This research explores the management problem of how individuals can influence the development of a strategic orientation within a firm. A market orientation strategy builds upon three dimensions: the organisation-wide acquisition, dissemination, and co-ordination of market intelligence (Jaworski & Kohli, 1993). Such management of market-based information requires a set of distinct dynamic capabilities or routines. Empirical research about the association between market orientation and performance shows that firms that develop these capabilities improve both their organisational and financial performance (Gray, Buchanan, & Mallon, 2003). This research attempts to understand the circumstances that prompt employees in all areas of an organisation to become accountable for the implementation of a market-oriented strategy. To date, studies have inadequately measured individual contribution to the market orientation of a firm and do not understand each employee's personal responsibility and willingness to act in a market-oriented way. In response, this thesis developed a dynamic, multi-dimensional scale of individual market-oriented behaviour. First-stage research used focus groups and extant literature to construct a measure of individual market orientation. Then, a cross-section of financial services employees completed a web-based survey measuring individual market-oriented behaviour and individual and interpersonal antecedents. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the presence of a single latent construct with three dimensions. Study results identified a strong and significant relationship between the performance of market-oriented behaviours and the perception of a high-quality fulfilled psychological contract with the employer. Employees who were agile learners and frequently in contact with customers were also more likely to practice market-oriented behaviours.

This thesis examines the rising phenomenon of the internationalisation of Chinese firms, and aims to shed new light on our understanding of the emergence of firms from emerging economies in the global market. It consists of two parts: the country level study and the firm level. The former identifies the domestic and locational determinants of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), while the latter examines the influence of dynamic capabilities and institutions on the post-internationalisation performance of Chinese firms, with a focus on state-owned enterprises (SOEs). To explore the domestic and locational determinants of Chinese OFDI, the thesis integrates network theory with the traditional explanations of OFDI, the investment development path and the eclectic paradigm. By doing so, a new factor, human mobility, is identified as one of the important domestic and locational determinants of Chinese OFDI. Drawing upon a time series data analysis for the period 1979-2007, this study confirms that Chinese OFDI is driven by its domestic economic development, human mobility and knowledge development and accumulation, and it has a substitute relationship with exports. By examining Chinese OFDI flows to 13 OECD countries over the period 1999-2007, it is shown that human mobility, the strategic assets of the host country, foreign direct investment to China and cultural distance have a positive impact on the locational choice of Chinese OFDI to OECD countries. To investigate the influence of dynamic capabilities and institutions on the post-internationalisation performance of Chinese firms, this study integrates the dynamic capability framework and the institution-based view, and embeds the analysis in a multi-perspective conceptual framework. It draws on four case studies of Chinese SOEs. The analysis shows the importance of internal dynamic capabilities in achieving overseas success when dealing with changing environments. The managerial mindset has a moderate effect on the impact of dynamic capabilities on post-internationalisation performance. The case analysis also shows how the external institutional environment of both host and home countries influence the performance of Chinese SOEs. ii Support from both host and home country governments, unsurprisingly, has a positive influence on performance. However, too much intervention from the home country government imposes constraints on the firms and reduces their willingness to commit to internationalisation. This thesis makes a number of contributions to the existing literature. First, it provides a better understanding of the overall picture of Chinese OFDI from the macro perspective. The findings also contribute to our understanding of the rise of OFDI from emerging economies in general and from China in particular. Second, a new factor, human mobility, is identified and proved to be significant in determining Chinese OFDI. In this era of globalisation, human mobility has become the driving force of OFDI from emerging economies. Third, a first step is taken towards exploring the influence of both internal and external factors on the post-internationalisation performance of Chinese firms. In order to achieve overseas success, not only do Chinese firms need to improve their internal dynamic capabilities, but also attention needs to be paid to the external institutional environment, which has a significant impact on the performance of Chinese firms pursuing overseas success.

