<p>This study mainly investigated how Chinese E-commerce companies should cope with E-commerce innovation with specific dynamic capabilities. E-commerce (Electronic Commerce) innovation includes three phases of innovation based on technology and time. They are web-based commerce, mobile commerce (M-commerce) and ubiquitous commerce (U-commerce). They caused not only technological changes but also organizational changes.</p><p>To cope with E-commerce innovation, a prerequisite is to understand the impacts and changes brought by the innovation. Previous researchers Afuah and Bahram (1995) have proposed a hypercube innovation model to depict the relationship between innovation entities and diverse of participants of innovation value-added chain, forcing enterprises to face what the influence from their innovation will be on their stakeholders. Wu (2004) developed a new hypercube model of E-commerce innovation, explaining that impacts of E-commerce innovation should be based on both internal factors like technological component and business model and external factors like industrial partnerships. Based on the finding, the types and details of impacts caused by E-commerce innovation have been discussed in the study.</p><p>Dynamic capabilities have been found that could help E-commerce company to identify emerging opportunities, renew its competences and keep its competitive advantages in a dynamic business environment. Further development of core dynamic capabilities that are necessary for E-commerce company transformation in different phase of E-commerce innovations were proposed in two dimensions, technological component and business model.</p><p>For scientific preciseness, we have exemplified a successful case of Japanese E-commerce company (NTT DoCoMo). It helped to examine and prove the practicability of hypercube model of E-commerce innovation and feasibility of dynamic capability in helping E-commerce companies to cope with E-commerce innovations. The similarity and relativity of E-commerce companies in China and Japan have been found based on the comparison of technology, market opportunity, E-commerce innovation, customer value and network perspectives.</p><p>In order to cope with E-commerce innovation successfully, Chinese E-commerce companies should improve five dynamic capabilities based on Chinese specific environment and conditions. They are: 1, choosing enabling technology, like 3G technologies. 2, matching with economic opportunities, like focus on entertainment market. 3, executing business innovation, like facilitate innovation of handset functions. 4, understanding customer value, like investigate more reduce switching cost for customers. 5, constructing alliance with co-opetitors, like establish safe payment mechanism with banks etc.</p>

<p><strong>Problem:</strong> How do the born global firms overcome challenges and sustain performance in international markets through their competences, routines, and corporate governance structure?</p><p><strong>Purpose:</strong> The purpose of this thesis is to explore the competences, routines, and corporate governance structure of born global companies, and understand their role in overcoming challenges of early internationalization and sustaining performance in international markets from early days.</p><p><strong>Method:</strong> This research is conducted as multi-disciplinary, consisting of literature from International Business and Strategic Management. Relevant data is collected through six in-depth interviews with executives of born global companies from Sweden and Norway. Qualitative analysis has been used at data analysis stage.</p><p><strong>Originality: </strong>This study contributes to literature by examining relatively neglected areas of born global companies; competences, routines, and corporate governance structure. It is also original in distilling a wide literature to explore challenges of born globals.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Our research reveals that despite their small size and limited resources, born global companies engage in competence building and leveraging activities, establish early international routines, and construct flexible governance structures to overcome challenges and achieve performance in the global arena.</p>

