey, Hackett, IDC — has ever cited Szulanski’s research in their ProcureTech or technology implementation reports.
I found nothing.
Three decades of academic research proving that best practice transfer requires absorptive capacity assessment. Three decades of industry webinars ignoring this finding.
RAM 2025™ Multimodel Check
Given Gabriel Szulanski’s landmark findings on why “best practices” fail to transfer — namely that the primary barrier is the recipient’s lack of absorptive capacity, not the quality of the practice itself — we conducted a RAM 2025™ multimodel search across major analyst firms’ publicly accessible content (Gartner, Forrester, IDC, and related ProcureTech research).
Across five independent model searches using terms including Szulanski, internal stickiness, absorptive capacity, and best practice transfer, we found no publicly discoverable evidence that this research is cited in connection with technology or ProcureTech implementation outcomes.
This does not rule out its presence in paywalled notes or internal briefings. But it does confirm that the dominant analyst narrative continues to emphasize vendor capability and solution design, while largely omitting the single most empirically validated predictor of failure: whether the receiving organization has the capacity to absorb and act on what it is being shown.
In short: For thirty years, the industry has taught organizations how to buy technology. Szulanski showed in 1996 that the real problem is whether they can absorb it. That gap still defines the 80% failure rate.
The implications are stark:
What Szulanski Proved
What Analyst Webinars Assume
Transfer fails even internally
External transfer via webinar is possible
Absorptive capacity is the #1 barrier
Motivation and exposure are sufficient
Causal ambiguity prevents replication
“Foundational actions” can be copied
Ongoing support is required
45 minutes of observation transfers years of development
The Failure Rate That Never Changes
The technology implementation failure rate has held steady at 70-80% across every era:
ERP Era (1990s): 75% failure to deliver expected ROI
e-Procurement (2000s): 70% failure
Digital Transformation (2010s): 70-84% failure
AI (2020s): Projected 80%+ failure
Over 27 years, I have watched the same format repeat:
Analyst firm hosts webinar
Features big-name “innovators” (the Bosch, J&J, MTNs of each era)
Showcases impressive metrics
Implies replicability
Attendees attempt to copy
80% fail
The format persists because it serves the supply side — vendors, analyst firms, consultants. It does not serve the demand side — practitioners trying to achieve outcomes.
The Question That Needs an Answer
If best practices require absorptive capacity to transfer, and absorptive capacity must be assessed before transfer can succeed, then the question every webinar should answer is:
“What preconditions must be present in the recipient organization before these ‘foundational actions’ can work — and how do you assess whether those preconditions exist?”
This question is never asked. Because asking it would shift the conversation from “what to buy” to “are you ready to govern it.”
That shift threatens the entire supply-side business model.
The Evidence Is Clear
What We Know:
Szulanski (1996): Best practice transfer fails without absorptive capacity
30 years of failure rates: 70-80% across every technology era
No analyst firm has ever cited Szulanski in ProcureTech research
What This Means:
Johnson & Johnson’s success is not an indication of general market success. It is an indication of J&J’s specific organizational capacity to absorb, implement, and govern what they deployed.
A 45-minute webinar cannot transfer that capacity. It can only show what success looks like — without explaining what made it possible or assessing whether the audience possesses the same preconditions.
The Path Forward
Until the ProcureTech industry addresses the absorptive capacity gap, these webinars will remain what they have always been: marketing narratives dressed as decision support.
The question that matters is not “What did J&J do?”
The question is: “Are we structurally capable of doing this — given our decision rights, incentives, data reality, governance structures, and executive sponsorship?”
That question requires assessment, not observation. Diagnosis, not demonstration.
And it has been waiting for an answer since 1996.
The Bottom Line
Big-name “innovator” examples are useful — but only if we also discuss the base rates and boundary conditions.
Otherwise, we’re implicitly telling every attendee they can reproduce Bosch/J&J/MTN outcomes, when 30 years of research and 30 years of failure rates say most won’t.
The question I never hear answered: How are you measuring success rates 12-24 months post-go-live — and what prerequisites must be in place before “agentic workflows” can scale safely?
Until we address the failure rate directly, these sessions risk becoming marketing narratives, not decision support.
What distinguishes the 20% who succeed from the 80% who don’t?
It’s not the technology. It’s organizational readiness.
An Afterthought
Watching an “innovator showcase” webinar and expecting to replicate their results is like attending a Beatles concert, buying the same guitar Paul McCartney plays, and expecting to sound like him.
The guitar isn’t what made him a Beatle. And the technology isn’t what made J&J successful.
Szulanski proved in 1996 that best practices fail to transfer — even within the same company — because the barrier isn’t the practice. It’s whether the recipient can absorb it.
The industry has spent 30 years selling guitars. The question no one asks: Can you play?
Source: Szulanski, G. (1996). “Exploring Internal Stickiness: Impediments to the Transfer of Best Practice Within the Firm.” Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, Special Issue: Knowledge and the Firm, pp. 27-43.
Procurement Insights
The Szulanski Paradox: Why “Innovator Showcase” Webinars Can’t Deliver What They Promise
Posted on January 28, 2026
0
30 Years of Academic Research Proves Best Practice Transfer Fails Without Absorptive Capacity Assessment. 30 Years of Industry Webinars Ignore This Finding.
By Jon W. Hansen | Procurement Insights
The Question No One Asks
Is Johnson & Johnson’s success with technology an indication of general market success?
The answer, backed by three decades of research, is no.
J&J’s success is an indication of J&J’s organizational readiness — their governance structures, decision rights, data architecture, executive sponsorship, and absorptive capacity. It is not evidence that other organizations can replicate those results by watching a 45-minute webinar.
