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

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O desenvolvimento das capacidades dinâmicas habilita a empresa à inovar de forma mais eficiente, e por conseguinte, melhorar seu desempenho. Esta tese apresenta um framework para mensuração do grau de desenvolvimento das capacidades dinâmicas da empresa. Através de técnicas de text mining uma bag of words específica para as capacidades dinâmicas é proposta, bem como, baseado na literatura é proposto um conjunto de rotinas para avaliar a operacionalização e desenvolvimento das capacidades dinâmicas. Para avaliação das capacidades dinâmicas, foram aplicadas técnicas de text mining utilizando como fonte de dados os relatórios anuais de catorze empresas aéreas. Através da aplicação piloto foi possível realizar um diagnóstico das empresas aéreas e do setor. O trabalho aborda uma lacuna da literatura das capacidades dinâmicas, ao propor um método quantitativo para sua mensuração, assim como, a proposição de uma bag of words específica para as capacidades dinâmicas. Em termos práticos, a proposição pode contribuir para a tomada de decisões estratégicas embasada em dados, possibilitando assim inovar com mais eficiência e melhorar desempenho da firma. / The development of dynamic capabilities enables the company to innovate more efficiently and therefore improves its performance. This thesis presents a framework for measuring the dynamic capabilities development. Text mining techniques were used to propose a specific bag of words for dynamic capabilities. Furthermore, based on the literature, a group of routines is proposed to evaluate the operationalization and development of dynamic capabilities. In order to evaluate the dynamic capabilities, text mining techniques were applied using the annual reports of fourteen airlines as the data source. Through this pilot application it was possible to carry out a diagnosis of the airlines and the sector as well. The thesis approaches a dynamic capabilities literature gap by proposing a quantitative method for its measurement, as well as, the proposition of a specific bag of words for dynamic capabilities. The proposition can contribute to strategic decision making based on data, allowing firms to innovate more efficiently and improve performance.

Tendo como base o contexto da indústria de etanol que apresenta incertezas, oportunidades e ameaças, os preceitos teóricos da obtenção de vantagens competitivas sustentáveis a partir do desenvolvimento de capacidades dinâmicas e a análise de ambientes complexos e com a presença de incertezas por meio de cenários, este trabalho apresentou a seguinte questão de pesquisa: Quais são as implicações para o desenvolvimento de capacidades dinâmicas pelas destilarias brasileiras de possíveis cenários do mercado internacional de etanol em 2020? Para respondê-la foi realizado um estudo exploratório, em uma abordagem qualitativa e de natureza aplicada, o qual compreendeu duas etapas. Inicialmente foram elaborados cenários para o mercado internacional de etanol em 2020. Para tanto, utilizou-se o método de elaboração de cenários proposto por Wright e Spers (2006). Em seguida, foi realizada uma pesquisa de campo com uma empresa do setor de etanol, tendo em vista analisar a consistência dos cenários elaborados e explorar empiricamente o conceito de capacidades dinâmicas. Assim, foi realizado um estudo de caso com uma destilaria localizada em Jacarezinho Paraná. Neste trabalho, o escopo dos cenários foi a configuração futura do mercado internacional de etanol. O horizonte de tempo foi 2020, uma vez que grande parte da regulamentação que indica expansão da demanda do mercado internacional baseia-se neste ano. Foram produzidos quatro cenários (Etanol: um biocombustível comercialmente viável, Etanol: a commodity energética global sustentável, Etanol: foco no mercado interno, e Etanol: uma commodity regional) que posteriormente foram submetidos à análise de consistência e indicação do mais provável pela empresa pesquisada neste estudo. Foi indicado como mais provável o cenário Etanol: a commodity energética global sustentável. A partir do cenário mais provável, a empresa pesquisada indicou que, para o futuro, o desafio será desenvolver as capacidades dinâmicas necessárias para capturar as oportunidades e dois pontos importantes foram destacados pela empresa, e que vão de encontro ao segundo grupo de capacidades propostas por Teece (2007), principalmente no que se refere ao delineamento de modelos de negócios e desenvolvimento de ativos complementares. Conforme foi destacado pelo dirigente durante a entrevista, será necessário desenvolver um novo modelo de negócios para as usinas, pois essas são muito suscetíveis às oscilações de mercado de curto prazo, principalmente em relação ao preço do álcool, preço do açúcar, preço do petróleo e preço do milho. Há a necessidade de novas fontes de receita nos períodos de baixa no mercado. Além disso, a empresa enxerga como grande obstáculo para o futuro o desenvolvimento de infra-estrutura logística para a exportação. / Based on a context of the ethanol industry that presents uncertainties, opportunities and threats, on the theoretical background of obtaining sustainable competitive advantage through the development of dynamic capabilities and on the analysis of complex situations using scenarios, this study analyzed the following research question: What are the implications for the development of dynamic capabilities by Brazilian ethanol distilleries of possible scenarios of the global ethanol market in 2020? To answer this question an applied exploratory study was conducted with a qualitative approach. in two stages. Initially scenarios were developed for the international market in 2020, using the scenario development method proposed by Wright and Spers (2006). Next, a field research was conducted with a company in the ethanol industry in order to analyze the consistency of the scenarios developed and empirically explore the concept of dynamic capabilities. Thus, a case study was performed with a firm located in Jacarezinho - Paraná. In this work, the scope of the scenarios was the future state of the international market for ethanol. The time horizon is 2020, since much of the regulations indicates that expansion of demand in the international market is based on this year. It was produced four scenarios (\"Ethanol: a commercially viable biofuel\", \"Ethanol: a sustainable global energy commodity\", \"Ethanol: focus on the domestic market,\" and \"Ethanol: a regional commodity\") that subsequently were analyzed for consistency and indicated the more likely by the company investigated in this study. It was indicated as the most likely scenario \"Ethanol: a sustainable global energy commodity\". From the most likely scenario, the company surveyed indicated that for the future, the challenge will be to develop the dynamic capabilities necessary to capture the opportunities and two important points were highlighted by the company, and are aligned with the second set of capabilities proposed by Teece (2007), especially with regard to the design of business models and development of complementary assets. As noted by the manager during the interview, it will need to develop a new business model for companies, because they are very susceptible to fluctuations in short-term market, especially with the price of alcohol, sugar prices, oil prices and price of corn. There is a need for new sources of revenue in periods of market declines. In addition, the company sees as an obstacle to the future the development of transport infrastructure for export.