<p>The international environment today has been undergoing unprecedented change and many companies are seeking new ways to stand out from the competition by sustaining their competitive advantage. Internationalization and firms’ consolidation increase competition in the dynamic marketplace .Companies are no longer staying competitive simply through focusing on product quality and pricing as customers are becoming more high-demanding related to customer service offer. This issue directs the companies’ main focus today to address the customer needs in the ever-changing environment.In order to be the winners in the marketplace, timing and superior customer service are becoming the keys to attain competitive advantage for a company. Time-based competition is an important issue that many companies are facing currently as customers are becoming more time-sensitive and time-oriented in terms of better services, reliability and delivery. To keep up with the changes in demand from customers, it is important to satisfy customers’ objectives and needs in order to provide superior customer service, thus, establish good relationship with them. In the ever-changing and dynamic business environment company needs to adapt and exploit the changes in order to meet the new challenges in the marketplace. It is crucial for the company to respond to changing needs of existing customers and seeking to serve new customers externally. The ways to renew the customers’ services and how they are delivered are critical capabilities for many companies to acquire nowadays. This leads to increasing interaction between marketing and logistics where logistics is considered a platform for supporting new strategic moves on the market.This master thesis originates from a need to research the links between customer service improvement and Just-in-time distribution in order to sustain competitive advantage. We propose to extend the Just-In-Time concept to incorporate a customer perspective, which results in changes the warehousing, ordering and delivering routines. Subsequently, this creates timing ability as well as coordination of information and material flows through timely decisions, which are difficult for competitors to emulate. Based on our analysis and conclusion, companies are recommended to shift from the traditional production-oriented to market-oriented focuses through incorporation of customers' perspective into the value chain. To deploy this, companies should start from the customer end and understand customers' needs and establish mutual beneficial relationships with customers. Long-lasting business relationships ultimately determine the success of the company. Furthermore, we conclude that successful learning to change the routines requires time for the transformation of traditional delivery practice to perform direct deliveries activities. They are based on the common understanding of the tasks and rules as well as common codes of internal coordination processes.</p>

<p>This thesis applies the dynamic capabilities framework to identify and examine the dynamic capabilities creating sustainable competitive advantage in the context of a developing economy. The attempt to explain sustainable competitive advantage by reacting to environmental changes has at all times been a highly discussed topic for research. The globalized and unstable environment often found in developing areas increases the need for more dynamic models when analyzing how to gain competitive advantage. To meet this demand, the dynamic capability framework introduces a very promising effort to better understand superior enterprise performance over time.</p><p> </p><p>This thesis intends to increase the understanding of the role of dynamic capabilities and analyze the knowledge of successful entrepreneurs in small and medium enterprises effectively can outperform competition in the unstable South African environment. More specific, the focus is mainly on strategic decisions and the empirical study consists of qualitative case studies of four successful entrepreneurs. This data is collected through semi-structured interviews in Cape Town. The strategic decisions are first analyzed within each case – applying selected parts of an existing framework – and thereafter a cross-sectional analysis is done in order to find both the similarities and differences between entrepreneurs. The findings suggest that all entrepreneurs in the analysis have the characteristics and skills to create dynamic capabilities within the process of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring opportunities. Furthermore, three main factors – maintaining a consistent long-term vision, placing the customer need in focus, and using the competence and resources wisely – are identified as features, which made these four entrepreneurs successful and helped them sustain the superior firm performance over time. In addition, these three factors must be adaptable to rapid and unexpected changes. Overall the findings suggest that when analyzing competitive advantage, the sensing, shaping and reconfiguration of opportunities must be seen as constant.  Lastly, the complete process containing different fundamental classes of dynamic capabilities should not be separated.</p><p> </p><p>The study demonstrates the relevance of the dynamic capabilities approach in identifying competitive advantage, which is based on the firm’s dynamic capabilities. The fact that small and medium enterprises are important for the economic growth in developing countries makes this study an important field for research.</p>

Developing Product Development – that’s what it’s about, developing our capability to do what we need to do. Ericsson Executive Product development in times of brutal change requires capabilities beyond normal product development capabilities. In order to meet the challenges of brutal change, an ability to change and improve how products are developed, and how product development is organized and managed is required. This thesis looks inside an industrial firm subjected to brutal market changes, forcing it to respond promptly and strongly, to reduce cost yet retain and improve the ability to develop, market, sell, deliver and support its products and services. The firm uses externalization of product development to cut fixed costs and reduce headcount quickly. To cut operating costs, it uses offshoring. Transformational structural changes destroy both capabilities and rigidities. The increasingly competitive situation calls for even higher efficiency. Product development capabilities have to be recreated to support even higher efficiency while retaining and improving innovativeness. Participative organizational development is performed to rebuild and improve product development capabilities at the workgroup level. Software developers use self-assessment and group reflection to augment their conceptions of efficiency and concurrently improve their efficiency. This thesis provides a typology of modes of organizing, and of transitions between different modes of organizing. It highlights the role of capabilities in supporting efficiency in the transfer of product development from one mode of organizing to another. In doing so, it aims to contribute to a dynamic perspective of product development organizing, and at the same time provide actionable advice to product development managers in times of brutal change. This thesis also illustrates the potential in group self-improvement, building on collective knowledge creation and use, with direct coupling to action. It argues that augmentation of conceptions through concept elaboration and reflection may be more efficient and effective than traditional training programs. Developing Product Development is both about improving the practice of product development and about improving the understanding of- and knowledge about product development. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2006

