Dynamic Capabilities Perspective Research Articles

Knowledge integration in family firms: Understanding the nexus between familiness and organizational effectiveness

AbstractAlthough knowledge integration has been deemed relevant for the development and survival of family firms, prior studies suggest that the lack of skills to combine and transfer incumbent family members' knowledge within the family may hinder family firms' organizational effectiveness. Knowledge integration, in this context, might depend on family involvement in ownership, management and governance, and family essence, considering the emotional and relational aspects of the influence the family exerts on the business. Relying on knowledge‐based view and dynamic capability perspectives, we propose a model suggesting that knowledge integration intervenes in the relationship between familiness and organizational effectiveness. Our hypotheses are tested on a sample of 102 private Spanish family businesses. The results reveal that familiness is beneficial for knowledge integration, enhancing family firms' organizational effectiveness. Our study provides practical implications for family business owners and managers, and opportunities for further research.

Solutions from space? A dynamic capabilities perspective on the growing use of satellite technology for managing sustainability in multi-tier supply chains

Distant upstream tiers in supply chains are hotspots for sustainability issues that expose focal firms to growing reputational, financial, operational and legal risks – yet sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practice and research still focus on dyadic buyer-supplier relationships due to poor upstream transparency. Recently, however, focal firms have started adopting satellite technology as a tool for gaining systematic, continuous and direct oversight of issues like deforestation occurring far upstream to complement standards and certifications. This could transform multi-tier SSCM dynamics but, being a novel phenomenon, it remains unclear which organizational capabilities and collaborations focal firms apply to leverage remote sensing's potential. Combining dynamic capabilities theory and a multi-tier SSCM framework, our paper analyzes the current use of satellite technology in forest-risk commodity supply chains. Triangulating insights from interviews, documents and observations in a qualitative content analysis, the study finds that effective multi-tier SSCM relies on (a) internal resources providing four functions (traceability; monitoring; follow-up; stakeholder accountability), (b) complemented with external resources accessed through strategically selected collaborations that (c) take the form of working along supply chains, across supply chains and across sectors. The results show that technology-driven multi-tier SSCM can hold strategic benefits beyond risk reduction. Further research is needed to assess these relations.

Enhancing global supply chain resilience in the Indonesian medical device industry: a dynamic capability perspective

Purpose This paper aims to understand how the global supply chain in the medical device industry embraces resilience by adopting agility approach following COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts an interpretative approach to examine the qualitative data drawn from interviews and observation under dynamic capability theory. The data collection concerned multiple stakeholders involved in purchasing and supply management in the medical device market: manufacturing suppliers, channel partners, hospital management and end-users. The coding analysis uses an application that helps the researchers categorise the nodes and extend the existing literature. Findings The findings show that global supply chain leaders leverage the dynamic capability by centralising the business process decision to respond to the shifting demand from the local governments to the national health ministry, shaping the partnership style from the area- to the funnel-based agreement, even though it exposes a risk of product acceptability from the end-users, encouraging the distributor to convert just-in-time approach into holding safety stock to avoid penalty from missing the procurement target even and restructuring the local partners’ debts to manage long-term performance. Originality/value This study extends the emerging literature in international business by underpinning dynamic capability theory.

Dynamic Capabilities Perspective of the Firm in Response to the Crisis Economic Environment

This study focuses on the corporate responses and transformation of management practices in crisis economic environment. The dynamic capabilities approach to the firm offers a good theoretical framework for understanding the process of a firm's learning and innovation products, processes and services in rapidly changing circumstances. We conducted a survey to learn business leaders' perceptions of economic crisis and how they have changed in response to the crisis from the dynamic perspectives of the firm. We found that inefficient financial resource selection and ineffective deploy-ment of financial resources by business groups, accompanied by heavy debt-driven business expansion, were the prime factors that contributed to the crises. Increased awareness of the importance of corporate competitiveness received the largest response; increased capability of crisis management, better preparation to deal with future crises through crisis management strategy and routinization of crises management were all important changes in response. The results of this study provide a theoretical framework to understand Korean firms' learning and innovating products and processes after the crisis.