In Latin America, the debate on what constitutes a 'good' or 'bad' job has been dominated by the phenomenon of informality. Indicators like the 'informal sector size' or the proportion of workers in 'informal employment' give little attention to the intrinsic features of jobs that affect workers' well-being, thus misleading policy efforts. Validation of alternative and comparable human-centred measures of job quality (JQ) is needed. This study aims to evaluate the validity of a multi-dimensional measure of JQ in developing countries, and its usefulness against narrow indicators of formality/informality. To this end, Sen's capability-approach is used along with Green and Mostafa's operationalisation of JQ (Eurofound, 2012), which considers dimensions as varied as earnings, career prospects, autonomy, intensity, social environment, physical environment, and working time. With Central America as the research setting, I address four questions: (1) does Eurofound's indicator capture JQ inequalities at the individual level? (2) Can we draw meaningful comparisons between countries about their ability to provide good jobs? (3) Are the selected features of what constitutes a good job positively associated with Central American workers' well-being? (4) Is the concept of JQ attuned with what local experts conceive as a 'good job'? The research uses a mixed-methods approach to analyse the First Central American Survey on Working Conditions and Health - conducted in 2011 in Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala - in addition to semi-structured interviews with selected informants from these six countries. The results obtained show, firstly, a reasonable distribution of JQ across groups of workers. They confirm that formal jobs are not ubiquitously the best quality jobs. Secondly, the results evidenced significant variation at the country level regarding earnings and intrinsic job quality, with Costa Rica often ranking at the top. Interestingly, JQ rankings do not always follow from countries' industrial structure, economic performance, informal sector size, or other developmental indicators of common usage; country differences in JQ appear associated with the practical enforcement capacity of labour institutions like trade unions, inspection systems, and the state itself. Thirdly, I corroborated that the selected job features have a positive impact on Central American workers' well-being (except, puzzlingly, for work-time related aspects). Moreover, the positive health effect associated with performing in an intrinsically good job proved to be greater than the effect of working formally. Lastly, I confirmed that local perspectives about what constitutes a 'good job' are in great part consistent with the features included in Green and Mostafa's JQ scheme, while other intrinsic dimensions of the framework have struggled to enter the public discourse. These findings indicate that a JQ framework is generally valid in the Central American context, and provides more information than a conventional indicator of informality. The study contributes to extend the capability approach to the realm of work and to stress its potential for international comparative research. It is recommended that countries collect richer data about those aspects of jobs that have been proven to affect workers' well-being significantly and are not revealed in unidimensional informality figures.

