Strategic Capabilities Research Articles

STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF DUOLINGO LANGUAGE LEARNING PLATFORM

The rising number of Internet and mobile device users influence the growing demand for educational technology solutions. Duolingo is a commercial language learning platform that offers courses on the web and a mobile app, launched in 2012 as a free website with the goal of addressing social inequalities in education. This article aims to analyze the company’s strategic capabilities which led to Duolingo being the top grossing education app since 2019. The evaluation was carried out by using methods of SWOT, VRIO, and Porter’s Five Forces analyses. The results suggest that Duolingo targeted a wide market segment and developed an attractive product by gamifying the learning process, thus securing a large share of the market in a competitive sector by taking advantage of technological advancement and social media.

Influence of Mission and Vision on Financial Sustainability of NGOs in Kenya

Purpose: The organization's vision and mission are the first step of any strategic planning process. They are used as a context for development and evaluation of planned and emergent strategies. Vision statements have been tremendously accepted as a crucial part of the strategic management process for organizations of all types for profit, a multinational or a small and medium scale enterprise. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the influence of mission and vision of financial sustainability of NGOs in Kenya.
 Methodology: A desktop literature review was used for this purpose. Relevant seminal references and journal articles for the study were identified using Google Scholar. The inclusion criteria entailed papers that were not over 10 years old.
 Findings: Mission statements are good in capturing corporate level strategy in terms of scope, boundaries and value creation. They are a broad overarching statements around which other strategic principles like vision, strategic capabilities, strategic intent, objectives and goals, core values, standards of behavior as well as business models evolve. A good vision facilitates growth in an organization will make sense to the organization’s citizens and expand their minds in terms of possibilities while at the same time remaining feasible. An effective organizational vision and mission statement translates directly into an organization’s success which can be measured by continued competitive advantage, improved sales, solid leadership, greater employee commitment, increased shareholder value.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy and Practices: The study recommended that NGOs should implement mission and vision as planning strategies. This is because vision and mission significantly influence organizational performance. Moreover, NGOs’ strategic leadership should ensure that the vision and mission of the organization are effectively communicated and adapted by all employees.

THE EFFECT OF COOPERATION AND INNOVATION CAPABILITY ON INNOVATION TYPE OF THE EXPORT ORIENTED SME’S IN INDONESIA

The unit of analysis is export-oriented SMEs located in Bali, Jakarta, West Java, East Java and Central Java. The SMEs in question are not differentiated based on the type or production sector, because the authors are of the view that the factors examined in this study can apply in general to all SMEs. The research observation unit is the manager of each SME’s. The manager in question is the top manager or top manager of the company. Furthermore, the number of samples in the study was calculated from a total population of 317 SMEs. Based on the Slovin formula, 176 samples were obtained. The results of this study are, The innovation capability model for export-oriented SMEs in Indonesia is supported by implementing of cooperation, Cooperation that is implemented by export-oriented SMEs include factors of vertical cooperations and horizontal cooperations. The dominant role is horizontal partnerships, namely partnerships implemented with partners in educational institutions or business incubators, financial institutions, government institutions or related agencies, as well as with associations or industrial communities or exporters, and so forth. Innovation capability in export-oriented SMEs includes the dimensions of strategic capability, network capability, process capability, and learning capability. These four dimensions of capability have an important role for SMEs so that SMEs have the capability to be able to produce types of innovation within their companies. The dominant role is network capability and strategy. The types of innovation produced by export-oriented SMEs include product innovation, marketing innovation, and process innovation. The dominant types of innovation are marketing innovation and process innovation

A framework for agility improvement projects in the post mass customisation era

Changing customer requirements and turbulent markets require suitably adapted capabilities to proactively cope with rapid changes. Agile manufacturing emerged in the late 1990s as a competitive concept to respond to these business challenges. While several seminal research works address agility in terms of concept definition, drivers and strategic capabilities, there is a lack of implementation frameworks of agile manufacturing. The current paper is concerned with the question of how to improve the agility of manufacturing companies. To address this question, a framework is iteratively developed with the aim of supporting decision makers in planning and implementing agility improvement projects. To this end, Design Science Research (DSR) methodology is used in conjunction with CIMO-logic (Context, Intervention, Mechanism, Outcome). The iterative development of the framework relies heavily on insights from case studies and from practitioners in the broad manufacturing sector. The paper provides evidence of the validity of the framework as well as outlining further research perspectives.