Small steps for the big hit: A dynamic capabilities perspective on business networks and non-disruptive digital technologies in SMEs

This study explores how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) build on business networks to develop dynamic capabilities that ultimately foster the adoption of non-disruptive digital technologies (DT). Multiple mediation analysis is used to test this relationship, drawing on cross-industry secondary data from 1470 British SMEs. The results reveal that SMEs rely on business networks to support non-disruptive DT adoption. This relationship is mediated by the parallel effects of three dynamic capabilities (HR, strategic planning, and marketing capabilities). However, the results do not hold for each domain-specific dynamic capability. The mediating effect is particularly driven by marketing capabilities, while HR capabilities negatively affect DT adoption. These findings highlight the underlying mechanisms by which SMEs can enhance their adoption of non-disruptive DT in their daily operations and processes, which have the potential to strengthen their value proposition.

A dynamic capabilities perspective on implementing the Circular Transition Indicators: A case study of a multi‐national packaging company

AbstractThe use of life cycle‐based assessment has been defined a crucial microfoundation to implement circular business models from a dynamic capabilities perspective. Through a case study of a multi‐national packaging corporation in the plastics sector, the application of an industry‐developed circularity assessment, the Circular Transition Indicators (CTI), is analysed in two manufacturing locations (Italy and China). The aim is to identify how this life cycle‐based assessment can amplify the company's capability to sense, seize and reconfigure its resources. Data were collected from a company placement, interviews, and sustainability reports. The CTI mainly contributed to the sensing microfoundations concerning the company's life cycle‐based perspective and the use of environmental management tools. It also proved to complement existing life cycle‐based approaches because it does not identify sustainability impacts, but only captures material flows. Furthermore, the results showed how the CTI implementation benefitted from existing microfoundations, such as the strategic collaboration with knowledge partners and previously collected sustainability and process efficiency data. Finally, it was also discussed for which microfoundations the CTI results could be most useful: to improve internal resource management processes and to support external circularity pledges. This paper contributes an empirical example to connect dynamic capabilities with life cycle management literature in a circular economy context.

Microfoundations of innovation: A dynamic CEO capabilities perspective

AbstractAlthough sustainable competitive advantages in today's hypercompetitive economy call for strong management skills, the literature lacks a holistic understanding of the specific capabilities chief executive officers (CEOs) utilize to drive innovation. This article derives the dynamic CEO capabilities (DCCs) concept to examine whether CEOs' individual‐level DCCs facilitate firm‐level innovation and proposes that CEO power moderates this relationship. Results from a longitudinal sample of S&P 900 manufacturing firms confirm that strong DCCs drive innovation. Further, powerful CEOs can exert a more significant influence on firms' innovativeness through their DCCs, yet this effect is contingent on the type of CEO power.

Nexus of digital platforms, innovation capability, and strategic alignment to enhance innovation performance in the Asia Pacific region: a dynamic capability perspective

The direct influence of digital platforms on organizational efficiency, financial performance, and strategy attracts the close attention of researchers. The complex mechanisms and pathways of digital platforms on transformation capacity, however, are still unclear at the global and Asia Pacific levels. Drawing on dynamic capability theory, we empirically explore how digital platforms augment organizational innovation performance. We advance the current literature on digital platforms by finding that digital platform capability boosts an organization’s dynamism and innovation performance. Furthermore, we extend the literature by revealing that, indirectly, innovation capability and strategic alignment have a substantial influence over digital platform capability and innovation performance. Finally, the study formulates a conceptual model from a dynamic capability perspective, rather than from a resource-based view, and test it using the responses collected from 153 Pakistani manufacturing firms.

The role of innovativeness and supply chain agility in the Australian service industry: a dynamic capability perspective

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the conditional indirect effect of innovativeness on performance via supply chain agility (SCA) in the service industry at higher and lower collaborative relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe hypothesised model is operationalised with survey data from 245 Australian service firms collected via LinkedIn and analysed using structural equation modelling and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).FindingsThe analysis found that SCA significantly mediates the relationship between innovativeness and performance. Further, the conditional indirect effect of innovativeness on performance via SCA was significant when the collaborative relationship was high. Results also revealed that a configuration of both innovativeness and agility better predicts performance.Originality/valueThis study is an early attempt to investigate SCA in service industries by scrutinizing SCA from an innovative point of view. While previous studies have demonstrated the role of innovativeness in enhancing a firm's performance, this study explores this link further by investigating the conditional indirect effect of innovativeness on performance via SCA at different levels of collaborative relationships.

