This thesis aims to connect the fields of multilingualism and internationalisation by studying language strategies of SMEs located in Belgium. Thereby the access to foreign networks in relation to internationalisation theories and the role of language capabilities and multilingualism is examined. This combination of different academic fields in international business and linguistics has previously not been studied satisfyingly and this research thus furthermore provides theoretical and managerial implications in this matter. Hence, this study addresses the briefly presented knowledge gap by answering the research question: What effect does the multilingualism in Belgium have on an SME’s internationalisation? The two following sub-research questions have been raised additionally to ensure the ability to answer the main research question: 1. What is the impact of the multilingualism in Belgium on an SME’s liability of foreignness when going international? 2. How does a language strategy support an SME’s internationalisation process and create a multilingual capability? Empirical data is collected both qualitatively by interviewing three Belgian SMEs and quantitatively by analysing secondary data of 30 Belgian company websites and their vacancy job postings, to provide answers to these questions. The findings are analysed by applying a conceptual framework, which was created by the authors. The study’s findings summarise the presence of multiple individual language capabilities and highlight the lack and importance of institutionalising these in the SME. This step is vital to successfully access foreign networks and overcome liability of foreignness. Moreover, firm capabilities in relation to the SME’s industry are significant for the accurate implementation of a language strategy. Besides, the results show a crucial role of English in international business.

Startups surgem com o intuito de explorar comercialmente uma ideia de potencial inovador. Para isso, necessitam de um conjunto de capacidades técnicas e de negócios, alocando recursos de modo eficiente para obter um produto com valor de mercado. Elas necessitam, portanto, tornar-se firmas e executar um modelo de negócios. Nesse processo, muitas startups fracassam, enquanto outras atingem um bom desempenho e conseguem realizar a oferta pública de ações (IPO), ou mesmo vender o negócio. Torna-se crucial, então, identificar quais são os conjuntos de capacidades necessários para o sucesso e a sobrevivência das startups. Enquanto firmas possuem diferentes arranjos de quatro capacidades de inovação, nomeadamente as capacidades de desenvolvimento, de operação, de gestão e de transação, o assunto ainda é pouco investigado em startups. Isso posto, este estudo tem por objetivo identificar como se configuram as capacidades de inovação em startups. Para alcançar esse objetivo foi realizado um estudo exploratório de abordagem qualitativa no Vale do Silício, no qual foram entrevistadas 11 startups de base tecnológica e 7 profissionais com conhecimentos na área. O estudo evidenciou que startups não possuem as quatro capacidades de inovação, mas necessitam desenvolvê-las a fim de comercializar um bem/serviço no mercado, tornandose firmas. Enquanto as capacidades de desenvolvimento e a de transação são as primeiras a serem desenvolvidas (sendo as mais desenvolvidas), as capacidades de operação e de gestão necessitam ser desenvolvidas à medida que o negócio se expande. O aprendizado por startups também foi identificado como relevante para a construção das capacidades de inovação, processo no qual o rico ecossistema do Vale do Silício desempenha um papel fundamental. Embora esse ecossistema seja importante, a seleção e aplicação dos conhecimentos externos na construção de tais capacidades é uma tarefa que cabe apenas à startup. Evidenciaram-se também os diferentes arranjos de capacidades que podem levar à venda, transformação em firma e fracasso das startups. A principal contribuição teórica do presente estudo foi avaliar, em um único estudo, não apenas capacidades de cunho tecnológico, mas também operacionais, gerenciais e transacionais em startups, destacando sua importância para o sucesso do negócio. Uma segunda contribuição está em evidenciar, por meio da perspectiva da firma, que conhecimentos amplamente disponíveis no ecossistema podem ser irrelevantes para a startup se não forem aplicados adequadamente no desenvolvimento das capacidades. Como contribuição gerencial evidencia-se a necessidade de avaliar o desempenho da startup por meio de métricas, não negligenciando a importância da gestão. Às instituições governamentais sugere-se uma maior ênfase na cobrança de resultados das startups. / Startups are created to commercially explore an ideia with innovative potential. To do so, they need a set of technical and business capabilities, efficiently allocating resources to obtain a product with market value. They need, in such an understanding, to become firms and execute a business model. While searching for