“Knowledge is the only treasure you can give entirely without running short of it (African proverb cited in IFAD, 2007).” And it has been largely recognised by organisations that knowledge is a resource that they can leverage on. As Bryan (2004) mentioned, the proprietary knowledge that resides in the minds of a company’s top professionals are a source of Competitive Advantage. Therefore, organisations that leverage on Knowledge Management to promote a Knowledge Management Strategy can achieve Competitive Advantage in a world of rapid change and growth where only organisations who keep on learning and adapting will survive. Therefore, this thesis work aims to answer the following research question: “How does leveraging on Knowledge Management promotes the delivery of Knowledge Management Strategy to achieve Competitive Advantage through the Dynamic Capabilities View?” The purpose of this research is to understand more about the practical path which aims to evolve into a dynamic path for organisations to leverage on Knowledge Management (KM) in order that its strategy consecution delivers Competitive Advantage. The authors explore the subject matter by building from existing literature on the main theoretical areas encountered, and then design the research and its approach from the research question. The research followed a qualitative approach and method by utilising semi-structured interviews done to 7 international development organisations, where 13 respondents contributed with their experiences and insights from their involvement in KM in their organisations. Moreover, secondary data was used to complement, support, compare and contrast the findings of the empirical research as the authors used qualitative documents related to the topic published by the organisations. As a result, all primary and secondary data were analysed in an inter-subjective interpretative way deriving from the theoretical framework in order to answer the research question. The research revealed that the identified gap in literature between Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Strategy is also existing in practice. It was identified that it depends on the maturity of KM in the organisation and/or the organisation’ maturity itself. But is not only restricted to that, the success of a KMS is directly linked to how the organisation articulates KM, and the importance given to it is based on the sense and utilisation of the dynamic nature of KM. Thus, it can turn its organisational capabilities into Dynamic Capabilities and achieve a Competitive Advantage, this is fundamental in international development organisations in the nonprofit sector, which is increasingly striving for resources where every organisation aims to be “the partner of choice.”

The notion of International New Ventures, or INVs, emerged in academia in the early-to-mid 1990s and generally refers to entrepreneurial firms that tend to internationalize very early in their life-cycle, and whose expansion into foreign markets occurs much more quickly than predicted by earlier theories of the incremental internationalization process. Previous literature proposes effective networking with market partners and, more recently, internationally viable business model among key distinguishing features of INVs that allow for such early and rapid entry into international markets. Nevertheless, little is yet known regarding how these younger firms develop over time and how they could sustain international growth. With the purpose of filling this gap, this doctoral dissertation scrutinizes business models and business model innovation of INVs beyond their early internationalization, with a particular emphasis on INVs’ external relationships configurations.   The dissertation consists of four self-contained essays that represent a methodological mixture of qualitative and quantitative approaches and incorporate longitudinal case studies, surveys and register-based data encompassing nine years of Swedish INVs’ development. The findings highlight the importance of the business model as an initial market entry tool, and of business model innovation as a potential growth vehicle over time. Findings also display that INVs work with a broader range of external partners compared to other firms for innovative purposes, and that INVs have different business model innovation patterns compared to other types of internationalized firms. Moreover, INVs focus more heavily on value capture innovations in their business models as they mature and seek to obtain a more centralized position in their industry ecosystem by re-configuring the parameters of existing external relationships or developing new ones.   Overall, this dissertation contributes to the international entrepreneurship and business model literature by explicating how maturing INVs need to operate under different business model configurations as compared to emerging INVs, as the original business model might lack scalability after a certain point in time. Furthermore, the dissertation suggests how INVs can pursue a dynamic business model approach and utilize dynamic capabilities to design business models that put the focal firm more in control of the surrounding ecosystem, and reduce constraints that can limit the value capturing potential and thus the growth and development of INVs.

Internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has been a considerable concern for international business (IB) scholars. Particularly, for those economies such as Sweden with small local markets, internationalization of SMEs could be fundamental. The firm-specific advantages (FSAs), including what the firm has and does, are crucial for SMEs to overcome in the face of their numerous different obstacles such as liability of smallness (LOS) and liability of foreignness (LOF). Examining the extant literature on the evolution of IB theories indicates that over time, IB scholars have been reaching to dynamic-based FSAs (what the firm does) as the source of developing and protecting sustainable competitive advantages (SCA) across national borders in a changing business environment. The nature of dynamic-based FSAs could be similar to dynamic capabilities. But, when it comes to determining specific component factors  of dynamic-based  FSAs  (as dynamic  capabilities),  there has been little agreement between IB researchers. In other words, the room of the dynamic capabilities is still dark. In this respect, shedding light into this room, particularly in the area of IB studies, is crucial. In addition, after determining the component factors of the dynamic-based FSAs, it is also critical to know the likely relationships between the identified component factors as well as their impact on the SMEs’ international performance (IP) as an important outcome of the internationalization. This means that there is a potential theoretical gap associated with the conceptualization of the component factors of the dynamic-based FSAs on one hand, and a potential empirical gap on the other. Given both theoretical and empirical research gaps, the purpose of this study is to examine, from a theoretical perspective, the nature of the dynamic-based FSA and its related component factors in the IB context, as well as empirically explore how SMEs’ IP is influenced by the identified component factors of the dynamic-based FSAs. To perform this study, first of all, based on lenses of the resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capability view (DCV), the literature on organizational capability in the context of the IB studies was systematically reviewed to fill the theoretical gap. Consequently, three component factors of dynamic-based FSAs including networking capability (NC) as a relational-based FSA, innovative capability (IC) as an innovative-based FSA and absorptive capacity (ACAP) as a learning-based FSA were identified, all of which are pluripotent and dynamic in nature. Then, a deductive approach was followed to develop several hypotheses and the associated conceptual model. Furthermore, a survey strategy, collecting data from 330 Swedish internationalized manufacturing SMEs, was applied to accomplish the purpose of the study. Then, the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) as a quantitative method was used to analyze the collected data. The results of the PLS-SEM analysis show that the SMEs’ international performance (IP) is positively influenced by the three identified component factors, whether directly or indirectly. In this regard, ACAP and NC are the two reliable predictors (directly) of the SMEs’ IP. The results indicate that innovative capability (IC) does not have direct impact on the SMEs’ IP, and that its effect is fully transmitted on IP only by the mediating effect of the networking capability (NC). Further analysis showed that ACAP, as an endogenous latent variable, additionally has a positive indirect association with SMEs’ international performance (IP). Moreover, the results also indicate that innovative capability is directly and positively affected by ACAP (innovating-by-learning effect). It was also empirically revealed that ACAP is a very strong predictor for networking capability, which is labeled as the networking-by-learning effect. Another major finding was that in internationalized SMEs, NC is strongly, directly and positively affected by IC; this effect also is termed as the networking-by-innovating effect. The overall picture resulting from the PLS- SEM analysis indicates that ACAP in internationalized SMEs is a wellspring to develop both innovative capability and networking capability, as well as influence SMEs’ IP. Furthermore, these results suggest that the networking capability is a vital gateway to transmit the effect of the other two component factors on IP and, at the same time, directly influence IP.