Face à la complexité de leur environnement, les banques se voient à la fois bousculées et stimulées par les nouveaux entrants, et contraintes par le nouveau format réglementaire. Dans le secteur bancaire, la question de l’innovation, et plus encore son organisation et son pilotage, s’imposent ainsi comme des sujets majeurs de réflexion. Notre recherche doctorale se propose ainsi d’étudier le processus d’innovation d’une banque régionale de détail sous l’angle de la théorie des capacités dynamiques. Dans cette thèse, nous choisissons d’étudier cinq dispositifs organisationnels lancés à intervalles réguliers par une banque régionale de détail : le Crédit Agricole d’Aquitaine. Ces nouveaux dispositifs, internes et externes, ont pour objectif d’alimenter l’organisation-support en nouvelles connaissances. Nous proposons de lire ces pratiques au regard du modèle développé par Teece (2007) et de transposer les trois phases de son analyse (Sensing, Seizing, Transforming) au sein du cas étudié. Les résultats de cette thèse consistent, d’une part, à décrire une démarche naissante mais bien réelle d’innovation au sein de l’entité bancaire. D’autre part, nous recensons des difficultés de connexion entre ces dispositifs et l'organisation-support (diffusion des nouvelles connaissances, transformation des pratiques, évolution des comportements). Un autre intérêt de notre recherche est de démontrer la relative fragilité du modèle des capacités dynamiques de Teece (2007), celui-ci ne s’appliquant que partiellement au cas bancaire investigué. / Faced with the complexity of their environment, banks are both jostled and stimulated by new entrants, and constrained by the new regulatory format. In the banking sector, the question of innovation, and even more its organization and its management, are thus essential topics for reflection. Our doctoral research thus proposes to study the innovation process of a regional retail bank from the perspective of dynamic capacity theory. In this thesis, we choose to study five organizational initiatives launched at regular intervals by a regional retail bank: Crédit Agricole d'Aquitaine. These new devices, internal and external, aim to feed the support organization with new knowledge. We propose to read these practices in light of the model developed by Teece (2007) and to transpose the three phases of its analysis (Sensing, Seizing, Transforming) into the studied case. The results of this thesis consist, on the one hand, in describing a nascent but very real initiative of innovation within the banking entity. On the other hand, we identify difficulties of connection between these initiatives and the support organization (diffusion of new knowledge, transformation of practices, evolution of behaviors). Another interest of our research is to demonstrate the relative fragility of Teece's dynamic capacity model (2007), which only partially applies to the investigated banking case.

Many manufacturing firms, driven by the goal of beating the competition, have relocated their manufacturing operations from a high to a low cost environment, creating issues for the western social welfare. In order to maintain manufacturing in high cost environments, firms located in such environments must improve their competitiveness. Research has shown that firms need to be able to identify, develop and improve the operations capabilities that have the highest impact on the competitiveness. However, there is presently no coherent and contemporary framework of operations capabilities in the literature. There is also a lack of knowledge about operations capabilities in a high-cost environment. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate critical operations capabilities in a high-cost environment. This purpose has been addressed through two studies. The first investigated critical operations capabilities in a general environment, and was conducted through a systematic literature review (Paper I). The second study investigated critical operations capabilities in a high cost environment and was conducted through a focus group (Paper II) and a multiple case study (Paper III). The result of this research is a framework of operations capabilities in a high cost environment. The framework includes seven dimensions and 23 operations capabilities. Specifically, the dimensions are: cost, quality, delivery, flexibility, service, innovation and environment. The findings revealed that quality is considered as the most critical dimension in a high cost environment, while environment is considered as the least critical in a high cost environment. The findings also revealed two additional operations capabilities in the empirical data, which are 'flow efficiency' and 'employee flexibility'. This research contributes to the current body of knowledge by introducing a novel perspective and original thinking about operations capabilities in a high cost environment. The framework of operations capabilities could support both practitioners and researchers in the identification and development of critical operations capabilities for winning strategies in a high cost environment.

This thesis investigates development of generic capabilities in an RMIT undergraduate logistics degree program. Generic capabilities are those general graduate attributes that are not specifically discipline-focused, examples being communication and teamwork skills. A major research objective of this thesis is the extent to which graduates perceived that generic capabilities were developed in their RMIT logistics undergraduate program, specifically in a cross-cultural context spanning a range of organisations differing in size and ownership structure. The thesis involves two studies. In Study 1 managers from eight organisations, ranging in size from multi-national to small public and private (family-owned) companies were interviewed to develop a series of qualitative organisational case studies using grounded theory methodology. Study 2 is a quantitative survey of 31 Australian and 25 Asian (Singapore and Hong Kong) logistic graduates from 1996 to 2002. In Study 1, generic capabilities rankings in different organisations varied, depending on whether managers being interviewed were operational or human resource management specialists, but there was general agreement that communication, problem-solving, initiative and enterprise, and teamwork skills were highest priority. Study 2 results indicate that the views of both Asian and Australian graduates are in line with the management rankings, and are consistent with those reported by Australian and OECD government and industry research organisations. Both graduate groups agree that generic capabilities are covered in the RMIT logistic program, but ratings are generally in an 'adequate' to 'good' range, with no outstanding features. Although cultural diversity in the student body is seen as a major benefit, there are little data indicating a high level of Australian and Asian student networking, and a number of respondents are critical of a lack of international focus in the present program. A major issue is a n eed for more emphasis on presentation and problem-solving skills so graduates are able to carry through a project from initiation to completion.