The wind of change: A dynamic managerial capabilities perspective on the role of marketing managers as strategic change agents

This study investigates the role of marketing managers as strategic change agents from the dynamic managerial capabilities’ perspective. It nurtures the broader theoretical questioning of marketing’s contribution to corporate strategy by showing how marketing practitioners’ complex skills and knowledge are combined and deployed while driving strategic change programs. The involvement of marketing managers is analyzed from a twofold perspective by considering the degree of proactivity in both change in strategy content and change in strategy processes to fill the gap identified in the literature regarding their role in strategic change. Drawing on qualitative data, the empirical investigation suggests a change agency model and uncovers the different roles performed by marketing managers. These roles materialize through four different postures in strategic change programs (i.e., pilot, advisor, expert, and synergist) with the respective dynamic managerial capabilities that marketing managers rely on in each configuration.

Drivers of green supply chain integration and green product innovation: a motivation-opportunity-ability framework and a dynamic capabilities perspective

PurposeThis study provides an integrative model that facilitates green product innovation (GPI) by adopting dynamic capabilities theory and the motivation-opportunity-ability (MOA) framework. Drawing on dynamic capabilities theory, this study emphasizes green supply chain integration (GSCI), consisting of internal and external integration, as a dynamic capability that drives GPI. Moreover, this study analyzes the environmental conditions that benefit the development of dynamic capabilities using the MOA framework and focuses specifically on government support (GS) and market greenness (MG) as precursors to GSCI.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data were collected from 300 Chinese manufacturing firms. The proposed hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis.FindingsThe regression analysis reveals that (1) GS and MG positively affect both internal and external integration and (2) internal and external integration positively affect GPI.Originality/valueIn explicating a model of GPI, this study extends the theoretical lens of dynamic capabilities beyond the intraorganizational level to the supply chain level. Moreover, this study enhances the understanding of dynamic capability development by considering the environmental conditions that represent motivation- and opportunity-based drivers of GSCI.

How to Leverage Big Data Analytic Capabilities for Innovation Ambidexterity: A Mediated Moderation Model

Building upon the knowledge-based dynamic capabilities view, this study seeks to examine how big data analytic capabilities can be leveraged to improve innovation ambidexterity by developing a mediated moderation framework. Survey data were collected from 199 Chinese big data companies to test our model. The results indicate that the dynamic decision-making capability mediates the relationship between big data analytic capabilities and innovation ambidexterity, and this mediating relationship is conditional on the moderator variable of cross-functional integration. This study enriches the literature about big data analytic capabilities and innovation ambidexterity by clarifying how big data analytic capabilities are positively related to innovation ambidexterity and uncovering the driver for pursuing innovation ambidexterity in a digital context. It also contributes to this line of research by revealing contingent factors to leverage big data analytic capabilities from the knowledge-based dynamic capabilities perspective.

The influence of transformational and learning through R&D capabilities on the competitive advantage of firms

PurposeThis study provides theoretical and empirical insights into how firms can enhance their performance strategically and financially by integrating learning and transformational capabilities into research and development (R&D) activities based on the dynamic capabilities approach. To achieve this, the authors propose that transformational capabilities in R&D mediate the relationship between learning capabilities in R&D and competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approachUsing a purposive sampling technique and standardized questionnaires, data were collected from 118 R&D and senior managers. To analyze the data, multiple regression analysis, along with SPSS PROCESS macro (Model 4), was used.FindingsThe results support the theoretical assumption that there are direct and indirect positive and significant effects between learning capabilities in R&D and competitive advantage as mediated by transformational R&D capabilities.Originality/valueThis study explores R&D from a dynamic capabilities perspective and suggests that learning capabilities should come first to enhance businesses’ competitive advantage. Furthermore, transformational R&D capabilities can explain the relationship between learning capabilities in R&D and competitive advantage. The authors recommend that researchers should investigate the contributions of R&D to promote competitive advantage.