Businesses globally are challenged to innovate their operations strategies and practices towards tighter delivery times, better quality and cheaper prices to remain profitable in addition to managing unpredictable circumstances well in today’s turbulent business environment. They often have to deal with the apparent paradox of advancing efficiency-fostering approaches such as lean production, and enhancing operational resilience against unanticipated disruptions. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether and how practices in seemingly contradicting paradigms in operations management can be utilised to attain a better competitive position in the face of uncertainties. This thesis is comprised of ‘modules’ of studies designed to systematically address the three research questions. This was necessary due to the different maturity level of the concepts brought together. Predominantly qualitative mixed-method approach was used for the overall research with some quantitative analysis included. The critical incident technique, case study and Bayesian inference were used in the different studies (papers). Operational resilience is characterised in terms of five core functions: sense, build, reconfigure, re-enhance, and sustain (RQ1). Resilience is also operationalised using routine practices that are bundled into internal/external, proactive/reactive dimensions of capabilities that positively influence performance upon recovery from disruption. An analysis showing that lean practice bundles lead to better operational performance under high uncertainty context is also done in this thesis (RQ2). Finally, operational resilience (based on routine practices that form the core functions) was found to have stronger synergies than trade-off with lean (based on practice bundles) in times of turbulence (RQ3). This thesis extends the resource-based view to high uncertainty contexts through empirical evidence and shows that resilience (dynamic) capabilities can be built from practices that firms normally employ; the capabilities are sources of better performance and competitive advantages in turbulent business environments. The thesis contributes to the discussion on the paradox of lean and operational resilience based approaches in the same context; lean practices bundles lend themselves to synergy with resilience capabilities, and leverage competitive gains in turbulent times. Practically, findings of this thesis suggest that companies need not abandon their lean implementation to become more resilient. In fact, it shows that lean implementation should be extended to address value chain processes beyond the shop floor for integrative removal of wastes, while being able to flexibly mitigate disruptions. / La sfida della competitività nei mercati globali dipende in larga parte dalla capacità delle imprese di innovare le loro operations per ottenere termini di consegna sempre più stretti, maggior qualità  a prezzi sempre più competitivi; tutto questo in un contesto industriale e socio-economico sempre più incerto e turbolento. Oggi le imprese sono chiamate a prendere decisioni e ad adottare dei modelli di business dagli effetti contrastanti, come ad esempio l’adozione di pratiche che enfatizzano risultati di efficienza produttiva (i.e. lean production) a fianco di strategie e soluzioni che mirano ad accrescere la capacità del sistema di adattarsi dinamicamente ad eventi perturbanti (resilienza), esterni o interni all’organizzazione. Lo scopo di questa ricerca è quello di investigare se e come l'adozione di pratiche potenzialmente contrastanti nell'ambito della gestione delle operations, possono essere utilizzate per mantenere e migliorare la propria posizione competitiva in contesti di forte incertezza e turbolenza dei mercati. La ricerca si compone di una serie di "moduli", ovvero di singoli studi progettati per affrontare sistematicamente e organicamente le tre domande di ricerca fondamentali, la cui risposta conduce alla proposta di tesi. Questa impostazione si è rivelata necessaria a causa del diverso livello di maturità dei concetti studiati e sviluppati nella tesi. Anche la metodologia di ricerca rispecchia le diverse esigenze e peculiarità dei vari aspetti studiati e per questo è stata definita seguendo un approccio misto, in cui metodi di tipo qualitativo sono affiancati da analisi quantitative che implementano tecniche statistiche. In particolare, nei diversi “moduli” (paper) si utilizzano: la critical incident technique, diverse metodiche di studi di caso, e inferenza Bayesiana. La resilienza operativa è stata caratterizzata secondo cinque funzioni principali (core functions): sense, build, reconfigure, re-enhance, e sustain (RQ1). Ciascuna di queste è tradotta a livello operativo attraverso procedure e pratiche stabili (routine) - interne/esterne, proattive/reattive - che sono in grado di influenzare positivamente le prestazioni a seguito di un evento perturbante. Attraverso la ricerca, viene analizzato l’effetto positivo che differenti pratiche lean (lean practice bundles) inducono sulle prestazioni operative in condizioni di incertezza (RQ2). Infine, un’analisi bayesiana sui parametri tipici di un campione selezionato di eventi incidentali a carico di organizzazioni e supply chain globali ha rivelato che tra resilienza operativa (implementata attraverso specifiche  routine) e lean production (implementata attraverso specifiche lean practice bundles) esistono fenomeni sinergici più forti dei meccanismi