Electronic commerce (E-commerce) innovations: Internet-enabled commerce (I-commerce), mobile commerce (M-commerce) and ubiquitous commerce (U-commerce) have posed technological and organizational changes. This study develops an E-commerce innovation hypercube model to investigate these innovations and the impact of the innovations on the E-commerce stakeholders¡Ð E-businesses, providers, customers, and complementors. The results indicate that the innovation from I-commerce to M-commerce is architectural for customers and E-businesses, incremental for providers, but disruptive for complementors. The innovation from M-commerce to U-commerce is modular to customers, architectural to complementors, and disruptive to E-businesses and providers. Thereafter, several core dynamic capabilities that necessary for E-business transformation from I-commerce to M-commerce and from M-commerce to U-commerce and the practical indicators in developing these dynamic capabilities are suggested, respectively.

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Studien avser att ur ett ledningsperspektiv undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar privata företag samt hur företagen arbetar för att vara flexibla och skapar förhållningssätt i relation till dessa. Vidare vill vi jämföra det empiriska materialet med det teoretiska resonemang som producerats i den vetenskapliga arenan för att bidra med insikter som kan utveckla forskning inom området. Det empiriska resultatet bygger på åtta kvalitativa intervjuer med representanter från HR-funktionen i företag inom privat sektor. Både resultat och vetenskaplig genomgång har visat på variationer av såväl påverkan som förhållningssätt. Företagens val av förhållningssätt eller strategi har gjorts med bakgrund av varierande orsaker och har lett till olika effekter beroende på verksamhetsspecifika förutsättningar. Detta medför svårigheter avseende definitionen av vad som påverkar, hur det påverkar samt hur företag bör förhålla sig. Vissa strategier visade sig fungera bra i en typ av verksamhet medan samma typ av strategi inte påstods vara möjlig i andra. Sammanfattningsvis kan vi konstatera att företagens möjlighet att förhålla sig till förändrade förutsättningar utgör deras överlevnads förmåga. Vidare har det visat sig att detta omfattar både företagets flexibilitet och dess förmåga att minska flexibilitetsbehovet.

Outsourcing refers to contracting out the functions to a third party instead of conducting them in-house. The main contribution of this dissertation is to develop and test a model of successful outsourcing in the accomplishment of headquarters selling task. Specifically, it intends to (a) provide a theoretical framework for outsourcing partnership performance, (b) explore the potential complementarities construct in the context of a dyadic outsourcing relationship, (c) examine the role of learning dynamic capabilities in turning potential complementarities into outsourcing success, and (d) explicate the role of structural social capital as an antecedent to learning dynamic capability construct . The conceptual framework of the model is based on the resource-advantage theory which posits that resources, potential complementarities and dynamic capabilities are explicated as sub-constructs. The pool of respondents who are the practicing managers of outsourcing in the consumer packaged goods industry was used to test the hypothesized relationships. The findings showed that the learning dynamic capabilities construct is the most important factor affecting in the outsourcing partnership performance in the context of headquarters selling task. The task-related resources of the outsourcer had a significant positive effect on potential complementarities. However, the positive effect of the outsourcee’s task-related resources on potential complementarities was not significant. Likewise, the positive effect of the potential complementarities on the outsourcing partnership performance did not emerge as significant. The effect of structural social capital of the outsourcer had a significant but negative influence on learning dynamic capabilities. The positive effect of structural social capital of the outsourcee on learning dynamic capabilities and the moderating role of learning dynamic capabilities were found to be insignificant.

Enterprise risk management (ERM) is a widely studied management control process, representing an important advancement from the traditional methods by which firms control the risks they face. This study steps back from attempts to quantify the relationship between ERM and firm performance. Instead, it explores how non-financial institutions with significant time and resource commitments to ERM configure those resources to effectuate a downside-upside duality as ERM is adopted, using for the first time in ERM research the theoretical lens of ambidexterity as a dynamic capability. This duality is the simultaneous engagement in mitigating existing and emerging risks while pursuing new value contributions from risk management processes. Empirical evidence indicates that the downside-upside duality is asymmetric, and challenges exist in quantifying the upside. The upside value component is most closely associated with raising the level of the risk discourse in firms. This is accomplished structurally by establishing new ERM-focused organizational subunits, and contextually by stretching capabilities. Dynamic capabilities emerge as firms sense, seize and reconfigure resources in the operationalization of ERM to supplant core competencies associated with traditional modes of risk management. Practitioners will gain from this research a richer understanding of the fit, form and function of ERM informed by empirical data and extrinsic theory.