The role of dynamic capabilities for resilience in pursuing business continuity: an empirical study

The unprecedented systemic disruptions that occurred in the last years are highlighting a structural lack of resilience in most organisations. In this context, there is an increasing scholars’ interest in understanding to what extent capabilities to anticipate, respond and thrive in unprecedented situations represent a strategic lever for business continuity management in most sectors of activity. To contribute to this debate, this research adopts a dynamic capabilities perspective to investigate the specific capabilities that organisations build in the pursuit of business continuity. Based on multi-sectoral primary data collected in 2021 from HR professionals of 419 organisations operating in Italy, the outcomes of our quantitative study show that the business continuity requirements expressed by ISO22301 are perceived as interrelated and indivisible. Furthermore, our results suggest that the ambition to fulfil the business continuity requirements depends on the organisational capabilities to improvise and coordinate the use of its assets (i.e. people, technologies, premises, information) in the face of disruptions. Besides the managerial implications concerning how to build favourable organisational conditions to reduce the vulnerability to external risks, the research contributes to the literature by building new measurement scales to assess business continuity and disentangling the rationale behind the related dynamic capabilities framework.

Research on the Impact of Big Data Analysis Capability on Enterprise Supply Chain Resilience

Based on the current economic environment and from the perspective of dynamic capability, this paper divides big data analysis capability into big data perception capability, big data capture capability and big data transformation capability, and divides supply chain ambidexterity into supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability. A questionnaire survey was used to quantify the impact of big data analysis capability (BDAC) on supply chain elasticity (SC-RE). A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed to managers of supply chain nodes of enterprises, and 217 valid questionnaires were obtained. The regression results of questionnaire data showed that BDAC was positively correlated with SC-RE. Supply chain duality (SC-AM) is positively correlated with SC-RE. SC-AM plays a partial mediating role in the positive effect of BDAC on SC-RE. Based on the regression results of this paper and the research results of existing scholars, the corresponding conclusions are drawn, and some suggestions are put forward for enterprise managers. BDAC is an effective way to improve the performance level and competitive strength of supply chain enterprises. Enterprises should attach importance to the useful information contained in big data, take certain measures to enhance BDAC, improve the information processing capacity and speed of enterprises, reduce the probability of risk occurrence, so as to improve the supply chain resilience of enterprises and improve the level of supply chain risk management.

Handling resource deficiencies through resource interaction in business networks

This paper conceptualizes how to handle resource deficiencies due to disruption and turbulence in supply chains from an Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) perspective. A conceptual framework explores how three resource deficiencies, resource scarcity, resource quality, and lack of availability, impacts upon, and is mitigated via, resource interaction. There is a need for reconfiguring resources to cope with both temporary and permanent disruptions in handling resource deficiencies in complex, turbulent contexts. The three deficiencies can occur within a business network both separately and in combination. The paper outlines a dynamic capabilities perspective on resource deficiencies in business networks by linking resource interaction and capabilities. The reality of resource deficiencies requires a sense of urgency; they are disruptive and most likely unplanned. This challenges mainstream IMP understanding about the dynamics of resource development.

Advancing supply chain management from agility to hyperagility: a dynamic capability view.

Research and practice emphasize the criticality of supply chain agility in responding to external disruptions. However, many organizations struggled to respond at enhanced speed to the global supply chain shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizations need hyperagile supply chains to survive and remain competitive in an environment characterized by unexpected and sudden disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. We propose that supply chain hyperagility (SCH) is a distinctive organization-specific capability. It enables organizations to effectively manage demand shocks at extreme speeds and under extreme time pressures. We advance the concept of supply chain hyperagility and establish its antecedents, taking the dynamic capability perspective. This study operationalizes the SCH construct for the first time and investigates its antecedents using structural equation modeling. The results highlight the significance of data analytical capabilities, market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, and supply chain integration in shaping supply chain hyperagility. The study offers practical insights for managers regarding designing supply chains that can navigate hyperagile environments and benefit from the opportunities presented by such environments.