such a business model, a high percentage of startups fail, while others perform well and reach the initial public offering (IPO), or even sell the business. It seems crucial, then, to identify which capability arrangements are required for the success and the survival of startups. While firms have different arrangements of four innovation capabilities, namely development capability, operation capabillity, management capability and transaction capability, the issue is still under-researched for startups. That being said, this study aims to identify how innovation capabilities are arranged in startups. To accomplish that, an exploratory study with a qualitative approach was performed in Silicon Valley, in which 11 startups and 7 knowledgeable professionals related to the field were interviewed. It was found that startups do not have the four innovation capabilities, but need to develop them in order to transact goods/services in the market, allowing them to become firms. While the development capability and the transaction capability are the first developed by the startup (and also the most developed ones), the operation and management capabilities need to be developed once the business starts to grow. Learning by startups was also identified as relevant to the construction of their innovation capabilities, in which the rich ecosystem in Silicon Valley plays a key role. Although the importance of such an ecosystem, the selection and application of such external information into the construction of such capabilities is a task that can only be performed by the startup. Different arrangements of innovation capabilities were also identified, that might lead a startup to be sold, to turn into a firm or to follow a failure path. The main theoretical contribution was to evaluate, in a single study, not only technological capabilities, but also operational, management and transactional capabilities in startups, highlighting their importance to the startups’ sucess. A second contribution relies in identifying, through the lenses of the theory of the firm, that knowledge widely available in the ecosystem might be irrelevant to the startup if not properly applied in the development of capabilities. As a managerial contribution, the study highlights the need to evaluate the startup performance through metrics, without neglecting the importance of management. It is also suggested that governmental institutions should put a higher emphasis in demanding results from startups.

Encontrar as razões que tornam as firmas bem-sucedidas em meio à grande competição está constantemente entre as motivações da agenda de pesquisa em administração. Capacidades e capacidades dinâmicas são frequentemente os termos utilizados na literatura para descrever, respectivamente, o que as firmas estão aptas a fazer e como elas buscam e implementam mudanças e inovações para criar e sustentar vantagem competitiva. Assim, é importante compreender de que forma as firmas se tornam capazes e quais são os diferentes caminhos para inovação. Porém os termos capacidades e inovação possuem ambigüidades. Segundo a literatura, as capacidades das firmas estão relacionadas às suas rotinas, um dos conceitos centrais da teoria evolucionária de Nelson e Winter (1982). Já a inovação é tratada, geralmente, sob a perspectiva de mudanças tecnológicas em produtos e processos, porém o conceito pode envolver outras perspectivas. O presente trabalho, a partir de um estudo de casos múltiplos, buscou verificar a relação existente entre rotinas, capacidades e inovação em duas empresas do setor vitivinícola gaúcho. Para tanto, foi desenvolvido um esquema analítico que integra a teoria de inovação de Schumpeter (1997), bem como a teoria econômica evolucionária de Nelson e Winter (1982). Ademais, foi traçada uma evolução histórica do setor, visando compreender de que forma a indústria do vinho se desenvolveu e como se dá a competição nesse setor nos tempos atuais. As empresas escolhidas, situadas no Vale dos Vinhedos, na Serra Gaúcha, representam duas abordagens diferentes de competição e de busca por mudança e inovação observadas no setor do vinho mundial. De um lado, uma empresa de pequeno porte orientada por uma estratégia de produção e comercialização menos dinâmica, voltada para nicho semelhante às estratégias observadas nos países do Velho Mundo; de outro, uma empresa de grande porte que segue estratégias de produção e comercialização com forte orientação para o mercado, inovação e tecnologia semelhantes às estratégias frequentemente observadas em países produtores do Novo Mundo. O trabalho identificou e analisou as capacidades de Produção, Marketing e Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento de ambas as empresas por meio de uma visão baseada em rotinas, assim como os tipos de inovações implementadas pela empresa ao longo de sua trajetória. Os resultados mostram que, embora o vinho seja uma das mais antigas bebidas do mundo com tradição – a qual exerce um papel importante na forma como o produto