di trade-off, quando valutati in contesti turbolenti (RQ3). I risultati della tesi contribuiscono ad ampliare e rafforzare un approccio teorico contingent resource-based view all’analisi delle organizzazioni che operano in regimi di forte incertezza (complessità e dinamicità); il contributo originale si concentra in particolar modo nel fornire evidenza empirica che le capacità di resilienza di una organizzazione (dynamic capabilities) possono essere costruite su processi e routine normalmente eseguite dalle imprese. Ove disponibili, queste capacità sono usate come fonte di miglioramento prestazionale e per l’ottenimento di un vantaggio competitivo in contesti turbolenti. Ulteriori evidenze supportano la tesi che un’ampia gamma di lean practices possono essere usate in maniera sinergica per un ulteriore rafforzamento della resilienza operativa. Dal punto di vista pratico e in contrasto con parte della letteratura esistente, la tesi offre ai manager industriali solidi argomenti per non abbandonare la propria strategia lean o limitare i propri obiettivi di efficienza allo scopo di conseguire una maggiore resilienza operativa. Si dimostra infatti che quando l’adozione di partiche lean viene estesa ad una porzione sempre più ampia della value chain, alla conseguente riduzione degli sprechi si associa anche una maggior flessibilità nella gestione di eventi perturbanti o distruttivi. / I dagens turbulenta affärsklimat står företag världen över inför utmaningen att på ett effektivt sätt hantera oförutsägbara händelser och samtidigt förnya sina verksamheter med syfte att uppnå kortare leveranstider, bättre kvalitet och ökad lönsamhet. I dessa ansträngningar möter företagen ofta det skenbara dilemmat av att vissa arbetssätt såsom lean produktion ställs i kontrast mot aktiviteter syftande till att skapa återhämtningsförmåga, dvs angreppssätt och rutiner för att hantera oväntade störningar (operational resilience). Syftet med denna avhandling är att undersöka om och hur dessa två olika arbetssätt, med till synes motstridiga paradigm, kan användas för att uppnå ökad konkurrenskraft för företag verksamma under osäkra marknadsförhållanden. Avhandlingen består av fem artiklar och syftar till att, på ett systematiskt sätt, avhandla tre övergripande forskningsfrågor. Uppdelningen i artiklar motiveras av olikheter i mognadsgrad hos de båda grundbegreppen. En kombination av forskningsmetoder har använts. Den övergripande forskningsstrategin har varit kvalitativ och fallstudiebaserad. Även kritiska händelse metoden, (Critical Incident Technique, CIT) och kvantitativa metoder såsom statistisk analys och Bayesiansk inferens har använts som komplement i några av artiklarna. Resultaten visar att operativ återhämtningsförmåga kan beskrivas i termer av fem kärnfunktioner: uppfatta, formera, konfigurera, återförbättra och bibehålla (RQ1). Resultaten visar även att återhämtningsförmågan kan operationaliseras såsom kombinationer av sammansatta organisatoriska rutiner (practice bundles) vilka kan karaktäriseras i termer av interna/externa och proaktiva/reaktiva dimensioner. Kombinationer av dessa sammansatta organisatoriska rutiner har identifierats vilka både samverkar och förstärker varandra i situationer av störning och efterföljande återhämtning. Vidare visas att implementering av lean rutiner leder till ökad effektivitet i situationer karakteriserade av hög osäkerhet (RQ2). Avslutningsvis visar resultaten att återhämtningsförmåga och lean, operationaliserade som kärnfunktioner respektive sammansatta organisatoriska rutiner, har stark samverkan då det gäller att hantera störningar. Några sammansatta organisatoriska rutiner har dock en trade-off relation till vissa kärnfunktioner (RQ3) Ur ett teoretiskt perspektiv utökar avhandlingen det resursbaserade synsättet till att även inkludera företag som verkar under osäkra marknadsförhållanden. Resultaten visar att (dynamisk) återhämtningsförmåga kan byggas med hjälp av metoder som företagen normalt använder idag (sammansatta organisatoriska rutiner). Genom att omkonfigurera existerande förmågor och rutiner skapas en källa till ökad produktivitet och ökad konkurrenskraft. Således bidrar avhandlingen till diskussionen om det skenbara dilemmat av att en samtidig användning av strategier baserade på lean production och strategier fokuserande på återhämtningsförmåga (operational resilience) samverkar och förstärker varandra snarare än motverkar varandra. Avhandlingens praktiska implikation är att företag inte behöver överge sitt lean arbetssätt för att öka sin återhämtningsförmåga (operational resilience). I själva verket, bör företag utgå ifrån existerande lean arbetssätt och utvidga dessa till att även omfatta processer utanför den direkta tillverkningen. / <p>This thesis is produced as part of the EMJD Programme <em>European Doctorate in Industrial Management (EDIM) </em>funded by the European Commission, Erasmus Mundus Action 1.</p><p>EDIM is run by a consortium consisting of the industrial management departments of three institutions.</p><p>•KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden</p><p>•Politecnico de Milano, POLIMI, Milan, Italy</p><p>•Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM, Madrid, Spain</p><p>QC 20151105</p><p></p>

