How do dynamic capabilities transform external technologies into firms’ renewed technological resources? – A mediation model

Dynamic Capabilities, Internationalization and Growth of Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises: The Roles of Research and Development Intensity and Collaborative Intensity

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can benefit from internationalization. However, there is little evidence of the extent of the benefit and its dependence on both research and development (R&D) intensity and collaborative intensity. Drawing on data of 262 SMEs, this study illuminates why some SMEs benefit more from internationalization than others, thereby illustrating an advanced application of partial least squares structural equation modeling by demonstrating conditional mediation analysis with two interdependent exogenous moderators (i.e., testing a second-stage three-way conditional mediation). Our findings substantiate that an SME’s dynamic capabilities affect its degree of internationalization and indirectly its growth, and suggest a positive marginal growth impact of internationalization provided that an SME’s R&D and collaborative intensities are proportional; when they are disproportional (i.e., one is “greater” than the other), SMEs do not experience positive marginal growth.

Dynamic capabilities in tourism businesses: antecedents and outcomes

This paper examines dynamic capabilities as a second-order construct and the antecedents and outcomes of dynamic capabilities. Analyzing data collected from 242 tourism firms in Vietnam, this paper finds a positive influence of firms’ human capital, organizational learning, environmental dynamism, and digital marketing on the dynamic capabilities. Dynamic capabilities have a significant and positive impact on these firms’ competitive advantage. The paper contributes to ongoing efforts to measure dynamic capabilities and explore the micro-foundations of dynamic capabilities.

From Potential to Real Threat? The Impacts of Technology Attributes on Licensing Competition—Evidence from China during 2002–2013

Prior studies have extensively discussed firms’ propensity of licensing under different levels of competition. This study clarifies the differences between potential technology competition (PTC) and actual licensing competition (ALC). We investigate the relationship between these two types of competition in the context of Chinese patent licensing landscape, using patent licensing data during 2002–2013. We find that the positive effect of PTC on ALC is contingent upon the nature of licensed patent, such as generality, complexity, and newness. Our findings help scholars and managers interested in licensing to understand and monitor the likelihood of licensing competition. Policy implications are presented at the end of this study.

Systematization of absorptive capacity microprocesses for knowledge identification in project management

Purpose

This study aims to systematize the acquisition phase of absorptive capacity microprocesses that contribute to project management (PM) knowledge identification.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory and descriptive qualitative research was adopted. The first stage consisted of building the conceptual framework based on four systematic-literature-reviews. The data collection process in the second phase involved in-depth interviews, which are adequate to understand the interviewee’s reality. The sample composition consisted of 15 respondents who are PM professionals with an average of 15 years of experience. Each interviewee was chosen based on their expertise and ability to transmit the entire management process of several projects. The data were analyzed using the Atlas. Tecnology information software following the grounded theory technique with three coding cycles: open, axial and selective.

Findings

Based on the results, the authors organized the microprocesses into three groups: events, social interaction and the use of tools and techniques.

Research limitations/implications

The primary limitation of the study was the number of respondents. Future studies will be able to identify other microprocesses and evaluate their role in the knowledge identification process.

Practical implications

This study presents a systematization of microprocesses in knowledge identification, as it occurs in the context of PM. Based on the results of this study, organizations will be able to choose the microprocesses that best fit their operations and activities according to the complexity, innovation and/or criticality of their projects.

Originality/value

The systematic literature review revealed a gap in the knowledge identification phase of knowledge management as it pertains to PM. Thus, this study presents a systematization of how knowledge identification occurs in the context of PM.

Establishing a typology of open innovation strategies and their differential impacts on innovation success in an Asia-Pacific developed economy

Firms use open innovation strategy to explore external knowledge or exploit internal knowledge to benefit their product/service innovations, and thus enhance their innovation performance. However, a lack of relational mechanisms makes it more difficult for collaborative partners to share their knowledge assets. Existing literature lacks a clear explanation of how knowledge and relational mechanisms simultaneously function for innovation success. In response, this study attempts to answer: (1) Can archetypes of open innovation strategies be identified by knowledge and relational mechanisms simultaneously? And, (2) Do they differ in their ability to predict innovation success under the condition of innovation process characteristics? An exploratory study of 78 open innovation firms reflects four archetypes of open innovation strategies. A subsequent cross-industry survey of 248 open innovation firms in Taiwan reveals that the four archetypes of open innovation strategies result in varying degrees of innovation success, and innovation process characteristics positively moderate such associations.

Understanding the Antecedents of Organic Food Purchases: The Important Roles of Beliefs, Subjective Norms, and Identity Expressiveness

China is expected to become an increasingly important market for global organic food producers. This study aims to obtain a new and deeper understanding of how various antecedents affect organic food purchase behavior. Here, a survey based on validated measures is designed, and a total of 1750 consumers are interviewed. In addition to traditionally held beliefs concerning organic food, three unique perspectives, i.e., that organic foods are “luxuries for the rich”, “upscale”, and the objects of “marketing hype”, are confirmed for the first time. Furthermore, the influence of subjective norms on purchase intention is verified to be completely mediated by purchase attitude, suggesting that up to now, the role of social norms may have been simplified, and even underestimated by marketing researchers. Additionally, for the first time, identity expressiveness is confirmed to play a minor but significant role in purchase intention. Perceived trustworthiness is also confirmed to be the important predictor of purchase intention. Finally, household income is not only the second most important predicator of purchase intention, but it is also the most important predictor of actual purchase. These findings will be valuable for marketing scholars and all stakeholders in the organic food industry, particularly international agribusinesses that are wishing to enter the Chinese market.

Information technology outsourcing and architecture dynamic capabilities as enablers of organizational agility

Grounded in the dynamic capabilities perspective, our study addresses the question of how information technology outsourcing capabilities can interact with other IT strategic capabilities to enable organizational agility through the ongoing reconfiguration of IT solutions. To answer our question, we built on the notion of microfoundations that undergird the high-level dynamic capabilities of sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring. Adopting a theory elaboration approach, we studied the case of a firm evolving in a turbulent environment, which had outsourced the quasi-totality of its IT services and had a mature IT architecture. From the case data, we specify two types of microfoundations: repeatability-related microfoundations (i.e. processes) and ability-related microfoundations (i.e. IT department structure, skills, simple rules, and communications) that undergird either information technology outsourcing dynamic capabilities or IT architecture dynamic capabilities. We propose a model that outlines how the interaction between repeatability-related microfoundations, supported by ability-related microfoundations, enables the reconfiguration of IT solutions. Our study also elucidates how a firm can follow a logic of opportunity enabled by their IT outsourcing and IT architecture dynamic capabilities.