Portfolio Of Capabilities Research Articles

Teacher’s service-dominant orientation: scale development and validation

ABSTRACT The literature suggests that the co-creation of higher education value, from the perspective of the service-dominant logic (SDL), begins in the teaching-learning process, and the results of this process shape the entire ecosystem of higher education value for economic and social development. From this perspective, it is important to identify strategic tools that foster the co-creation of services and value during the teaching-learning process. As a contribution, this article presents the first proposal for a scale to measure teachers’ service-dominant orientation (SDO) in higher education. This proposal was operationalised using a literature review and qualitative and quantitative empirical approaches involving six stages and supported by three studies. Conceptualised as a portfolio of interaction capabilities that teachers can strategically develop to foster co-creation in higher education, the Teacher S-D Orientation scale is presented, made up of five capacities: individual interactions (four items), relational interactions (four items), ethical interactions (three items), empowered interactions (three items) and developmental interactions (four items). Considering that from the SDL perspective, the strength of the student-teacher relationship is a decisive factor in co-creation during the teaching-learning process, the external validation of the SDO scale was ensured, with the results suggesting that the teacher’s SDO has a significant impact on the relationship quality in higher education. The scale validation has implications for both marketing and educational literature. The article concludes with recommendations for teachers and management of higher education institutions.

NASA's Use of MBSE and SysML Modeling to Architect the Future of Human Exploration

AbstractOne of the key roles of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is to help mitigate the risk and lower expenses associated with space exploration, science, and discovery to the point where industry and international partners are willing and able to profitably take on larger, more complex missions. To do this, the Agency must undertake a transformation to a more modern integrated Digital Engineering approach to mission definition and planning. This paper highlights NASA's journey in understanding what this Digital Engineering Transformation means for the Agency, the benefits of this transformation to human exploration definition and planning, and the benefits to the current Artemis campaign engineering capability portfolio.

Enhancing the role of dynamic capabilities of the coal companies under the conditions of sharp price fluctuations at the international markets

In recent years, international coal markets have been facing a trend of a growing number of sharp price fluctuations during a year. This can be regarded as the evidence for the increasing intensity of market competition as well as for the growing number and significance of the external environment factors affecting the world coal market. Actually, the coal market players have to operate in the conditions of unstable prices and external limitations that in their turn require searching for new sales markets, changing logistics routes, product lines, production and technological processes, etc. It results in the increasing significance of dynamic capabilities of coal companies – organizational capabilities on changing the portfolio of resource and capabilities in response to the changing competition at the market. In the conditions of growing volatility of coal markets the adaptation capabilities of a company become a basis for its economic effectiveness and competitiveness as well as for the viability as a whole as it allows to accelerate the process of making decisions about the necessary transformations and evaluate the risks, and are crucial for the implementation of new projects. Any activities on the evaluation and development of dynamic capabilities are possible only inside a company. This task should be solved at the strategic level of decision-making alongside with identifying the company’s individual priorities for development of organizational capabilities lying in the basis of dynamic capabilities of a company.The article deal with the author’s definition of the basic categories of dynamic capabilities implemented for the coal industry. The definition presents the priorities for operation in the current conditions and the capability to transform and accept new business-models, develop analytical capabilities and skills of acquisition and alliances with other companies.

Flexibility in Enhancing Supply Chain Resilience: Developing a Resilience Capability Portfolio in the Event of Severe Disruption

The current study aimed to determine alternative configurations of supply chain resilience strategies for managing supply chain performance (SCP) during a severe disruption. To do this, a multi-method and multi-study approach was adopted. Phase 1 of the study employed a qualitative approach to explore supply chain risk factors and their mitigation strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Phase 2, the quality function deployment technique was used alongside quantitative case studies to determine the most critical risk factors and most crucial resilience strategies. The final phase, Phase 3, used fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to determine the alternative portfolio of strategies for SCP to create flexibility when employing resilience strategies. The results revealed that implementing resilience strategies alone is ineffective in improving SCP, while resilience strategies combined with the nullification of risk factors enhance SCP. The study also revealed two alternative configurations of resilience strategies to tackle the relevant risk factors. These findings can be used to guide managers toward identifying the most suitable configuration of resilience strategies to manage severe and unprecedented supply chain risk. The alternative configurations of resilience strategies can also provide flexibility to managers in deciding the best course of action for their firms.