Au delà des principes généraux de la responsabilité sociétale, comme application des principes du développement durable, ses enjeux managériaux auxquels font face les entreprises demeurent rarement étudiés. La présente recherche s'intéresse précisément à cette question, en mobilisant le courant de la Corporate Social Responsiveness qui propose de porter une attention particulière aux changements organisationnels. Une réponse à ces problématiques managériales semble passer par les stratégies de coopération. Au regard de la littérature, les stratégies de coopération sont un moyen d'obtenir des ressources, des compétences complémentaires et de développer des capacités dynamiques. L'objet de cette thèse porte sur l'étude les stratégies de coopération comme réponse aux enjeux du développement durable, au travers de l'analyse des associations thématiques d'entreprises, dans une perspective fondée sur les ressources. La méthodologie est qualitative et vise à décrire de la manière la plus fine possible les phénomènes et processus à l'œuvre dans les associations thématiques d'entreprises, à travers deux phases d'étude. L'étude exploratoire, basée sur l'analyse des dix-sept associations thématiques recensées sur le territoire français, permet d'identifier différents profils de stratégies de coopération et d'en dresser une typologie. Ils sont définis à partir des représentations du développement durable et du rôle que se donne l'association d'entreprises. Par ailleurs, l'étude de cas explore les mécanismes de coordination à l'œuvre dans ces associations thématiques et permet d'identifier les besoins des entreprises et la nature de la réponse collective.La recherche montre en particulier une diversité d'enjeux vis-à-vis du développement durable, qui va conditionner les besoins des entreprises en termes de ressources et de compétences. Le contexte révèle une complexité de management du fait que le Développement Durable invite à considérer des valeurs et des convictions liées aux personnes qui peuvent entrer en contradiction. Une analyse précise des ressources et des compétences nécessaires aux entreprises pour opérationnaliser une démarche responsable est envisagée. Les principaux résultats sont discutés au regard des recherches antérieures. / There is a relative paucity of studies on the managerial challenges encountered by firms when achieving corporate social responsibility. The present work seeks to fill this void by mobilizing literature on Corporate Social Responsiveness (CSR) and exploring propositions that help explain the organizational changes brought about by the application of CSR. Cooperation strategy seems to be a solution for firms to overcome their managerial challenges. According to the literature, cooperation strategies constitute a “mean” to obtain resources, skills and to develop dynamic capabilities. Hence, the aim of this research is to study strategies of cooperation as a response to the managerial challenges given by the stakes of sustainable development. This is done by analyzing theme-based corporate associations, using a resource-based view. The exploratory nature of the study entails a qualitative methodology which prioritizes the description of an ongoing phenomena and processes. The present work develops in two research stages : First an exploratory phase and subsequently an in-depth case study. The exploratory phase was based on the analysis of seventeen theme-based associations identified throughout France. This initial work allowed identifying a variety of cooperation strategies, which was used to define a typology of theme-based associations. Hereafter distinctive profiles within this typology were drawn and based on : The particular representations of “sustainable development” hold by the members of these associations and on the role assumed by each firm within it. In addition, the in-depth case study allowed us to explore the mechanisms of coordination within these associations, the different motivations for firms to take part in these particular forms and the nature of the collective response. The findings show a wide range of views on “sustainable development” which will determine the needs of any given firm in terms of resources and skills. In addition, the results show that in this particular context, the management of cooperative corporate strategies proves to be a complex and challenging process. As the sustainable development principle, around which these corporative associations are formed, may reveal conflictive values and personal beliefs. The present work contributes with a detailed analysis on the resources and skills required for firms when operationalizing their social responsibility. The results are subsequently discussed in light of existing literature.