A configurational approach to capabilities of business model innovation: Insights from a project‐based firm

The capabilities of business model innovation (BMI) are crucial for the modern firm to remain competitive. This study aims to answer recent calls for a more structured approach to understanding BMI and to researching how the capabilities relate to performance. Furthermore, and despite the rise of the project‐based firm, there is still a profound lack of BMI research in the setting of project‐based firms – a research stream, which we contribute to developing further. Theoretically, and on the basis of a literature review, we suggest a set of four overall capabilities for BMI with 29 corresponding themes within the areas of strategy, business models, management, and organizations. Empirically, we gained deep access to 15 projects in a major European engineering consultancy, which were marked by BMI. Analytically, we analyzed the results through a fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and derived three main findings. Firstly, a high degree of skunkworks with little relationship to the firm's strategic and operational logic leads to a fast time to market. Secondly, lack of managerial capabilities leads to increased investment and lower revenues. Finally, lack of managerial capabilities—even with the presence of strategic capabilities of BMI and organizational capabilities of BMI—leads to lower future potential of the business model. In continuation of these findings, we develop three propositions and recommend project‐based firms to boost the managerial capabilities of leading BMI by focusing on training of BMI managers, organizational learning through experiments, establishing trust in project employees, ensuring openness in collaborations, minimizing transaction costs and developing appropriate key metrics for the BMI project.

Dynamic capabilities as a strategic flexibility enabler: organizational responsiveness to COVID-19

PurposeTo cope with the existing pandemic situation and to be organizationally responsive, firms need to be strategically flexible, where they need to develop dynamic capabilities (DCs) by continuously reconfiguring their resource base. To address such challenges, firms heavily rely on information and communication technologies (ICT) because of advancement in disruptive technologies. This study aims to explore techniques used by higher education institutional (HEI) leaders to successfully address challenges posed by global disruption, i.e. COVID-19 with the help of advanced ICT software such as Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach was adopted to explore strategic factors such as strategic flexibility (SF) and DC that disclose shortcomings in the current extant literature. A total of 15 interviews were conducted with heads of departments of HEIs in the United Arab Emirates. Data were analyzed using NVivo software.FindingsThe findings suggested three dimensions of SF (resources, operational and collaborative) and four dimensions of DC (strategic planning, innovative, adaptability and technological) for firms to adopt to be strategically flexible, where DC serves as building blocks of SF.Originality/valueThis research provides a framework as an avenue for future researchers and practitioners on how to strategically manage their resources and be strategically flexible in turbulent environment such as pandemics. Theory-based investigations on strategic capabilities and DC from resource-based perspective are still under-researched, emphasizing the need for theoretically based research on strategic responsiveness, especially during the times of environmental complexities such as COVID-19 pandemics. This research enriches strategic management research by exploring the important antecedents of organizational responsiveness, including SF and DC together with the support of human factor, i.e. leadership qualities of HEIs managers. This study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is among the first to systematically explore main dimensions of DC and SF based on the resource-based theory of strategic management in the Middle Eastern context.

Investigating intellectual capital, corporate environmental sustainability strategy, and management commitment: Evidence from Ghanaian hotels

AbstractThis study investigates the impact of intellectual capital (IC) on corporate environmental sustainability strategy (CESS), and the moderating effect of management commitment (MC) on the link between IC and CESS in hotels in Ghana. As a cross‐sectional survey, data was collected from 185 managers from 30 hotels and analyzed using standard multiple regression analyses. The results revealed that there is a positive link between IC and CESS. The results further showed that MC has a significant positive moderating effect on the link between IC and CESS. The study's findings provide evidence to support the view that MC can enhance IC's contribution to the environmental sustainability performance of hotels in Ghana. This study extends the natural resource‐based theory by showing IC as strategic capability and resource for achieving corporate environmental sustainability strategies.

COMPETITIVENESS ASSESSMENT IN BANTEN CULTURAL TOURISM DESTINATIONS: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELLING APPROACH

This study aims to determine the impact of stakeholder orientation, strategic capability, and mutual value creation on competitiveness in cultural tourism destinations in Banten Province. The survey method and quantitative methods were employed in this study. In data processing, the author includes structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with Lisrel software. The research findings conclude that the results of testing the hypothesis have a direct, positive, and significant effect on the variables studied, including stakeholder orientation, which has a direct, positive, and significant impact on competitiveness. Value creation has a direct, positive, and significant impact on competitiveness, and the two have a direct, positive, and significant impact on competitiveness. This research is expected to assist in advanced business management science, particularly in strategic management, and encourage members to undertake additional research into strategic capabilities, joint value creation, and increased competitiveness of cultural tourist destinations in Banten Province, and tourism destinations in Indonesia in general. The limitation of this study is that the locus used only represents Banten Province; therefore, additional research in a broader regional scope can be conducted. Further research is expected to use more specific topics and can be applied in Banten Province or across 34 Indonesian provinces.