Yet this is precisely what the ProcureTech industry has assumed for 30 years.
The Hackett Webinar: A Case Study in Disconnect
On January 28, 2026, The Hackett Group hosted a LinkedIn Live webinar: “AI’s Turning Point: How Agentic Enterprises Pull Ahead.”
Three principals presented. Bosch, Johnson & Johnson, and MTN Group were featured as case studies. The promise: “25%+ improvements in customer experience, productivity and compliance.”
The webinar showcased MTN achieving a 95% reduction in contract review time. Impressive. But the format assumed what it could not verify: that attendees possessed the organizational capacity to absorb, implement, and sustain similar results.
This assumption has a name in academic literature. It’s called the “internal stickiness” problem. And it was solved — theoretically — in 1996.
What Gabriel Szulanski Proved in 1996
Gabriel Szulanski’s landmark research, published in the Strategic Management Journal, studied 271 observations of 122 best-practice transfers in eight companies.
His findings were unambiguous:
Translation: Best practices fail to transfer even within the same company — with the same culture, the same systems, the same executive sponsorship — primarily because the receiving unit lacks the absorptive capacity to implement what they’re shown.
The Three Barriers Szulanski Identified:
The Devastating Implication for Webinars
If best practices fail to transfer internally — within the same company, with aligned incentives, shared systems, and direct support — what chance does an external webinar have?
The Hackett webinar operated on the implicit assumption that showing J&J’s success would help attendees replicate it. Szulanski’s research proves this assumption is structurally flawed.
The 30-Year Gap: What Analyst Firms Never Cite
I searched for evidence that any major analyst firm — Gartner, Forrester, McKinsey, Hackett, IDC — has ever cited Szulanski’s research in their ProcureTech or technology implementation reports.
I found nothing.
Three decades of academic research proving that best practice transfer requires absorptive capacity assessment. Three decades of industry webinars ignoring this finding.
RAM 2025™ Multimodel Check
Given Gabriel Szulanski’s landmark findings on why “best practices” fail to transfer — namely that the primary barrier is the recipient’s lack of absorptive capacity, not the quality of the practice itself — we conducted a RAM 2025™ multimodel search across major analyst firms’ publicly accessible content (Gartner, Forrester, IDC, and related ProcureTech research).
Across five independent model searches using terms including Szulanski, internal stickiness, absorptive capacity, and best practice transfer, we found no publicly discoverable evidence that this research is cited in connection with technology or ProcureTech implementation outcomes.
This does not rule out its presence in paywalled notes or internal briefings. But it does confirm that the dominant analyst narrative continues to emphasize vendor capability and solution design, while largely omitting the single most empirically validated predictor of failure: whether the receiving organization has the capacity to absorb and act on what it is being shown.
In short: For thirty years, the industry has taught organizations how to buy technology. Szulanski showed in 1996 that the real problem is whether they can absorb it. That gap still defines the 80% failure rate.
The implications are stark:
The Failure Rate That Never Changes
The technology implementation failure rate has held steady at 70-80% across every era:
Over 27 years, I have watched the same format repeat:
The format persists because it serves the supply side — vendors, analyst firms, consultants. It does not serve the demand side — practitioners trying to achieve outcomes.
The Question That Needs an Answer
If best practices require absorptive capacity to transfer, and absorptive capacity must be assessed before transfer can succeed, then the question every webinar should answer is:
This question is never asked. Because asking it would shift the conversation from “what to buy” to “are you ready to govern it.”
That shift threatens the entire supply-side business model.
The Evidence Is Clear
What We Know:
What This Means:
Johnson & Johnson’s success is not an indication of general market success. It is an indication of J&J’s specific organizational capacity to absorb, implement, and govern what they deployed.
A 45-minute webinar cannot transfer that capacity. It can only show what success looks like — without explaining what made it possible or assessing whether the audience possesses the same preconditions.
The Path Forward
Until the ProcureTech industry addresses the absorptive capacity gap, these webinars will remain what they have always been: marketing narratives dressed as decision support.
The question that matters is not “What did J&J do?”
The question is: “Are we structurally capable of doing this — given our decision rights, incentives, data reality, governance structures, and executive sponsorship?”
That question requires assessment, not observation. Diagnosis, not demonstration.
And it has been waiting for an answer since 1996.
The Bottom Line
Big-name “innovator” examples are useful — but only if we also discuss the base rates and boundary conditions.
Otherwise, we’re implicitly telling every attendee they can reproduce Bosch/J&J/MTN outcomes, when 30 years of research and 30 years of failure rates say most won’t.
The question I never hear answered: How are you measuring success rates 12-24 months post-go-live — and what prerequisites must be in place before “agentic workflows” can scale safely?
Until we address the failure rate directly, these sessions risk becoming marketing narratives, not decision support.
What distinguishes the 20% who succeed from the 80% who don’t?
It’s not the technology. It’s organizational readiness.
An Afterthought
Watching an “innovator showcase” webinar and expecting to replicate their results is like attending a Beatles concert, buying the same guitar Paul McCartney plays, and expecting to sound like him.
The guitar isn’t what made him a Beatle. And the technology isn’t what made J&J successful.
Szulanski proved in 1996 that best practices fail to transfer — even within the same company — because the barrier isn’t the practice. It’s whether the recipient can absorb it.
The industry has spent 30 years selling guitars. The question no one asks: Can you play?
Source: Szulanski, G. (1996). “Exploring Internal Stickiness: Impediments to the Transfer of Best Practice Within the Firm.” Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, Special Issue: Knowledge and the Firm, pp. 27-43.
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