Die Arbeit geht der Frage nach inwiefern die Capability Based View (CBV) einen Erklärungsbeitrag für die Verwaltungsforschung leisten kann. Dazu unterzieht sie die CBV einer kritischen Betrachtung und benennt die wichtigsten Merkmale dieses – nach wie vor unscharfen – Konzepts mit Bezug zum öffentlichen Sektor. Sie zeigt Parallelen von Ansätzen und Ergebnissen der Verwaltungsforschung zur CBV auf und stellt ihre generelle Verwendbarkeit in diesem Kontext fest. Ebenso diagnostiziert sie jedoch signifikanten Verbesserungsbedarf hinsichtlich der Klarheit des Konzepts. Eine Fokussierung auf den öffentlichen Sektor verspricht eher eine Konsolidierung und Weiterentwicklung der CBV als deren Erforschung im Privatsektor, da das multidimensionale und mehrstufige Verständnis von Performance im öffentlichen Sektor deutlich besser zur Wirkungslogik der CBV passt. Die Arbeit schließt mit einer Forschungsagenda, welche die wichtigsten Fragen zur Weiterentwicklung aufzeigt, und dem Appell für mehr qualitative empirische Forschung in diesem neuen Feld des Public Managements. / The paper explores the explanatory potential of the Capability Based View (CBV) for research on public administrations. It does so by re-examining the – up till now – rather vague concept and sharpening it with a focus on the public sector. Parallels are drawn between the central propositions of the CBV and findings in public administration research. The focus lies on the link between capabilities and performance. Here, special attention is paid to the nexus between capabilities and performance, which originally fueled the interest in the CBV. It is concluded that the CBV is generally a fruitful approach for public administration research, yet with significant shortcomings in respect to its consolidation and clarity. The explanatory power of the CBV could actually be enhanced by applying it to the public sector: the multidimensional and -level understanding of performance in public sector organizations seems to match the propositions of the CBV far better than the one commonly used to evaluate performance in the private sector. The paper concludes with a research agenda summarizing the most important questions and a call for more qualitative empirical research in this emerging field within public management.

ABSTRACT Small and Medium Size Enterprise (SMEs) have long been recognised as the major drivers of economic activities due to their entrepreneurial traits of being innovative which lead to job creation, sustaining economic growth, export expansion, and efficient allocation of resources in line with their competitive goals and their respective country’s objectives. In their pursuit as major economic drivers in their respective economies, SMEs are barely exposed to hostile environments triggering fierce competition from Multinational Corporations. This has entailed that SMEs need to enhance their capabilities in such environments to sustain their competitive advantage by reconfiguring their internal and external competences and resources in response to changing environments. Surprisingly, literature on how SMEs develop dynamic capabilities in such markets is limited and inconsistent. Therefore, this thesis explores how SMEs develop dynamic capabilities in emerging markets specifically in African markets.   The central purpose of the study is to explore how SMEs in emerging markets such as Africa develop dynamic capabilities to compete alongside MNCs. Building on prior researches which conceptually suggested that market orientation, learning orientation, and entrepreneurial orientation in separate cases, enables SMEs to build dynamic capabilities in dynamic environments, this study explored this viewpoint through a qualitative case study data. Comparative multiple case studies are developed in order to have a holistic understanding of how SMEs across sectors develop dynamic capabilities. The study employs empirical data collected through the use of semi-structured interviews in which samples are purposively selected from 10 firms from separate industries in Africa, in which five were drawn from Cameroon and other five drawn from Zambia. The study follows a qualitative-deductive approach.   Findings indicate that SMEs develop dynamic capabilities in emerging market principally through the lenses of market orientation and learning orientation. While entrepreneurial orientation is found lacking the potential to enable SMEs build-up the required dynamic capabilities due to the fact that it places huge demand on SMEs who are short of adequate financial resources to meet up with the contingencies of being fully entrepreneurial. That is to say, market orientation and learning orientation other than entrepreneurial orientation are the enablers of dynamic capabilities in emerging market. The findings contribute to existing literature by building an empirically-grounded synthesis of the constructs of market orientation, learning orientation and entrepreneurial orientation involved in the development of dynamic capabilities which validates earlier claims on the development of dynamic capabilities in dynamic environment. Second, the results contribute to theory by advancing an original model which brings together all standalone models in the field of dynamic capabilities development into one, thereby harmonising the polarisation of facts. Furthermore, the findings bear potential for researchers and entrepreneurs intending to invest in emerging markets such as Africa.   To improve on this study, we suggest undertaking a related cross-comparative case study on similar grounds which takes into account homogeneity and age parameters at industry level from two or more countries. We believe this might provide an additional explanation on how SMEs in emerging markets develop dynamic capability and may also shed more light on whether age of a firm has an effect on the build-up of dynamic capabilities.

