Selection Capability: How Capability Gaps and Internal Social Frictions Affect Internal and External Strategic Renewal

Abstract

T he dynamic capabilities literature suggests that firms need to use both internal development and external sourcing to thrive over time, but we have a limited understanding of the conditions that best suit different sourcing choices. This study examines how constraints that arise from firms' existing stocks of capabilities and from their internal social contexts shape their choices of capability-sourcing modes and, in turn, their ability to obtain new capabilities. Thus, the research focuses on an underemphasized form of dynamic capability: the ability to select appropriate modes of capability sourcing. We test the arguments with a survey and longitudinal survival study of the international telecommunications industry. We find intriguing variations in the way that firms' selection capability influences their ability to renew their capabilities and, ultimately, to survive.

A dynamic capabilities-based entrepreneurial theory of the multinational enterprise

“…Ongoing engagement with ecosystem partners can be seen as leading to the migration of the locus of value creation from the firm to the level of the business ecosystem. External sourcing and collaboration can, when done well, augment the firm's internal capabilities (Capron & Mitchell, 2009;Chesbrough, 2003). However, it can also drain them if partners are laggards, and fail to contribute as agreed.…”

The Paradox of Stretch Goals: Organizations in Pursuit of the Seemingly Impossible.

“…In particular, we contribute new insights on how the use of extreme goals might relate to exploring new and innovative practices (e.g., Levinthal & March, 1993;March, 1991;Rahmandad, 2008;Uotila, Maula, Keil, & Zahra, 2009), organizational risk taking (e.g., Singh, 1986;Sitkin & Pablo, 1992), learning under ambiguous feedback (March & Olsen, 1976;Weick, 1979Weick, , 1995, and dynamic capability development (e.g., Agarwal & Helfat, 2009;Capron & Mitchell, 2009;Winter, 2000). Our work reveals ways that the extremity of stretch goals might challenge core assumptions about the relationships among aspirations, learning, and firm performance (e.g., Ethiraj & Levinthal, 2009;Cyert & March, 1963;Greve, 1998;Lant, 1992;Lant & Shapira, 2008;Mezias, 1988).…”

W kierunku sieci międzyorganizacyjnej – przykład odnowy strategicznej My Travel Sp. z o.o

“…m.in. : Agarwal, Helfat 2009;Baden-Fuller, Volberda 1997;Basu 2011;Banaszyk, Cyfert 2007;Taylor, Helfat 2009;Capron, Mitchell 2009;Volberda et al 2001;Bełz 2012;Cyfert 2012]. Szerokie i zróżnicowane badania doprowadziły do pełniejszego poznania zjawiska odnowy strategicznej, opisania jej mechanizmów i wyróżnienia kilku podstawowych typów, w tym m.in.…”