This thesis applies the dynamic capabilities framework to identify and examine the dynamic capabilities creating sustainable competitive advantage in the context of a developing economy. The attempt to explain sustainable competitive advantage by reacting to environmental changes has at all times been a highly discussed topic for research. The globalized and unstable environment often found in developing areas increases the need for more dynamic models when analyzing how to gain competitive advantage. To meet this demand, the dynamic capability framework introduces a very promising effort to better understand superior enterprise performance over time.   This thesis intends to increase the understanding of the role of dynamic capabilities and analyze the knowledge of successful entrepreneurs in small and medium enterprises effectively can outperform competition in the unstable South African environment. More specific, the focus is mainly on strategic decisions and the empirical study consists of qualitative case studies of four successful entrepreneurs. This data is collected through semi-structured interviews in Cape Town. The strategic decisions are first analyzed within each case – applying selected parts of an existing framework – and thereafter a cross-sectional analysis is done in order to find both the similarities and differences between entrepreneurs. The findings suggest that all entrepreneurs in the analysis have the characteristics and skills to create dynamic capabilities within the process of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring opportunities. Furthermore, three main factors – maintaining a consistent long-term vision, placing the customer need in focus, and using the competence and resources wisely – are identified as features, which made these four entrepreneurs successful and helped them sustain the superior firm performance over time. In addition, these three factors must be adaptable to rapid and unexpected changes. Overall the findings suggest that when analyzing competitive advantage, the sensing, shaping and reconfiguration of opportunities must be seen as constant.  Lastly, the complete process containing different fundamental classes of dynamic capabilities should not be separated.   The study demonstrates the relevance of the dynamic capabilities approach in identifying competitive advantage, which is based on the firm’s dynamic capabilities. The fact that small and medium enterprises are important for the economic growth in developing countries makes this study an important field for research.

This study mainly investigated how Chinese E-commerce companies should cope with E-commerce innovation with specific dynamic capabilities. E-commerce (Electronic Commerce) innovation includes three phases of innovation based on technology and time. They are web-based commerce, mobile commerce (M-commerce) and ubiquitous commerce (U-commerce). They caused not only technological changes but also organizational changes. To cope with E-commerce innovation, a prerequisite is to understand the impacts and changes brought by the innovation. Previous researchers Afuah and Bahram (1995) have proposed a hypercube innovation model to depict the relationship between innovation entities and diverse of participants of innovation value-added chain, forcing enterprises to face what the influence from their innovation will be on their stakeholders. Wu (2004) developed a new hypercube model of E-commerce innovation, explaining that impacts of E-commerce innovation should be based on both internal factors like technological component and business model and external factors like industrial partnerships. Based on the finding, the types and details of impacts caused by E-commerce innovation have been discussed in the study. Dynamic capabilities have been found that could help E-commerce company to identify emerging opportunities, renew its competences and keep its competitive advantages in a dynamic business environment. Further development of core dynamic capabilities that are necessary for E-commerce company transformation in different phase of E-commerce innovations were proposed in two dimensions, technological component and business model. For scientific preciseness, we have exemplified a successful case of Japanese E-commerce company (NTT DoCoMo). It helped to examine and prove the practicability of hypercube model of E-commerce innovation and feasibility of dynamic capability in helping E-commerce companies to cope with E-commerce innovations. The similarity and relativity of E-commerce companies in China and Japan have been found based on the comparison of technology, market opportunity, E-commerce innovation, customer value and network perspectives. In order to cope with E-commerce innovation successfully, Chinese E-commerce companies should improve five dynamic capabilities based on Chinese specific environment and conditions. They are: 1, choosing enabling technology, like 3G technologies. 2, matching with economic opportunities, like focus on entertainment market. 3, executing business innovation, like facilitate innovation of handset functions. 4, understanding customer value, like investigate more reduce switching cost for customers. 5, constructing alliance with co-opetitors, like establish safe payment mechanism with banks etc.