The study addresses three research questions posed by the nature of government business enterprises. The three questions are (1) Does the way management (including the board) aligns the development of GBE organisational capabilities and the formulation of strategies have an influence on the financial performance and management's emphasis for discharging accountability requirements of that GBE? (2) Does the extent of adoption of board governance structures have an influence on financial performance and accountability-emphasis given by management of a GBE? (3) Does board composition moderate the relationship between capabilities-strategy configurations and performance of a GBE? The research questions are addressed as follow. First, the study explores the concepts of corporate governance, board governance in particular, strategy, capabilities and accountability in the context of GBEs. Second, the study investigates relationships between GBEs' governance arrangements and performance, on the one hand, and capabilities-strategy match and performance on the other hand. The concept of performance used in this study is separated into financial performance, measured by economic rate of return (ERR) (a government-developed algorithm for GBEs comprising financial accounting and market measures), and accountability-emphasis (ACCBTY) (management's attention to systems and processes used for discharging aspects of accountability). Third, the study investigates the moderating effects of GBEs' board governance arrangements on the relationship between capabilities-strategy match and performance. The findings of the study are as follow. First, the results of a set of multivariate analyses indicate that board governance index (BGI) has a positive and significant relationship with ERR, but has no significant relationship with ACCBTY. At the individual governance mechanism level, the percentages of non-executive directors (NEDs), politically-related directors (PRDs) and financial-literate directors (FLDs) are all strongly and positively related to ERR. These findings are supported by certain prior studies from different contexts. On the ACCBTY side, these specific board governance variables are not found to support a hypothesis that the composition of the board will impact on the GBE's attention to accountability processes. Second, the findings indicate that capabilities-strategy match (CSM) has no significant influence on ERR but has a strong and positive impact on ACCBTY. The results indicate that only the alignment between defender strategic-type and outside-in capabilities has a positive relationship with both ERR and ACCBTY. Other than the defender strategic position, alternative strategy-types will align with capabilities (e.g. prospector strategy and inside-out capabilities) to have a significant positive affect on ACCBTY, but not on ERR. Third, the study finds that GBE's board governance arrangements (BGI) have a positive moderating affect on the relationship between capabilities-strategy match and ERR. However, BGI has no moderating impact on capabilities-strategy match and ACCBTY relationship. The findings draw the conclusion that in order to achieve their dual objectives of concurrently fulfilling financial performance and accountability-emphasis, GBEs need to adopt a defender strategic-type, develop strengths in outside-in capabilities and have their boards of directors comprise of non-executive directors, politically-linked directors and financial-literate directors. Given the limitations underlying the findings that are mentioned, the conclusion from this study has implications for government-owners and managers of GBE.

Significant levels of interest and organisational spending on information and communication technologies (ICT's) have triggered debate as to whether these investments are worthwhile. While there has been some acknowledgement that investments result in positive returns, little is known about how ICT's may lead to competitive advantage. This thesis starts to inform this gap, by investigating how ICT's are combined with other organisational resources in the context of an exemplar organisation. The resource based view (RBV) is used as a framework to guide this study. The RBV is an appropriate lens to guide this research due to its focus on resources and capabilities as sources of advantage. This research employs an interpretive case study design based in an organisation with a long history of innovation and success with regard to ICT's. A grounded integrated model of advantage is presented based on two distinct groupings of integrated capabilities: lifecycle and embedded foundational capabilities. The integrated model of advantage, along with key actions outlined to support such capabilities, provides researchers and practitioners with a new way of understanding ICT based advantages. In essence, this research demonstrates how the total ownership of ICT's, within the case studied, presents a potential advantage. The advantage is realised through the combination of capabilities and the inclusive approach to ICT development employed in the case organisation. The research finds support from propositions of the RBV, in that the model demonstrates sources of advantage are based on organisational capabilities which are valuable, firm specific, and socially complex. As such, the integration of capabilities evident in the integrated model of advantage is a likely source of sustained competitive advantage. This means advantages gained from the integration of capabilities are not easily imitated or competed away. Furthermore, advantages have an even greater potential to be a source of sustained advantage than any single resource or capability. The research has important implications for theory and practice. While many individual sources of advantage have been empirically examined, this research provides one of the first in-depth case studies which identify integrated capabilities. Understanding such sources of advantage will help practitioners better understand and protect key organisational capabilities to sustain or extend competitive advantages.