é elaborado e consumido – e as empresas estudadas concorram com dinâmicas diferentes, o desenvolvimento de capacidades e a busca por tipos diferentes de mudança e inovação foram necessários em ambos os casos para obter distinção no mercado. / Finding the reasons that make firms successful in a competitive environment are among the most common motivations in the business research agenda. Capabilities and dynamic capabilities are often the terms used in the literature to describe respectively what firms can do and how they seek and implement change and innovation to create and sustain competitive advantage. In this sense, it is relevant to understand how firms develop their capabilities and what are the different ways they can search for change and innovation. On the other hand, both terms capability and innovation show ambiguities in the literature. This work observes that concept of capability is closely related to the term ‗routine‘ which is one of the central concepts of the evolutionary theory of economic change. Innovation is generally treated under the perspective of technological changes in products and process, but the concept involves other perspectives. Through multiple case studies in two firms, the present dissertation aims at verifying the relations among routines, capabilities and innovation in the vitiviniculture industry in Rio Grande do Sul. In order to do that, it was necessary to build an analytical framework integrating the Schumpeterian theory of innovation as well as Nelson and Winter‘s evolutionary theory of economic change. It was traced back a brief historical evolution of the wine sector to understand its development and how competition occurs in the present. The two specific cases represent two different approaches to competition and search for change and innovation observed in the wine industry. On the one side a large and very market oriented firm, and on the other, a small very niche oriented winery. This work identify and analyzed the production, marketing and research and development capabilities through a routine-based view of the firm as well as the types of change and innovation implemented by the two firms throughout their trajectory. The results show that, although wine is one of the world‘s oldest types of beverages with tradition playing an important role in the way it is elaborated and consumed, dynamic capabilities promoting change and innovation in both cases were necessary in order to obtain distinction in the market.

Encontrar as razões que tornam as firmas bem-sucedidas em meio à grande competição está constantemente entre as motivações da agenda de pesquisa em administração. Capacidades e capacidades dinâmicas são frequentemente os termos utilizados na literatura para descrever, respectivamente, o que as firmas estão aptas a fazer e como elas buscam e implementam mudanças e inovações para criar e sustentar vantagem competitiva. Assim, é importante compreender de que forma as firmas se tornam capazes e quais são os diferentes caminhos para inovação. Porém os termos capacidades e inovação possuem ambigüidades. Segundo a literatura, as capacidades das firmas estão relacionadas às suas rotinas, um dos conceitos centrais da teoria evolucionária de Nelson e Winter (1982). Já a inovação é tratada, geralmente, sob a perspectiva de mudanças tecnológicas em produtos e processos, porém o conceito pode envolver outras perspectivas. O presente trabalho, a partir de um estudo de casos múltiplos, buscou verificar a relação existente entre rotinas, capacidades e inovação em duas empresas do setor vitivinícola gaúcho. Para tanto, foi desenvolvido um esquema analítico que integra a teoria de inovação de Schumpeter (1997), bem como a teoria econômica evolucionária de Nelson e Winter (1982). Ademais, foi traçada uma evolução histórica do setor, visando compreender de que forma a indústria do vinho se desenvolveu e como se dá a competição nesse setor nos tempos atuais. As empresas escolhidas, situadas no Vale dos Vinhedos, na Serra Gaúcha, representam duas abordagens diferentes de competição e de busca por mudança e inovação observadas no setor do vinho mundial. De um lado, uma empresa de pequeno porte orientada por uma estratégia de produção e comercialização menos dinâmica, voltada para nicho semelhante às estratégias observadas nos países do Velho Mundo; de outro, uma empresa de grande porte que segue estratégias de produção e comercialização com forte orientação para o mercado, inovação e tecnologia semelhantes às estratégias frequentemente observadas em países produtores do Novo Mundo. O trabalho identificou e analisou as capacidades de Produção, Marketing e Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento de ambas as empresas por meio de uma visão baseada em rotinas, assim como os tipos de inovações implementadas pela empresa ao longo de sua trajetória. Os resultados mostram que, embora o vinho seja uma das mais antigas bebidas do mundo com tradição – a qual exerce um papel importante na forma como o produto