Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:08:31.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Redefining capabilities as drivers of adaptation, incremental change, and transformation: recognizing the importance of strategic and operational intent on performance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2022

Lauri Paavola Open the ORCID record for Lauri Paavola [Opens in a new window]  and
Richard Cuthbertson
Lauri Paavola*
Affiliation:
Department of Marketing, Aalto University, Aalto-yliopiston kauppakorkeakoulu, Markkinoinnin laitos, 00076 Aalto, Finland
Richard Cuthbertson
Affiliation:
Saïd Business School University of Oxford Park End Street, Oxford, OX1 1HP, UK
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: lauri.paavola@aalto.fi
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Prior research has emphasized the importance of dynamic capabilities to organizational transformation. In this paper, we explore how dynamic capabilities can have varying roles in change, and only potentially create transformational outcomes. By conducting ethnographic phenomenon driven research and observing the interactions of specific customer data related capabilities over a long period of time, we relate the potential for change to the way in which capabilities' interact, and identify three different mechanisms for change. Transformation requires a disruption of existing operational capabilities, which may result from one of the three identified mechanisms. Introducing a more theoretically consistent and practical taxonomy for (dynamic) capabilities may help in resolving some of the criticisms for their unclear practical implications. Further, our findings underline the importance of studying capabilities in their networks within organizations and over time.