Influence of subcontractors' “strategic capabilities” on “power”, “dependence” and “collaboration”: an empirical analysis in the context of procurement decisions

PurposeResearch on strategic procurement was mostly focussed on the clients' and main contractors' perspectives, while limited work had been done from a subcontractor's perspective. The paper hypothesises that “strategic capability” influences the latent constructs of power, dependence and collaboration in the main contractor–subcontractor relationship. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of a subcontractor's strategic capabilities on power, dependence and collaboration.Design/methodology/approachA survey questionnaire was developed and distributed amongst the subcontractors in Australia, and 212 complete responses were received. Then second order confirmatory factor analysis and partial least square structure equation modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis were performed to test the hypothesised relationships.FindingsThe findings support “strategic capabilities” as a construct expressive of a subcontractor's unique market position and good business reputation. The findings also suggest that strategically capable subcontractors enhance their potential for forming partnerships with main contractors through dependence (StratC. → Dep.,β = 0.84; Effect Size (ES) = 0.713;p < 0.01), collaboration (StratC. → Collab.,β = 0.84; ES = 0.697;p < 0.01) and bargaining power (StratC. → Pow.,β = 0.83; ES = 0.672;p < 0.01).Originality/valueThe study is one of its kind to explore the impact of a subcontractor's strategic capability on their bargaining power, dependability and ability to form collaborations. Furthermore, results indicate that the “strategic capabilities” of subcontractors can strongly influence their ability to create “dependence”, foster “collaboration” and exert “power” over a main contractor. The findings can help improve the strategic procurement decision-making processes of both subcontractors and main contractors to build better business relationships.

Using strategic development to enhance security strategic capabilities

الغرض من هذه الدراسة السعي إلى التعرف على دور التطوير الإستراتجي في بناء المقدرات الإستراتيجية الامنية, واقتراح أليات جديدة تهدف الى تعزيز عمل قيادة بغداد من منظور إستراتيجي لتجنب حدوث أي اخفاقات أمنية وعسكرية.
 التصميم/ المنهجية/ المدخل Design/methodology/approach- تضمنت الدراسة التحليل النوعي للبيانات ذات الصلة بقيادة عمليات بغداد المبحوثة في العاصمة بغداد قيد الدراسة وشملت عينة البحث عينة من الضباط في هذه العمليات والبالغ عددهم (108) ضابطاً، وقد سعى البحث لإختبار عدد من الفرضيات المتعلقة بعلاقات التأثير بين متغيرات البحث. وتمت معالجة البيانات من خلال الأساليب الإحصائية باستخدام البرنامج (SPSS). وتم تحليل الأدوات العائدة عن طريق البرامج الإحصائية (SPSS.V.21)، (AMOS.V.21).
 النتائج Findings – أظهرت نتائج تحليل الإحصائي للبيانات التي تم جمعها من خلال أداة الاستبيان المعدة لهذا الغرض، بالإضافة الى الإستنتاجات النظرية منها قدرة عمليات بغداد على بناء المقدرات الإستراتيجية الامنية وتجاوز حصول أي فشل عسكري.
 الأصالة / القيمة العلمية Originality/Value– يساهم هذا البحث كمحاولة للمساهمة في الكشف عن بناء المقدرات الإستراتيجية الامنية كوسيلة حديثة لقيادة عمليات بغداد المبحوثة لتجنب حدوث تهديدات أمنية وعسكرية.

Organizational learning and strategic capability: A study of telecommunications firms in Port Harcourt

Organizational learning and strategic capability: A study of telecommunications firms in Port Harcourt

Creating the Nurse Executive for the Future: A Collaborative Academic and Health System Partnership

A collaborative academic and health system partnership was developed to create the nurse executive fellowship academy (NEFA). One aim of NEFA was to foster succession planning by strengthening existing executive nurse leaders’ skills, enhancing their strategic capability to lead dynamic change. Program development was guided by the American Organization for Nursing Leadership competencies. A roadmap outlines the program development phases, including chief nursing officer interviews, design team activities, curriculum, and intervention strategies. Evaluation data showed positive results for the first cohort of participants and such data are a vital component in succession planning for developing future executive nurse leaders.

