How to concretize dynamic capabilities? Theory and examples

Purpose - Dynamic capabilities approach, having roots in evolutionary economics, has recently become popular also among strategic management researchers. However, the dynamic capabilities construct has been criticised for being too confusing and abstract. The purpose of this paper is to tackle this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of strategy and management Vol. 5; no. 4; p. 381
Main Author Kuuluvainen, Arto
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bingley Emerald Group Publishing Limited 26.10.2012
Subjects
Case studies
Competition
Competitive advantage
Corporate histories
Divestiture
Literature reviews
Manufacturing
Product development
R&D
Research & development
Small & medium sized enterprises-SME
Strategic planning
Theory
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Summary:Purpose - Dynamic capabilities approach, having roots in evolutionary economics, has recently become popular also among strategic management researchers. However, the dynamic capabilities construct has been criticised for being too confusing and abstract. The purpose of this paper is to tackle this criticism by first introducing a theoretical framework for concretising dynamic capabilities and then by testing the framework empirically. Design/methodology/approach - The study utilises qualitative case study methods. The empirical part of the research introduces a single case study of Finnish manufacturing small to medium-sized enterprise (SME). The longitudinal research data include two structured telephone interviews and two personal interviews with the case firm's managers. Also significant amount of secondary data were analysed during the study. Pre-planned systematic coding methods were utilised during the data-analysis phase of the study. Findings - Concrete examples were provided of the dynamic capabilities identified from the international growth of the studied firm. Research limitations/implications - The research design led to a sample of only one case. Therefore, the findings have a strong intuitive and conceptual appeal and statistical generalizability is not appropriate. Practical implications - The paper introduces an example of how SME can grow in international markets. Some good practices can be identified from the case study. Originality/value - By introducing a new and operationalized classification for studying dynamic capabilities qualitatively, the paper makes methodological contributions. The paper also answers criticism addressed towards the dynamic capabilities construct by making dynamic capabilities more concrete.
ISSN:1755-425X
1755-4268
DOI:10.1108/17554251211276353