Architecture of Dynamic Capabilities:Explaining Innovativeness in the Context of Nanotechnology

Abstract

In this paper we explore different components of dynamic capabilities related to firm’s boundary-spanning linkages across two different types of inter-organizational activities - alliances and networks. We argue that there are very different skill sets of dynamic capabilities simultaneously at work and that there is a significant interaction effect between these distinctive skill sets driving the firm’s overall effectiveness in sensing and seizing of innovative, external opportunities. We explore potential interdependencies and draw distinctions among different dynamic capability elements by integrating concepts from the two theoretical perspectives that often neglect the emphasis of the other - the dynamic capability view and the social network perspective. The findings offer support for the conceptualizations of dynamic capabilities as consisting of distinct subsets of capabilities for the sensing and the seizing of external new-knowledge opportunities across two different inter-organizational contexts. The findings suggests that there are potential synergies between the subsets of dynamic capabilities that are more macro oriented (i.e. sensing and seizing of opportunities within networks) and those that are more micro oriented (i.e. sensing and seizing of opportunities within alliances) but that the linear model of generating innovations through inter-firm collaborations in an emerging field may no longer be valid.