Keywords

Big datadynamic capabilitiesorganizational changeretailingroutinesTescotransformation
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 28 , Special Issue 3: Dynamic Capabilities: New Ideas , May 2022 , pp. 522 - 539
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, P. S., Goldoftas, B., & Levine, D. I. (1999). Flexibility versus efficiency? A case study of model changeovers in the Toyota production system. Organization Science, 10(1), 43–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amit, R., & Schoemaker, P. J. H. (1993). Strategic assets and organizational rent. Strategic Management Journal, 14(1), 33–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arend, R. J., & Bromiley, B. (2009). Assessing the dynamic capabilities view: spare change, everyone. Strategic Organization, 7(1), 75–90 .CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arndt, F. (2019). Dynamic capabilities: A retrospective, state-of-the-art, and future research agenda. Journal of Management & Organization, 1–4. doi:10.1017/jmo.2019.21CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bacharach, S. B. (1989). Organizational theories: Some criteria for evaluation. The Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 496–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barreto, I. (2010). Dynamic capabilities: A review of past research and an agenda for the future. Journal of Management, 36(1), 256–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Becker, M. C., & Zirpoli, F. (2008). Applying organizational routines in analysing the behaviour of organizations. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 66(1), 128–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birnholtz, J. P., Cohen, M. D., & Hoch, S. V. (2007). Organizational character: On the regeneration of camp poplar grove. Organization Science, 18(2), 315–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corina, M. (1971). Pile It high sell it cheap: The authorised biography of Sir Jack Cohen. London, UK: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.Google Scholar
Davies, A., Frederiksen, L., Cacciatori, E., & Hartmann, A. (2018). The long and winding road: Routine creation and replication in multi-site organizations. Research Policy, 47, 1403–1417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Day, G. S., & Schoemaker, P. J. H. (2016). Adapting to fast-changing markets and technologies. California Management Review, 58(4), 59–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deng, P., Liu, Y., Gallagher, V., & Wu, X. (2020). International strategies of emerging market multinationals: A dynamic capabilities perspective. Journal of Management & Organization, 26(4), 408–425. doi:10.1017/jmo.2017.76CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Agency theory: An assessment and review. Academy of Management Review, 14(1), 57–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Graebner, M. E. (2007). Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. Academy of Management Journal, 50(1), 25–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Martin, J. (2000). Dynamic capabilities: What are they? Strategic Management Journal, 21(10–11), 1105–1121.3.0.CO;2-E>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emirbayer, M. (1997). Manifesto for a relational sociology. American Journal of Sociology, 103, 281–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldman, M. S., Pentland, B. T., D'Adderio, L., & Lazaric, N. (2016). Beyond routines as things: Introduction to the special issue on routine dynamics. Organization Science, 27, 505–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felin, T., Foss, N. J., Heimeriks, K. H., & Madsen, T. L. (2012). Microfoundations of routines and capabilities: Individuals, processses, and structure. Journal of Management Studies, 49(8), 1351–1374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felin, T., & Powell, T. C. (2016). Designing organizations for dynamic capabilities. California Management Review, 58(4), 78–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frigotto, M., & Zamarian, M. (2015). Mindful by routine: Evidence from the Italian air force tornado crews flying practices. Journal of Management & Organization, 21(3), 321–335. doi:10.1017/jmo.2014.85CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hallberg, N. L., & Felin, T. (2020). Untangling infinite regress and the origins of capability. Journal of Management Inquiry, 29(1), 17–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helfat, C. E., Finkelstein, S., Mitchell, W., Peteraf, M., Singh, H., Teece, D. J., & Winter, S. G. (2007). Dynamic capabilities: Understanding strategic change in organizations. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.Google Scholar
Helfat, C. E., & Karim, S. (2014). Fit between organizational design and organizational routines. Journal of Organizational Design, 3(2), 18–29.Google Scholar
Helfat, C. E., & Winter, S. G. (2011). Untangling dynamic and operational capabilities: Strategy for the (n)ever-changing world. Strategic Management Journal, 32(11), 1243–1250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Humby, C., Hunt, T., & Phillips, T. (2008). Scoring points: How Tesco continues to win customer loyalty. London, UK: Kogan Page Publishers.Google Scholar
Langley, A. (1999). Strategies for theorizing from process data. The Academy of Management Review, 24(4), 691–710.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langley, A., Smallman, C., Tsoukas, H., & Van de Ven, A. (2013). Process studies of change in organization and management: Unveiling temporality, activity, and flow. Academy of Management Journal, 56(1), 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, R. R., & Winter, S. G. (1982). An evolutionary theory of economic change. Cambridge, Mass, London: Belknap Press of Harward University Press.Google Scholar
Okhuysen, G. A., & Bechky, B. A. (2009). Coordination in organizations: An integrative perspective. Academy of Management Annals, 3(1), 463–574.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paavola, L. (2021). The role of (dynamic) capabilities in the transformation of a multi-organizational setting. Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 31, 715–748. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-021-00722-x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paavola, L., & Cuthbertson, R. (2021). Algorithms creating paradoxes of power: Explore, exploit, embed, embalm. Information Systems Management, 38(4), 358–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parmigiani, A., & Howard-Grenville, J. A. (2011). Routines revisited: Exploring the capabilities and practice perspective. Academy of Management Annals, 5, 413–453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettigrew, A. M. (1990). Longitudinal field research on change: Theory and practice. Organization Science, 1, 267–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prieto, I. M., Revilla, E., & Rodríguez-Prado, B. (2009). Building dynamic capabilities in product development: How do contextual antecedents matter? Scandinavian Journal of Management, 25(3), 313–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salvato, C. (2009). Capabilities unveiled: The role of ordinary activities in the evolution of product development processes. Organization Science, 20(2), 384–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teece, D. J. (2012). Dynamic Capabilities: Routines versus Entrepreneurial Action. Journal of Management Studies, 49(8), 1395–1401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teece, D. J., & Leih, S. (2016). Uncertainty, innovation, and dynamic capabilities: An introduction. California Management Review, 58(4), 5–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teece, D. J., & Pisano, G. (1994). The dynamic capabilities of firms: An introduction. Industrial and Corporate Change, 3(3), 537–556.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teece, D. J., Pisano, G., & Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509–533.3.0.CO;2-Z>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, J. D. (1967). Organizations in action: Social science bases of administration therapy. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Van de Ven, A. H., & Poole, M. S. (1995). Explaining development and change in organizations. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 510–540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, C. L., & Ahmed, P. K. (2007). Dynamic capabilities: A review and research agenda. International Journal of Management Reviews, 9(1), 31–51. Winter 2000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winter, S. G. (2003). Understanding dynamic capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 24(10), 991–995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winter, S. G. (2012). Capabilities: Their origins and ancestry. Journal of Management Studies, 49(8), 1402–1406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, S., Zhou, A., Feng, J., & Jiang, S. (2019). Dynamic capabilities and organizational performance: The mediating role of innovation. Journal of Management & Organization, 25(5), 731–747. doi:10.1017/jmo.2017.20CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zou, B., Guo, F., & Guo, J. (2019). Antecedents and outcomes of breadth and depth of absorptive capacity: An empirical study. Journal of Management & Organization, 25(5), 764–782. doi:10.1017/jmo.2017.29CrossRefGoogle Scholar