Dynamic capabilities, change and innovation in Greek SMEs: a preliminary study

Abstract

International competition is increasingly making firms enter a process of change and transformation. The dynamic capabilities approach is relevant in examining this change and has thus attracted considerable attention. In the current business environment, change (especially innovation) is essential for pursuing the creation of strategic competitiveness. It is the creation and development of suitable dynamic capabilities, however, that may actually enable or induce innovativeness. This paper is an attempt to review relevant existing theory, so as to locate possible commonalities of the dynamic capabilities of differing firms. Second, through ongoing empirical research, the paper draws on data from a sample of Greek SMEs. The paper examines dynamic capabilities in relation to innovativeness. Any relationship between dynamic capabilities and firm performance is considered indirect, with the intermediate step being efforts for change and innovation. In this way, the tautology pointed out in the literature between dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage is bypassed.