Impact of strategic capabilities on digital transformation success and firm performance: theory and empirical evidence

ABSTRACT What is needed for organisations to succeed in digital transformation, and what is its advantage? Motivated by the ongoing high amount of failing digital transformations, this study identifies necessary predictors and outcomes of this prominent matter on the macro level. Drawing on strategic capabilities as enablers for the redefinition of business value and organisational identity in the digital era, we propose that the complementary synergies of strategic capabilities empower digital transformation success, improving firm performance. The results support the proposed model using structural equations modelling with multi-data from 154 organisations and complementary objective data. This study identifies synergistic facilitators for digital transformation success by providing an integrated portfolio of complementary capabilities (i.e., outside-in, spanning, and inside-out orientation). The study also contributes to IS research by offering a measurable conceptualisation of digital transformation success. In addition, findings empirically show the association between digital transformation success and firm performance to enable further investigations in the IS field. Finally, from the study’s findings, practical implications can guide organisations towards digital transformation success and firm performance.

Service exchange requirements of a defence force portfolio

The Australian Department of Defence is developing a capability portfolio which involves interoperability between disparate portfolio elements, via the concerted contribution from multiple stakeholders. In order for project staff and stakeholders to obtain a better understanding of interoperability requirements, this work applied an established framework which records intended service exchanges and provides a mechanism to analyse the service exchanges required to generate capability. To test and refine the framework prior to its Department-wide adoption, a case-study was commissioned. This work draws from the study’s outcomes, focusing on the utility of the framework as a means of capturing and understanding dependencies between elements to support portfolio-wide decision-making.

INFORMATION FLOW ANALYSIS ENABLING THE INTRODUCTION OF ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING FOR PRODUCTION TOOLS-INSIGHTS FROM AN INDUSTRIAL CASE

AbstractAdditive Manufacturing (AM) has traditionally been used for prototyping of products, however, in the last few decades, it has seen a rising growth in the manufacture of final products. The addition of AM as a manufacturing method in the portfolio of a company's production capabilities increases the complexity of decision-making. This is because the decisions are often not based on the same criteria and constraints, as related to conventional manufacturing processes. In this paper, we investigate this challenge by studying how AM affects the current workflow and the associated information flow for a design-make process in a Swedish manufacturer before and after the integration of AM. In this paper, it is argued that apart from an understanding of how to design for AM, it is equally important to consider how introducing AM alters the existing information flow and how to benefit from information available in various design-make process steps to facilitate decision making process. The result clarifies that the current process relies largely on tacit and experiences-based knowledge, whereas to take advantage of AM, more precision is required to capture and process the available information.

Sectoral digital capabilities and complementarities in shaping young firms’ growth: evidence from Europe

ABSTRACT We explore how digitalization impacts young firms’ growth. A longitudinal panel analysis of the EU’s new ventures during 2010–2018 reveals that digital sectoral capabilities affect young firms’ growth autonomously and via interaction with other sectoral capabilities. Digital sectoral capabilities play an important complementary role in facilitating the upscaling of young firms operating in R&D-intensive contexts as they mature and within environments rich in tangible capital investments. In business contexts characterized by high digital but low human capabilities, young firms struggle to grow, flagging a mismatch of skills’ composition. The effects of digitalization vary depending on the level of competition within each sector. The results on complementarities of sectoral capabilities suggest that horizontal policy solutions favouring specific capabilities in isolation may have limited or counterproductive effects. Instead, policy should target a portfolio of capabilities and consider their complementarities under competitive market structures. Our analysis shows that effective innovation policy should be broadly defined and closely integrated with competition policy.

Maintaining Warp Speed: Policy Requirements for a Just-in-Time, Capability-Based, Scalable Medical Countermeasure Research and Development Enterprise.

Maintaining Warp Speed: Policy Requirements for a Just-in-Time, Capability-Based, Scalable Medical Countermeasure Research and Development Enterprise.