SOCIAL MEDIA AS A STRATEGIC CAPABILITY FOR STARTUPS AND THE MEDIATING ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL

Social media have been widely adopted in various organizations. The use of social media for achieving business sustainability and financial outcomes has been addressed in the literature. In the entrepreneurship context, social media have received great attention as the platforms can be one of the cost-effective marketing activities and knowledge accumulation. Despite existing evidence regarding the impacts of social media, the study of social media in the startup’s context is limited. Based on the dynamic capabilities perspective, this study relied on data from 128 startups in the emerging economy’s context to investigate the importance of social media for startups. Particularly, the results from PLS-SEM support the significant influence of social media as firm’s strategic capability toward performance. In addition, social capital consisting of three dimensions – cognitive, structural, and relational – has been found to mediate the direct association of social media strategic capability toward the startup performance. This study advances the social media research on entrepreneurship as well as the dynamic capabilities perspective to enhance the startup’s sustainability through enhanced performance. Especially, it encourages the application of social media with the indirect effect of social capital for startups.

MEDIATING EFFECT OF TALENT MANAGEMENT ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT, ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION, ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE, AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN DUBAI POLICE

Both public and private organizations are facing various challenges in the current environment due to range of complexities as exists in the market. However, to achieve higher organizational performance, more attention is required towards different tangible and intangible organizational resources along with strategic capabilities. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of total quality management, entrepreneurial orientation, organizational excellence towards organizational performance from the context of Dubai Police. Additionally, it also explores the mediating effect of talent management on the relationship between total quality management, entrepreneurial orientation, organizational excellence, and organizational performance. A sample of 453 valid responses through online survey questionnaire was collected and analzyed. More specifically, descriptive statistics, correlational and demographic analyses and both measurement model and structural model was assessed. The study findings through measurement model confirm the reliability, validity, internal consistency, and discriminant validity of the latent constructs. Finally, the findings through PLS-SEM approach confirms that direct and significant relationship between total quality management, entrepreneurial orientation, organizational excellence, and organizational performance, respectively. The testing of mediating effect confirms that talent management significantly mediates the relationship between TQM-OP, between EO-OP, and between OE-OP, accordingly. The study findings would be of great support to various policy makers specifically in the Dubai Police.

Effect of network strategic capabilities on digital transformation in Jordanian universities

The study aims to explore the effect of network strategic capabilities (NSCs) with its dimension of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain on digital transformation (DT) in Jordanian universities. The paper used the analytical-descriptive approach to analyze and interpret the results. The study population includes Jordanian universities, and the sample consists of top management. Out of 400, 304 questionnaires were completed and returned. The results show that AI (β = 1.219, t = 1.175, p < 0.00) and blockchain (β = –0.773, t = 0.437, p < 0.00) have a significant effect on DT. The first sub-hypothesis results concerning leadership revealed that AI (β = 0.525, t = 0.360, p < 0.03) and blockchain (β = –0.538, t = 0.186, p < 0.04) have a significant effect on leadership. The second sub-hypothesis result concerning strategic planning revealed that AI (β = 4.031, t = 3.050, p < 0.002) and blockchain (β = –5.150, t = 2.334, p < 0.020) have a significant effect on strategic planning. While for third sub-hypothesis concerning infrastructure, the results of AI were β = 0.818, t = 1.011, p < 0.032 and for blockchain β = 0.159, t = 0.121, p < 0.904. This result shows that AI has a significant effect on infrastructure, while blockchain does not have any effect. Therefore, NSCs must be integrated into the business process to enhance and boost DT efficiently and effectively.

Effect of organizational immunity in enhancing the strategic capabilities of the company: an applied study on the Iraqi general insurance company

This research diagnoses the impact of the organizational immunity dimensions represented by the organizational (memory, genes, and learning) on enhancing the strategic capabilities dimensions of the company represented by (marketing capabilities, administrative capabilities, technological capabilities, creative capabilities). The study also tries to list those dimensions in the order of priority. The researchers adopted the questionnaire as a tool for collecting data from 55 officials at the administrative levels (higher, middle, and lower levels). SPSS, (28Version) was used to calculate (weighted mean scores, standard deviation, relative importance, coefficient of variation, simple and multiple regression, F-test, corrected interpretation coefficient AR²). The most prominent findings of the research are: The organizational immunity, with its combined dimensions, affects the strategic capabilities of the company in a significant way. However, there are no statistically significant differences in the participants' response to the research variables attributed to the personal and functional variables represented by (gender, age, educational qualification, administrative level and the years of service).

