Learning Processes as the Driving Force behind Strategic Innovation (Case Study: Research Centers of Iran's Oil Industry)

The present research focuses on evaluating the effects of learning processes on strategic innovation. Strategic innovation is about changing business models, creating markets without competition and a big surge of value proposition to customers. Learning processes entails explorative, assimilative, transformative, and exploitative processes. Through evaluating of our hypotheses, we came to the conclusion that Learning processes affect strategic innovation; exploitative learning is the only part of learning processes with no effect on strategic innovation. Also, combinative capabilities mediates the relationship between learning processes and strategic innovation. Research centers of Iran’s oil industry was the case study of this research.