Exploring entrepreneurship resilience capabilities during Armageddon: a qualitative study

PurposeDuring disturbances and unprecedented events, firms are required to be resilient to confront crises, recover from losses, and even capitalize on new opportunities. The aim of this paper is twofold: (1) to examine how different types of capabilities (routine, dynamic or ad hoc) steer an entrepreneurial firm into ecological, engineering and evolutionary resilience and (2) to identify strategic activities that are deployed by firms with different capabilities to achieve resilience.Design/methodology/approachData were gathered using structured qualitative interviews with 26 entrepreneurial resilient firms that managed to survive a multitude of coinciding crises.FindingsThe findings show that each type of capability enhances the ability to achieve a specific resilience outcome: ad hoc capability for partial engineering resilience, routine capability for ecological resilience and dynamic capability for evolutionary resilience. Furthermore, ad hoc capabilities are shown to be favored when firms' losses are severe. In contrast, routine and dynamic capabilities are preferred when losses are mild. The most significant capability deployment activities related to building resilience are corporate strategic changes, global export strategy, cost reduction, stakeholder support, positive mindset, fund raising, network building, product development, efficiency improvement and restructuring. These activities are segregated based on capability and resilience types.Practical implicationsPractitioners are encouraged to cast off limiting assumptions and beliefs that firms are conditioned to fail when faced with unprecedented crises. This study provides an integrative portfolio of capabilities and activities as a toolbox that can be used by different entrepreneurs and policy makers to achieve resilience and better performance.Originality/valueThe paper undertakes a first of its kind empirical examination of the association between capabilities and resilience. The context is unique as it involves a multitude of coinciding crises including Covid-19 pandemic, city explosion, economic collapse, political instability and a severe banking crisis.

Dynamic managerial capability portfolios in early internationalising firms

It is acknowledged that dynamic capabilities can underlie internationalisation of firms, yet extant research has tended to examine the role of capabilities in international entrepreneurship in separate studies, neglecting that international enterprises tend to develop different bundles or portfolios of capabilities that may have differing impacts on their internationalisation. Applying the concept of dynamic managerial capabilities, this study illustrates how different capability portfolios of entrepreneurial decision-making and network capabilities explain early internationalisation of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Employing a machine learning method through artificial neural network (ANN) analysis, the findings show how early internationalisation is predicted by a portfolio of different dynamic managerial capabilities. This study thus contributes to the international entrepreneurship literature by outlining the capability portfolios necessary for early internationalisation and proposing a taxonomy for capability portfolios for early and late internationalising firms, by clarifying the role of dynamic managerial capabilities in early and successful entrepreneurial internationalisation and by introducing the ANN methodology as a useful tool in the research corpus of the international entrepreneurship domain.

Technological Capabilities in Organizational Innovation

Because technological innovation plays a key role in influencing firms’ longevity and performance, the question of why do firms differ in their ability to develop successful inventions became a central topic in the fields of management, strategy, and organizational theory. We contribute to answering it by theorizing the influence a firm’s technological capability strategy, which includes choices about the breadth of an overall capability portfolio and fungibility of individual technologies, has on its inventive success as measured by the quantity of developed inventions and the propensity to build technological breakthroughs. To test our predictions, we leveraged three decades of patenting histories of over two thousand firms, which together spanned nearly three hundred industries. Our empirical approach enabled us to characterize patterns of firm-level inventive outputs and technological capabilities at a highly detailed level while allowing for variation across time. Our results showed that firms with broad capability portfolios and highly general-purpose individual technologies outpace those with opposite capability strategies in the quantity of developed inventions. However, we also found that the capability strategy that fosters the highest overall inventive output does not translate into production of breakthroughs. Our analyses showed that firms that build narrow capability portfolios, but develop highly general-purpose capabilities within this narrow range, are the ones with the highest chances of producing breakthrough inventions. Our findings contribute to scholarship on corporate innovation and literature on firm capabilities.

More capable, more innovative? An empirical inquiry into the effects of dynamic managerial capabilities on digital firms' innovativeness

PurposeManagers play a critical role in shaping the development of firms due to the risky and long-term nature of innovation. Although the managerial effect on strategic change has long been factored into organizational theories, scholars still lack a complete understanding of the specific managerial capabilities that drive innovation in today's digital economy. The present study builds on dynamic managerial capabilities theory to close this research gap. The paper proposes managers' dynamic capabilities and their three underlying drivers – managerial human capital, social capital, and cognition – as a direct antecedent to digital firms' innovativeness.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on survey data from German Industry 4.0 manufacturing firms, which were analyzed using regression analysis.FindingsThe results confirm managers' dynamic capabilities as facilitators of innovation. In contrast to previous research on nondigital industries, the findings demonstrate that only the complete portfolio of managers' dynamic capabilities promotes innovativeness in digital firms. The study provides evidence for the importance of dynamic managerial capabilities in the digital economy yet contradicts previous research on nondigital industries related to the advantageousness of managers' human capital, social capital, and cognition for innovation.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by being the first to holistically test the effects of dynamic managerial capabilities on innovation in digital firms. The results offer a nuanced account of managers' dynamic capabilities, thereby expanding dynamic managerial capabilities theory to the digital economy.