Strategic Capabilities for Enhancing the Flood Resilience of Business Premises: An Expert Review and Lessons from Case Studies

Sustainable development entails socio-economic wellbeing, which is often threatened by weather hazards. Indeed, the need to minimise the adverse impact of climate change and extreme weather events cannot be overstressed. Notably, damage to the built environment by extreme weather and its consequential effects is highly significant. This emphasises the need for a climate-resilient built environment. Thus, this study derived the strategic capability areas required by business organisations to achieve the flood resilience of their built environment. The research method involved rounds of review by a carefully selected team of experts, and the review of lessons from four case studies. Twenty-six capability areas were identified from literature but were consolidated to nineteen at the end of data collection and analysis. The capability areas covered how properties are used and managed as well as the actual fabric and design of business premises/properties. The capability areas included awareness and understanding of flood risk to property, review for a flood resilience scheme, product acquisition for flood risk management, dynamic stakeholder identification and strong network, maintenance and post-flood management scheme, physical characteristics of the property and business data management. Professionals and business organisations can use the outcome of this study as a guide for business premises flood resilience enhancement planning and decision making.

О содержании Стратегии государственной культурной политики до 2030 г. и возможности ее реализации

The article considers the Strategy of State Cultural Policy 2030 and the way it complies with the principles established by Federal Law No. 172-FZ On the State Strategic Planning (June 28, 2014). The principles include transparency, realism, resource availability, measurability of goals, multichannel financing, etc. The research featured the quality of strategic management in the sphere of culture in the context of the abovementioned Strategy. The research was based on the institutional approach and assessed the availability of monitoring tools for its implementation. The study revealed some shortcomings in the content of the Strategy of State Cultural Policy 2030. For instance, the strategic management is only at the second stage in the evolution of approaches to the development and implementation of strategies, i.e., strategic planning. The third and fourth stages of evolution are to adjust the strategic capabilities of the public administration system to the real-time management, and they still remain a matter for the distant future. The elements of multichannel financing of culture include a system of tax preferences, marked taxes, sponsorship and patronage, the institution of budget allocations, endowment funds, etc. However, these measures have certain limitations and contradict the current norms of budgetary and tax legislation. The state remains the main sponsor of culture, despite the expansion of the list of state cultural policy subjects and the roles of the state, e.g., the state as an investor, a philanthropist, a co-investor, etc. As a result, new development challenges may lead to underfunding. The financial mechanism for strategy implementation presupposes no transparent bond between the strategy and budgetary spending.

Unresolved Cold War Issues of Contemporary Outer Space Arms Control Efforts

The ineffectiveness of the existing space law treaties has allowed space faring nations to enhance their strategic capability, which has resulted in an increase in militarization and weaponization. Military use of the outer appears to be dominated by power politics, and there are uncertainties surrounding space governance and resources. Neither the established nor the emerging space faring states have actively engaged in arms control negotiations, including "Transparency and Confidence Building Measures (TCBMs)". Inthis article, the argument has been made that during the initial stages of the space race, various spacefaringnations agreed that the environment in outer space should be approached in a different manner; however,issues of military use of space and weaponization were not fully resolved through negations. These issues continue to persist in space law treaties in the form of legal lacuna's. If leftover issues from the Cold War-rivals are not resolved, the militarization of space will continue to increase.

Strategies for Mainstreaming Education for Sustainable Development in Education Systems

A meaningful and relevant “Excellence in Education Spaces” is imperative so that future generations can address societal risks. This inevitably requires education to integrate strategies to transform the current approaches and build on sustainability strategies. Education for sustainable development (ESD), considered a pivotal vehicle, is, nevertheless, relegated to science and environmental-related courses at most schools and universities. ESD is treated as one off-topic for discussion, creating an information deficit, implying that a few future leaders get knowledge about sustainability. The practices and attitudes about sustainable development goals (SDGs) are not universal, failing to achieve equitable SDGs. A few purposive studies from engineering were analysed to confirm that the ESD must be mainstreamed in education, allowing future generation delegates to build knowledge capital at the individual and institutional levels, equip future practitioners and decision-makers with strategic capabilities to resolve unforeseeable problems, drive societal transformation, and impact climate change, honouring SDGs