This report is built on a theoretical literature study within the areas of digital transformation and dynamic capabilities. An empirical study has been made on the provider of the mission of this study, Propia, and a case study has been made on the case company Tekniska verken, in order to verify the theoretical findings and results. The study was performed by two master students of Industrial Engineering and Management at Linköping university during the period from January to May 2019. The study was performed as a master thesis within the master's orientation Strategy and Management Control, and aims to explore how organizations can develop a dynamic digital capability, which is seen as the key to success when it comes to managing digital transformation in a successful way. The study was performed iteratively, by first examining the area of digital transformation, defined as the transformation of business and strategy through digital technology and organizational changes. Three areas where organizational changes are needed were identified, namely the areas of Leadership &amp; Vision, Culture &amp; People and Corporate Processes &amp; Structures. Further, three factors within each area were defined as critical in order to succeed with digital transformation. These nine critical factors laid the foundation for the second part of the study, where the area of dynamic capabilities was studied and applied onto the findings on how to manage dynamic transformation in a successful way. Dynamic capabilities can shortly be described as routines for change and can be further disaggregated into three capacities: Sense – the ability to know what opportunities exist and can be matched with the internal prerequisites; Seize – the ability to capture the right opportunities and successfully integrate them into the business; Reconfigure – the ability to, when needed, perform changes of structures and resources. Within these three capacities, microfoundations to build the previously mentioned critical factors in a dynamic way were identified. The result of the study was a generalizable framework, consisting of these nine critical factors and 31 microfoundations required to build the factors in a dynamic way. By developing the dynamic capability microfoundations and, thereby, continuously work with all factors, the development of a dynamic digital capability in the organization will be facilitated. The framework can thereby be used as a checklist of what is already in place in the organization, and what is lacking and must thereby be obtained. Worth noticing is that factors and microfoundations as well as dynamic digital capability in itself is perishable, hence “checking the box” of a factor or microfoundation once does not mean it is obtained forever, but it requires continuous work and development of all parts of the framework. Dependencies and interrelationships between the factors have been identified, as well as the effect of other organizational aspects such as size, industry and how far the organization has proceeded in their digital transformation journey. These dependencies are discussed in the report, but no relative importance or order of how and when the factors and microfoundations should be obtained and developed has been further explored or confirmed. This is due to the desired generalizability of the framework.

O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar como se dá a construção das capacitações dinâmicas nas empresas fornecedoras de serviços de engenharia, tendo como premissa o papel indutor da Petrobras. A decisão de personificar a Petrobras nesta pesquisa deu-se a partir da participação da autora em um projeto realizado junto ao Ipea que, contratado pela Petrobras, analisou os impactos tecnológicos das ações da Petrobras nas empresas de serviços de engenharia. Os resultados do projeto mostraram que tais empresas tem papel de destaque quando comparadas às demais empresas do setor. Dados como o aumento do volume de empregos, da massa salarial ou da capacitação tecnológica e organizacional das empresas analisadas, comprovaram o alto impacto dos contratos da Petrobras nas relações de parceria e, principalmente, no desenvolvimento das competências das empresas do setor de serviços de engenharia no Brasil. A presente pesquisa foi desenvolvida a partir do estudo de múltiplos casos, realizados em duas etapas: a primeira etapa objetivou verificar as características das empresas de serviços de engenharia e sua evolução em decorrência dos contratos com a Petrobras; a segunda etapa objetivou verificar como as empresas de serviços de engenharia criam suas capacitações dinâmicas a partir das relações contratuais e pré-contratuais com a Petrobras. A literatura a respeito das capacitações dinâmicas, de modo geral, está atrelada ao conceito de rotina, que constitui a forma mais importante de estocagem do conhecimento específico da organização. Através da absorção e do acúmulo do conhecimento as rotinas existentes são modificadas, aperfeiçoadas, caracterizando assim uma forma dinâmica da reprodução do conhecimento, capaz de se moldar de acordo com o estado de complexidade do ambiente. Como resultado, apresentam-se dados que demonstram a evolução técnica e o crescimento estrutural nas empresas de serviços de engenharia que criaram suas capacitações através da estocagem do conhecimento sob a forma de rotina. / The objective of this dissertation is to analyze how the construction of dynamic capabilities are in companies that provide engineering services, taking as its premise the inductive role of Petrobras. The decision to personify Petrobras in this study, took place from the author\'s participation in a project carried out by the Ipea that contracted by Petrobras, analyzed the impacts of technological Petrobras shares in companies of engineering services. The project results showed that these companies have an important role when compared to other companies. Data such as the increasing of volume of jobs, payroll or technological capability and organizational enterprises analyzed, confirmed the high impact of contracts with Petrobras, especially, in developing the skills of engineering services companies in Brazil. This research was developed from the study of multiple cases, conducted in two stages: the first step aimed to determine the characteristics of engineering services companies and their evolution as a result its contracts with Petrobras, the second step aimed to determine how engineering services companies created their dynamic capabilities from contractual and pre-contract relation with Petrobras. The literature about dynamic capabilities, in general, is tied to the concept of routine, which is the most important form of storage of specific knowledge of the organization. Through the absorption and accumulation of knowledge, the existing routines are modified, improved, characterizing a dynamic form of reproduction of knowledge, able to mold itself according with the state of complexity of the environment. As a result, we present data demonstrating the technical development and growth in structural engineering services companies that have created their capabilities by storing the knowledge in the form of routine.