(Invited) Electrocat 2.0: Accelerating PGM-Free Catalyst and Electrode Development

ElectroCat (The Electrocatalysis Consortium), formed by the U.S Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) as part of the Energy Materials Network (EMN), aims to accelerate the development of next-generation catalysts and electrodes that are free of the platinum group metals (PGM) currently required for good performance and durability. Given that polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack cost is dominated by the cost of the catalyst (>40% of stack cost), ElectroCat has focused its efforts on oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysis for PEM fuel cells, in particular to improve catalyst activity. Over its first four years, this EMN Consortium has established a portfolio of unique experimental, analytical, and modeling capabilities; more than doubled the performance of PGM-free catalysts for PEMFCs; and developed and validated durability test protocols to be made available for use by the larger PGM-free catalyst community. Building on these successes, ElectroCat 2.0, which began this year, will increase focus on improving catalyst durability, investigating electrode engineering, and further advancing high throughput catalyst synthesis and characterization capabilities coupled with machine learning while still working to improve catalyst performance. Although the focus of ElectroCat 2.0 will remain on ORR for PEMFCs, the Consortium will expand its catalyst portfolio to include the development of PGM-free catalysts for low temperature electrolysis (LTE). ElectroCat 2.0 will continue the intent of the EMN strategy by focusing on a robust, materials discovery approach, with theory-guided and high-throughput components. In addition, like other EMN consortia, ElectroCat aligns R&D activities at national laboratories and, through DOE-funded projects, facilitates streamlined access of academic and industry partners to the world-class capabilities and expertise at the four core ElectroCat national labs (LANL, ANL, ORNL, NREL). The presentation will highlight recent R&D advancements, core national lab experimental and computational capabilities, as well as machine-learning approaches to expedite the development of PGM-free catalysts and electrodes.

Learning to Swim in the Pool Before Surfing in the Sea A Study of Local Innovation Experimentation

Successful development of complex innovations require firms and key partners to perform a series of experimentation activities at local small-scale society at first, which we define such strategic process as Local Innovation Experimentation (LIE). Doing so helps managers grasp a complete map of technical and non-technical dimensions about the proposed innovation, around which build viable innovation ecosystems to gain advantages. To know what could affect the extent to which managers have high level of LIE performance, we adopt the managerial dynamic capabilities framework. Using a sample of 111 Chinese innovative firms, we find significant relationships among managers’ capability portfolio, local innovation support, and LIE. PLS-SEM results indicate that managers with greater metacognitive capability, networking capability, learning agility have better LIE performance. Besides, (1) frequent attending local networking events and networking capability, (2) frequent use of innovation facilities and learning agility, interact in their positive effects on, and therefore result in, better LIE performance. Based on these findings, our core theoretical contribution lies in that a capability portfolio perspective at the lower (firm) level contributes to a better understanding of innovation ecosystem birth at higher (ecosystem) level.

Value creation and appropriation of software vendors: A digital innovation model for cloud computing

Do software vendors propose, create, and capture value in the era of digital transformation? Drawn on the literature of business models, digital innovation, and firms' capabilities, we examine this cutting-edge research question. We conducted a multiple case research of 10 software vendors operating in Germany and Austria. The thematic analysis yields a conceptual model that explains whether and how software vendors leverage cloud computing-enabled innovation for the digital boost, which is this study's primary contribution to information systems research. Software vendors use a complementary portfolio of information technology and organizational capabilities to innovate in their value proposition, creation, and capture.