é elaborado e consumido – e as empresas estudadas concorram com dinâmicas diferentes, o desenvolvimento de capacidades e a busca por tipos diferentes de mudança e inovação foram necessários em ambos os casos para obter distinção no mercado. / Finding the reasons that make firms successful in a competitive environment are among the most common motivations in the business research agenda. Capabilities and dynamic capabilities are often the terms used in the literature to describe respectively what firms can do and how they seek and implement change and innovation to create and sustain competitive advantage. In this sense, it is relevant to understand how firms develop their capabilities and what are the different ways they can search for change and innovation. On the other hand, both terms capability and innovation show ambiguities in the literature. This work observes that concept of capability is closely related to the term ‗routine‘ which is one of the central concepts of the evolutionary theory of economic change. Innovation is generally treated under the perspective of technological changes in products and process, but the concept involves other perspectives. Through multiple case studies in two firms, the present dissertation aims at verifying the relations among routines, capabilities and innovation in the vitiviniculture industry in Rio Grande do Sul. In order to do that, it was necessary to build an analytical framework integrating the Schumpeterian theory of innovation as well as Nelson and Winter‘s evolutionary theory of economic change. It was traced back a brief historical evolution of the wine sector to understand its development and how competition occurs in the present. The two specific cases represent two different approaches to competition and search for change and innovation observed in the wine industry. On the one side a large and very market oriented firm, and on the other, a small very niche oriented winery. This work identify and analyzed the production, marketing and research and development capabilities through a routine-based view of the firm as well as the types of change and innovation implemented by the two firms throughout their trajectory. The results show that, although wine is one of the world‘s oldest types of beverages with tradition playing an important role in the way it is elaborated and consumed, dynamic capabilities promoting change and innovation in both cases were necessary in order to obtain distinction in the market.

abstract: The study explores the differing roles that a top management team (TMT) and a board play in providing a firm the knowledge to improve its absorptive capacity. Building on the distinction between potential and realized absorptive capacity, initially posited by Zahra and George (2002), I argue that a firm's board of directors and its TMT both act to fill the critical role of knowledge gatekeepers identified by Cohen and Levinthal (1990). But, they play different roles in a firm's efforts to acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit novel information. The engagement of board members with environmental planning through personal experiences as well as prior and current ties shapes the ability of the firm to acquire (i.e., identify and obtain) and assimilate (i.e., analyze, understand, and evaluate) valuable external knowledge. However, because they lack the required in-depth knowledge of the firm's internal operations, they are unable to complete the gatekeeping role. The latter stages of that role depend on the abilities of the TMT to transform (i.e., internalize and converse) and exploit (i.e., use and implement) that knowledge, which depends heavily on their engagement with environmental activities through prior experiences. Thus, the board and TMT are only able to fulfill the roles of knowledge gatekeeper collectively. I develop a set of hypotheses from this core proposition, which I test using the participation of U.S. firms in the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). Extremely detailed data on 354 firms from 2008 to 2015 allows me to examine multiple sequential processes, including the decision to participate in the CDP performance relative to the core CDP goal, current internal systems, policies as well as plans, and capabilities to breakdown emissions along various production processes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2018