A conjunção das recentes tecnologias de mídias sociais, mobilidade e computação em nuvem coloca à disposição das empresas um grande volume de dados variados e recebidos em grande velocidade. Muitas empresas começam a perceber neste fenômeno, conhecido como Big Data, oportunidades de extração de valor para seus negócios. A literatura aponta diversos mecanismos pelos quais Big Data se transforma em valor para a empresa. O primeiro deles é pela geração de agilidade, aqui entendida como a capacidade de perceber e rapidamente reagir a mudanças e oportunidades em seu ambiente competitivo. Outro mecanismo é a utilização de Big Data como facilitador de capacitações dinâmicas que resultam em melhorias operacionais, por meio do aprofundamento (exploit) de alguma capacitação específica. Por fim, Big Data pode ser facilitador de capacitações dinâmicas que resultem em inovação (explore de novas capacitações) e no lançamento de novos produtos e serviços no mercado. Dentro deste contexto, o presente estudo se propõe a investigar a abordagem da utilização de Big Data por empresas inseridas em diferentes contextos competitivos e com diferentes níveis de capacitação de TI. Faz parte também do objetivo da pesquisa entender como as empresas adequaram seus processos de negócio para incorporar o grande volume de dados que têm à disposição. Por meio de estudos de caso realizados em empresas de grande porte de diferentes segmentos e com grande variabilidade na utilização de Big Data, o estudo verifica utilização de Big Data como viabilizador de capacitações dinâmicas atuando no aperfeiçoamento de capacitações operacionais, na diversificação de negócios e na inovação. Além disso, verifica-se a tendência de acoplamento de machine learning às soluções de Big Data, quando o objetivo é a obtenção de agilidade operacional. A capacitação de TI também se mostra determinante da quantidade e complexidade das ações competitivas lançadas pelas empresas com o uso de Big Data. Por fim, é possível antever que, graças às facilidades trazidas pela tecnologia de cloud, recursos de TI serão crescentemente liberados para atuação junto ao negócio - como, por exemplo, em iniciativas de Big Data - fortalecendo as capacitações dinâmicas da empresa e gerando vantagem competitiva. / The combination of the technologies of social media, mobility and cloud computing has dramatically increased the volume, variety and velocity of data available for firms. Many companies have been looking at this phenomenon, also known as Big Data, as a source of value to business. The literature shows different mechanisms for transforming Big Data in business value. First of them is agility, herein understood as the ability of sensing and rapidly responding to changes and opportunities in the competitive environment. Other mechanism is the usage of Big Data as an enabler of dynamic capabilities that result in operational improvements, through the deepening (exploit) of determined operational capability. Finally, Big Data can be the facilitator of dynamic capabilities that result in innovation (explore of new capabilities) and in the launching of new product and services in the market. Within this context, the goal of this study is to investigate the approach for Big Data usage in companies from different competitive scenarios and with different levels of IT capability. It is also part of the objectives to investigate how companies changed their processes to accommodate the huge volume of data available from Big Data. Through case studies in companies of different industries and with different Big Data approaches, the study shows Big Data as an enabler of dynamic capabilities that result in the improvement of operational capabilities, in the diversification of business and in innovation. It has also been identified the trend of association of machine learning to Big Data when the objective is operational agility. IT capability shows to be determinant of the quantity and complexity of the competitive actions launched from Big Data. To conclude, it is valid to anticipate that due to simplification coming from cloud technologies, IT resources will be increasingly released to working close to business - as, for example, in Big Data initiatives - strengthening dynamic capabilities and creating value to business.