71 Developing A Portfolio for Advanced Practitioners Working with Older People

Abstract Introduction Advanced Nurse Practitioners (ANP’s) have a professional responsibility to ensure that they maintain professional competence (Whiteing, N. in Hinchcliffe and Rogers Eds pp192–219, 2008). The aim of the portfolio is to assist ANP’s in developing evidence demonstrating continued advanced level practice. At the time of the study, there was a dearth of evidence relating to competencies for qualified ANP’s, working with older people. The aim was to move away from the traditional confines of “nurse does this, doctor does this”, and to embrace the concept of developing skills to meet the clinical demands of service provision for our older people. Methods Participatory action research methodology was adopted—using the Review, Plan and act cycle (Edwards and Talbot, p63 1999; Holloway & Wheeler p155–156, 1996). Review A literature search and review of competencies relating to advanced practice and older people was undertaken. Plan A portfolio of knowledge and skills was collated utilising the information from the review. A matrix was created incorporating four Pillars of Advanced Practice (SGHD 2008), the Nursing and Midwifery Code (NMC, 2015) and modified competencies for Joint Royal Colleges of Physicians Training Board Geriatric curriculum (JRCPTB), (2010, amended 2013 and 2015). The portfolio was sent out to existing team members, and local Consultant Geriatricians based in the Acute Trust and local University for comment and amendments were made. Act The portfolio was used by staff as a trial and evaluated. Written feedback was obtained through questionnaires. Results The portfolio was well evaluated by staff using it, including recommendations for improvement. Portfolio has been shared at national groups and via social media and has been well received. Conclusions An Advanced Practice Portfolio of capabilities is being used, based on action research cycles, enhancing the level of care received by older people.

Active Slack, Balanced Capability Portfolios, and Firm Performance

Leveraging previous dynamic capabilities research, we investigate the unique role that active slack—recoverable R&D and inventories—may play for the performance of firms developing capability portfolios to renew and thrive in high-velocity environments. We see balanced capability portfolios as firms’ efforts to develop sensing and seizing capabilities simultaneously within or across internal and external modes of organization. For a sample of software firms, our findings reveal that in high-velocity environments, active slack has a direct positive effect on firm performance and a positive moderating effect for firms maintaining balanced capability portfolios within either internal or external modes. However, for firms maintaining balanced capability portfolios across internal and external modes, active slack has a negative moderating effect. Our findings advance the dynamic capabilities perspective and inform scholars and practitioners on the importance of active slack in high-velocity environments.

Customer capabilities for solution offerings in business markets

Solutions in business markets aim to solve business customers' organizational problems by providing end-to-end offerings consisting of customized combinations of goods and services along the customers' business processes. While the effective integration of customer resources and processes is key for solution success, prior research predominantly focusses in delineating only those capabilities that provider firms necessitate to offer solutions. Yet, it remains unclear which capabilities customer firms require to develop, deploy, and use solutions effectively and how these capabilities differ across different solution types. This study addresses these gaps by combining a critical literature review on organizational capabilities of business customers with empirical insights gained in 20 in-depth interviews with representatives of provider firms across a wide range of industries. Using the repertory grid method, this study identifies five broader capability sets consisting of 16 organizational customer-firm capabilities and demonstrates their importance for different types of solution offerings. Theoretically, this study advances research on solution capabilities by explicating the nature, composition, and relevance of a portfolio of capabilities that customer firms require to bring into the solution process. Managerially, the results can assist solution providers in evaluating, choosing, and developing their customer base during the solution development and deployment process.

Factors Responsible for Livelihood Diversification of Unirrigated Farmers

Livelihood diversification is the process by which households construct a diverse portfolio of activities and social support capabilities for survival and in order to improve their standard of living. Farmers were shifting their occupation from one to another because of several reasons. Hence, this study was undertaken with the objective to elucidate the factors responsible for the occupational change of agrarians. The study was conducted in the western zone of Tamil Nadu, with a sample size of 120. The samples were drawn by using purposive sampling method. The factors were collected from relevant literature, farmers, extension personnel and scientists and finally, the collected items were sent for the judge’s opinion. Based on the judges rating the valid items were selected and used for interview schedule construction. The information was gathered by using a pretested well-structured interview schedule. The respondents asked for responding to each and every factor based on the nature of influence. The calculated index score was ranked to identify the higher influencing factors for livelihood diversification of agrarians. Notable findings of the study were, production factors contributed vastly for agrarian’s livelihood change among all other categories either pushing or pulling the respondents.