Startups surgem com o intuito de explorar comercialmente uma ideia de potencial inovador. Para isso, necessitam de um conjunto de capacidades técnicas e de negócios, alocando recursos de modo eficiente para obter um produto com valor de mercado. Elas necessitam, portanto, tornar-se firmas e executar um modelo de negócios. Nesse processo, muitas startups fracassam, enquanto outras atingem um bom desempenho e conseguem realizar a oferta pública de ações (IPO), ou mesmo vender o negócio. Torna-se crucial, então, identificar quais são os conjuntos de capacidades necessários para o sucesso e a sobrevivência das startups. Enquanto firmas possuem diferentes arranjos de quatro capacidades de inovação, nomeadamente as capacidades de desenvolvimento, de operação, de gestão e de transação, o assunto ainda é pouco investigado em startups. Isso posto, este estudo tem por objetivo identificar como se configuram as capacidades de inovação em startups. Para alcançar esse objetivo foi realizado um estudo exploratório de abordagem qualitativa no Vale do Silício, no qual foram entrevistadas 11 startups de base tecnológica e 7 profissionais com conhecimentos na área. O estudo evidenciou que startups não possuem as quatro capacidades de inovação, mas necessitam desenvolvê-las a fim de comercializar um bem/serviço no mercado, tornandose firmas. Enquanto as capacidades de desenvolvimento e a de transação são as primeiras a serem desenvolvidas (sendo as mais desenvolvidas), as capacidades de operação e de gestão necessitam ser desenvolvidas à medida que o negócio se expande. O aprendizado por startups também foi identificado como relevante para a construção das capacidades de inovação, processo no qual o rico ecossistema do Vale do Silício desempenha um papel fundamental. Embora esse ecossistema seja importante, a seleção e aplicação dos conhecimentos externos na construção de tais capacidades é uma tarefa que cabe apenas à startup. Evidenciaram-se também os diferentes arranjos de capacidades que podem levar à venda, transformação em firma e fracasso das startups. A principal contribuição teórica do presente estudo foi avaliar, em um único estudo, não apenas capacidades de cunho tecnológico, mas também operacionais, gerenciais e transacionais em startups, destacando sua importância para o sucesso do negócio. Uma segunda contribuição está em evidenciar, por meio da perspectiva da firma, que conhecimentos amplamente disponíveis no ecossistema podem ser irrelevantes para a startup se não forem aplicados adequadamente no desenvolvimento das capacidades. Como contribuição gerencial evidencia-se a necessidade de avaliar o desempenho da startup por meio de métricas, não negligenciando a importância da gestão. Às instituições governamentais sugere-se uma maior ênfase na cobrança de resultados das startups. / Startups are created to commercially explore an ideia with innovative potential. To do so, they need a set of technical and business capabilities, efficiently allocating resources to obtain a product with market value. They need, in such an understanding, to become firms and execute a business model. While searching for such a business model, a high percentage of startups fail, while others perform well and reach the initial public offering (IPO), or even sell the business. It seems crucial, then, to identify which capability arrangements are required for the success and the survival of startups. While firms have different arrangements of four innovation capabilities, namely development capability, operation capabillity, management capability and transaction capability, the issue is still under-researched for startups. That being said, this study aims to identify how innovation capabilities are arranged in startups. To accomplish that, an exploratory study with a qualitative approach was performed in Silicon Valley, in which 11 startups and 7 knowledgeable professionals related to the field were interviewed. It was found that startups do not have the four innovation capabilities, but need to develop them in order to transact goods/services in the market, allowing them to become firms. While the development capability and the transaction capability are the first developed by the startup (and also the most developed ones), the operation and management capabilities need to be developed once the business starts to grow. Learning by startups was also identified as relevant to the construction of their innovation capabilities, in which the rich ecosystem in Silicon Valley plays a key role. Although the importance of such an ecosystem, the selection and application of such external information into the construction of such capabilities is a task that can only be performed by the startup. Different arrangements of innovation capabilities were also identified, that might lead a startup to be sold, to turn into a firm or to follow a failure path. The main theoretical contribution was to evaluate, in a single study, not only technological capabilities, but also operational, management and transactional capabilities in startups, highlighting their importance to the startups’ sucess. A second contribution relies in identifying, through the lenses of the theory of the firm, that knowledge widely available in the ecosystem might be irrelevant to the startup if not properly applied in the development of capabilities. As a managerial contribution, the study highlights the need to evaluate the startup performance through metrics, without neglecting the importance of management. It is also suggested that governmental institutions should put a higher emphasis in demanding results from startups.