Enhancing international marketing capability and export performance of emerging market SMEs in crises: strategic flexibility and digital technologies

PurposeThis study investigates to what extent strategic flexibility of international strategic alliances (ISAs) affects export performance of emerging market small and medium-sized enterprises (ESMEs) via international marketing capability in crises. It also examines whether these ESMEs’ adoption of digital technology strengthens the impact of strategic flexibility of ISAs on international marketing capability.Design/methodology/approachBased on the international alliance and dynamic capability perspectives on strategic flexibility, the authors develop a conceptual model and empirically examine the mediation and moderation effects between strategic flexibility of ISAs, international marketing capability, export performance and adoption of digital technology. The authors collected survey data from 129 ESMEs located in Pakistan between May 2021 and August 2021 and tested the conceptual model with hierarchical-moderated regression analysis.FindingsThe findings suggest that strategic flexibility of ISAs positively impacts on export performance of ESMEs in crises. Moreover, the authors found that international marketing significantly mediates the relationship between strategic flexibility of ISAs and export performance of ESMEs. Also, the adoption of digital technologies significantly moderates the relationship between strategic flexibility of ISAs positively and international marketing capability.Originality/valueThe authors take strategic flexibility of ISAs in the context of the emerging market and how ESMEs enhance export performance in a time of crisis, which extends the prior ESMEs’ international marketing strategy and crisis management literature. In particular, the authors show that strategic flexibility of ISAs is a vital dynamic capability to enhance export performance of ESMEs via international marketing capability and adoption of digital technologies.

CAC-Redes: a new and quali-quantitative model to increase the competitiveness of companies operating in business networks

PurposeThis paper proposes the “fields and weapons of the competition model applied to business networks” – CAC-Redes (in Portuguese, Campos e Armas da Competição – Redes de negócio), an extension of the fields and weapons of the competition model (CAC) – to study the competition and competitiveness of companies operating in business networks in a competitive environment while integrating organizational competencies, interorganizational ties and company positioning to provide competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approachCAC-Redes is born from the cross-fertilization process of various theoretical perspectives, namely, industrial organization, traditional view of operational activities and resources, relational view, strategic alignment, transaction cost theory and social perspectives in networks, structured according to systems theory and under the mantle of competitive advantage theory. To discover the structure of existing models of competitiveness in networks, a bibliographic search was conducted in the Scopus database. Quali-quantitative empirical research was undertaken in companies from six different economic sectors through structured questionnaires and personal interviews to understand how companies competed and discover the determining factors of their competitive advantage.FindingsOnly seven models of competitiveness in network were found, and their structures and characteristics are quite different from those of CAC-Redes. Empirical research confirms all the hypotheses that support CAC-Redes, which, combined with those of CAC, indicate the CAC-Redes corroboration.Research limitations/implicationsCAC-Redes does not apply to networks without intercompany competition, studies on network governance and corporate strategy formulation.Practical implicationsCAC-Redes is effective in studying complex competitiveness phenomena because it considers multiple influences; provides a process based on qualitative and quantitative variables that increase the probability of formulating successful competitive strategies; simplifies the differentiation of skills from core competencies and determines them; proposes a competitive advantage criterion to select suppliers; creates a unifying language to represent the different strategic specificities of companies, competitors, suppliers, customers and the company environment and provides a library containing 181 weapons (resources) and dozens of interorganizational ties that can be used in empirical studies with other methodologies.Social implicationsCAC-Redes, due to its originality and peculiarities, theoretically contributes to theory of resources because it dispenses with the assumption, “unique resource, source of competitive advantage”; to relational view because it considers interorganizational relationships as a competence and treats it quali-quantitatively and to core competencies because if the strategy changes, different core competencies will be needed. Furthermore, it is an alternative to the dynamic capabilities perspective, and it transforms the five manufacturing performance objectives into nine for the entire company.Originality/valueCAC-Redes is an original model because its structure and characteristics comparatively differ from those of existing models, and 14 singularities are detected.

A study on resource stretch and leverage from the perspective of dynamic capabilities

A study on resource stretch and leverage from the perspective of dynamic capabilities