The ability of firms to innovate has become a cornerstone in the economy of many developed and developing countries. The performance of firms is not exclusively linked to their internal capability. Other external factors, such as technology, globalisation of the market, knowledge, and evolving approaches to value offering, force them to constantly change their approaches to wealth creation. Innovation is vital for firms’ competitive advantage. Hence, a firm with higher innovation prosperity compared to its rivals has a crucial advantage that enables it to compete in local and global markets. However, innovation is a complex phenomenon, and a holistic view is required for a deep understanding of the factors that influence firms’ innovation performance. Day after day, markets are becoming more dynamic, increasing the necessity to understand how such momentum affects innovation performance. With a focus on how they develop strategic routines that enhance their assessment of opportunities and resource-configuration capabilities, firms may better align their products and services with market demands. Using state-of-the-art dynamic-capability theory, this research highlights the routines of firms that influence their abilities to acquire and multiply knowledge and technology consistent with market status, leading to more novel and successful innovative products and processes as well as better economic advantage. This research aims to provide a framework that comprises factors that may influence Saudi firms’ innovation performance. Furthermore, the research aim attempts to understand the impact of information technology on firms’ innovation performance. The research is based on survey data from 203 Saudi firms registered at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The empirical results suggest that firms may enhance their ability to acquire, assimilate, transform, and exploit knowledge by increasing their breadth of knowledge sources and by internationalizing their searching activities for knowledge and skills. Moreover, both explorative and exploitative innovation strategies, although paradoxes, are significant to increasing firms’ overall innovative performance. Mutually, information technology (IT) plays a critical role in complementing firms’ dynamic capabilities through better provision of IT infrastructure, while IT effectiveness and IT flexibility are vital to increasing firms’ abilities to maintain both long-term and short-term competitiveness.

This study explores the relationship of entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities as organizations grow beyond country borders and into international markets. Through an extensive literature review of internationalization, entrepreneurial orientation and dynamic capabilities, a theoretical framework is developed that allow us to answer our research question. The study takes an abductive, comparative case study approach and is conducted on three Swedish SMEs in regard to their internationalization activites related to South Korea. The study proposes that there is an area in research that still contain a high degree of ambiguity which makes an understanding of the relationship between these two constructs difficult to define. The study’s findings report that the two constructs have complementary narratives of the same phenomenon which concedes a variety of possible relationships. The study then argues in support and rebuttal of five propositions of relationships.

Background: Increased competition and fast-changing and global markets are the major characteristics of today’s business environment. Family firms need to adapt to these changes and more often pursue an international expansion themselves to remain competitive. The concept of dynamic capabilities has been developed to explain how businesses can react to changes in the environment to sustain a competitive advantage. The internationalization of a family firm can be such a change in the environment  Purpose:The purpose of this study is to analyze the internationalization of family firms through the lens of dynamic capabilities.  Method: We use a qualitative case study design with four cases representing four family firms that have gone through an international expansion. Through semi-structured interviews we extract the data from the family firms. We develop a framework out of the literature as a basis for the analysis and present a revised framework with the results of the study.  Conclusion:The analysis shows there are certain capabilities that help family firms in the internationalization process. Sensing capabilities include network and market scanning capabilities and assist family firms with finding new opportunities in foreign markets. Seizing capabilities include decision-making and managerial capabilities and are used to adjust the resource base to exploit the prior sensed opportunities. Lastly, with transforming capabilities, which consist of entrepreneurial and learning/knowledge capabilities, family firms can continuously reconfigure their resources to improve processes and structures towards the new international environment. Various aspects of familiness influence the development of these dynamic capabilities