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.

Abstract Research on software business has, so far, mainly concentrated on the software industry. However, software business has recently also been practised outside the software industry, in so-called industrial companies. This research aims at increasing empirical and theoretical understanding of the development of software business in industrial companies, shedding light on why a company not belonging to the software industry starts to do business involving software, how the company goes about starting such business, and how this in turn affects the company. First, past research on the resource-based approach, capability approach, dynamic capability approach and the concept of strategy is reviewed. Based on this review, four processes that hold the potential to give a company (sustained) competitive advantage – picking resources, exploiting resources, applying capabilities and developing capabilities – and three important dimensions of strategy – the objective of strategy, the process of strategy formation, and the focus of strategy – are identified. A conceptual framework for studying the development of software business in industrial companies is developed which encompasses the processes holding the potential for (sustained) competitive advantage and the different dimensions of strategy, as well as the company’s resource, capability and dynamic capability base. Following that, empirical data collected in two internationally operating industrial companies is analyzed with the help of the conceptual framework. As a result of the empirical data analysis, 23 capabilities and several resources important for software business in industrial companies could be identified. Capabilities are categorized according to their use in and applicability to different types of software business. Factors influencing the application, development and improvement of capabilities, as well as different ways of how industrial companies start to do software business, are identified. The conceptual framework is revised by adding the process of developing capabilities further to the processes which hold the potential for competitive advantage, and clarifying the role of dynamic capabilities in the development of software business in industrial companies.

In the last three decades, strategic management scholars have explored the organization’s need to reconfigure its capabilities to leverage opportunities in a changing environment. The first objective of this study was to identify the underlying elements of the managerial processes of dynamic capabilities, and to offer a reconceptualization of the dynamic capabilities construct. The second objective of this investigation was to determine how the reconceptualized dynamic capabilities construct could influence the alignment of ordinary capabilities. Findings from this investigation indicate that organizational processes and managerial processes are unique components of dynamic capabilities. In addition, these organizational processes were found to be significantly and positively correlated with the alignment of ordinary capabilities. Furthermore, managerial processes were found to moderate the relationship between organizational processes and one type of ordinary capability alignment (i.e. innovation-operations capability alignment). Taken together, the findings of this study support the notion that dynamic capabilities are context specific, and that understanding how they influence the organization’s ability to change is complex. The developments and findings in this study offer a reconceptualized and empirically tested framework for the capability alignment process, thereby providing a more comprehensive picture of the underlying processes.

This thesis presents a strategic analysis on the possibility of use of offensive cyber capabilities by NATO in its defensive efforts. There is a vast array of academic literature regarding the strategic value of the use of offensive capabilities in cybersecurity, and NATO's cyber posture, however, there is little available regarding the relationship between both. Through the use of tools borrowed from Strategic Studies, this thesis attempts to determine whether it is possible to formulate valid cybersecurity strategies for the use of offensive cyber capabilities from the combination of known academic concepts with current NATO capabilities. The thesis also analyzes the possible implications of using such strategies as well as the underlying causes of their potential success or failure. Viana, André Lopes C. NATO and Offensive Cybersecurity: A Strategic Analysis, [number of pages]p. Master Thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Studies. Supervisor PhDr. Vít Střítecký, M.Phil., Ph.D.