How can suppliers contribute to their customers’ value creating processes? Although this question is crucial for firms’ collaboration with customers and for their competitiveness, it is not clear how firms co-create value with their customers. Research on value co-creation has increased notably the last years. However few empirical studies have been conducted on how value is co-created in the day-to-day activities. Therefore this thesis addresses value co-creation with a strategy-as-practice perspective. The strategy-as-practice enables to link micro-level activities with the structures in which they are carried out as well as the strategic outcomes they lead to. In order to understand the process of value co-creation, a supplier and four customer companies are studied. The empirical context is a technical knowledge-intensive business service company providing its competence in product development and operating in a highly competitive environment. Focus is put on how the supplier’s processes fulfil customers’ requirements and expectations. The notion of value-in-use from the service logic forms a starting point in the analysis of customer’s requirements. Dynamic capabilities in the strategy field is used to analyse the supplier’s processes. Based on interviews, annual reports, observations and workshops, the empirical material indicates that the supplier’s processes play a crucial role for the customer. The findings in this thesis show that value-in-use is a contextual and compound concept that can take different forms as “values-in-use”, “postpone value” and “value-after-use". Understanding customers’ value-in-use requires an open dialogue between the customer and the supplier. In this sense, processes that help capture the more intangible and unconscious parts of a relationship, and the roles the parties take during the process are necessary. A finding in this thesis is that culture enhances certain processes at the expense of others. Another finding is that dynamic capabilities need to be more than well-performed processes in order for the customer to differentiate the firm from competitors. Dynamic capabilities necessitate the combination of smooth processes, understanding of customers’ value-in-use as well as managerial skills in order for the supplier to co-create value, and this in a competitive way.

Problem: How do the born global firms overcome challenges and sustain performance in international markets through their competences, routines, and corporate governance structure? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the competences, routines, and corporate governance structure of born global companies, and understand their role in overcoming challenges of early internationalization and sustaining performance in international markets from early days. Method: This research is conducted as multi-disciplinary, consisting of literature from International Business and Strategic Management. Relevant data is collected through six in-depth interviews with executives of born global companies from Sweden and Norway. Qualitative analysis has been used at data analysis stage. Originality: This study contributes to literature by examining relatively neglected areas of born global companies; competences, routines, and corporate governance structure. It is also original in distilling a wide literature to explore challenges of born globals. Conclusion: Our research reveals that despite their small size and limited resources, born global companies engage in competence building and leveraging activities, establish early international routines, and construct flexible governance structures to overcome challenges and achieve performance in the global arena.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the internationalization process in small firms impacts their resource base renewal. The relationships between organizational learning, dynamic capabilities, operational capabilities and resources are empirically examined to determine the impact of internationalization on changes to the firm’s resource base. The empirical analysis follows a multiple case study research methodology and is based on in depth case studies of four internationalized professional service firms in Ontario. Cases include born-global and born-again global firms, exemplifying both location-based and knowledge-based services. The study finds evidence supporting the relationships between internationalization, organizational learning and planned change via dynamic capabilities, as well as internationalization, organizational learning and ad hoc problem solving. Findings also suggest that the firms’ repetitive use of ad hoc problem solving when faced with similar situations leads to the creation of dynamic capabilities. This research adds to the existing body of literature on services, international entrepreneurship and strategy by responding to a call for empirical examination of organizational learning within the RBV and DC constructs. Furthermore, it also applies a novel theoretical framework with which to examine the impact of small firm internationalization and their strategic renewal. By doing so, this thesis extends the RBV and DC perspectives to small service firms. Findings demonstrate a need to further continue this research path to gain greater understanding of the change processes that occur during the evolution of the firm’s resource base, as pertains to small knowledge-intensive service firms.