This thesis sets out to explore the concept of dynamic capability which centers on the firm’s ability to sustain competitive advantage in dynamic environments. Drawing on a review of the literature, a framework of general factors conducive to a dynamic capability – absorptive capability, adaptive capability and innovative capability – is identified. Since the framework has not been explored empirically, this thesis takes the first step in this pursuit. The phenomenon is investigated in a case study comprised of three firms in the information and communication industry. Data is collected from interviews with representatives of the firms and from the last annual reports of the firms. Drawing on the analysis of the data, it is suggested that the specific operationalization of the factors should be refined. Nonetheless, the study suggests that the framework comprises a straightforward and efficient means of analysing a firm’s ability to sustain competitive advantage.

Cette thèse contribue aux débats concernant l’efficacité du microcrédit sur la pauvreté ainsi que sur les indicateurs à utiliser lors de ses études d’impact. Notre problématique se présente alors comme suit : Quels sont les rôles du microcrédit dans la gestion des risques afin de permettre aux populations rurales d’améliorer leur capabilité et d’être moins vulnérables ? Pour répondre à cette question, nous considérons que le microcrédit va ainsi bien au-delà d’un simple outil financier pour devenir une politique d’élargissement des opportunités et des moyens à la disposition des pauvres pour améliorer leurs « capabilités ». Notre travail de recherche propose d’examiner le lien entre le microcrédit et la pauvreté multidimensionnelle tout en intégrant à la fois les concepts de risques et de vulnérabilité. Dans cette perspective, les études d’impact du microcrédit devraient considérer la pauvreté non seulement comme insuffisance de revenus et de ressources matérielles, mais également comme le sentiment de vulnérabilité et d’insécurité. Nous analysons la relation entre la pauvreté et le microcrédit à partir de l’approche des capabilités de Sen, en utilisant quatre dimensions : les capabilités de sécurité, les capabilités de production, les capabilités humaines et financières. A partir des données de l’étude d’impact de l’organisme de microfinance « CECAM » à Madagascar, les résultats empiriques avec l’utilisation de l’Analyse Factorielle de Correspondance Multiple montrent que l’approche des capabilités met des aspects de la pauvreté et qui ne sont pas capturés par les méthodes basées uniquement sur les approches monétaires. La régression économétrique nous permet d’établir un lien direct entre le microcrédit et les capabilités. En effet, la principale variable d’intérêt Montant du microcrédit indique une amélioration du niveau de capabilité des ménages. Certaines variables de contrôle telles que le nombre d’année d’adhésion, le genre du chef de ménage et les chocs de production améliorent les capabilités tandis que d’autres variables de contrôle telles que le niveau d’instruction du chef de ménage et les dépenses liées aux chocs de la vie familiale affaiblissent les capabilités des ménages ruraux dans les hautes terres malgaches. / This thesis contributes to debates regarding the effectiveness of microcredit on poverty and on the indicators to be used in its impact assessments. Our problem is then presented as follows: What is the role of microcredit in risk management to enable rural people to improve their capability and be less vulnerable? To answer this question, we consider that microcredit goes well beyond a simple financial tool to become a policy of expanding the opportunities and resources available to the poor to improve their "capabilities". Our research proposes to examine the link between microcredit and multidimensional poverty while integrating both the concepts of risk and vulnerability. In this perspective, the impact of microcredit should not only consider poverty as insufficient income and material resources, but also like the feeling of vulnerability and insecurity. We analyze the relationship between poverty and microcredit by using Sen’s approach of capabilities. We mobilize for this study four dimensions of capabilities: security, production, human and financial. From the data of the impact of the microfinance organization "CECAM" in Madagascar, the empirical results with the use of Multiple Correspondence Factor Analysis shows that the capability approach highlights the some aspects of poverty which are not captured by methods based only on monetary approaches. Econometric regression allows us to establish a direct link between microcredit and capabilities. Indeed, the main variable of interest Amount of microcredit indicates an improved level of capability of households. Some control variables such as number of years of membership, gender of household head and shocks improve production capabilities while other control variables such as level of education of household head and expenditure impact of family life weaken the capabilities of rural households in the Malagasy highlands.

The ¡§Productivity Paradox¡¨ of information technology (IT) has attracted much attention of both managers and researchers of Information Economics, since its appearance in 1988. Many scholars had done numerous researches, with the outcomes coming in different directions. The inconsistence of their conclusions implied that the linear relationship between IT investment and business performance was not stable, let alone enabling managers to realize the reason why businesses couldn¡¦t benefit from investing in IT. The IT Capability view, which comes from the Resource-Based Theory, can succeed in revealing the chaotic relationship between IT investment and business performance. However, related research is not present yet. The integrated investigation of how the construct of IT Capability should be built and the underlying variables are lacking. Therefore, the goal of this article is to develop the constructs and their variables of IT Capability in regard to the Resource-Based Theory so that firms facing the challenge of exploiting IT can have a clear and concise guide. With the survey of more than one hundred IT managers, the analysis showed that IT Capability of a firm should include three dimensions: IT Infrastructure, Human-IT Resources and IT-Enable Intangibles. Ten constructs and thirty-five variables were identified. By formulating this significant intervening variable between IT investment and business performance, the research outcomes can be used in many areas of MIS.

Promotion features the functions of screening talents and rewarding employees and is very influential to an organization or a person¡¦s future development. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the factors considered in promoting subordinates, identify the constraints of superiors¡¦ decisions, and construct the process of how superiors make promotion decisions. In-depth interview was adopted in this study. The roles involved in a promotion case, including the superior, the subordinate to be promoted, and colleagues of the promoted subordinate were respectively interviewed to collect success factors considered from various perspectives. By purposive sampling, 30 people in 10 groups serving in general industries and non-profit organizations were interviewed. Through an analysis of the critical behavioral events, a total of 215 behavioral events were collected and the success factors of promotion were divided into 3 constructs and 7 concepts. The 3 constructs were professional performance (professional knowledge and performance appraisal), capabilities (work capability, work behavior, and interpersonal communication), and personality trait (personal traits and human capital). Employees equipped with these conditions could present better performance, form positive interactions and trust with superiors, and meet the requirement of promotion determined by superiors. However, affected by the imminence of filling up a vacancy and diversity of vacant positions, superiors would be subject to 4 types of decision constraints. Based on the conditions that employees acquired, interactive behaviors between subordinates and superiors, and types of decision constraints, a dynamic model of how superiors select subordinates for promotion was proposed.

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DOCTORATE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION / 甲第577号 / 261 p. / Hitotsubashi University(一橋大学)

Outsourcing has become a popular mode of developing information system (IS) in practice during the last two decades. Although efforts have been done about evaluating vendors¡¦ capabilities and product¡¦s quality so as to assure high success rate, empirical studies keep reporting that outsourcing is not as successful as expected. Therefore, research based on different perspectives is needed to provide other plausible answers. Draws on this issue, an emerging concept is adopted, called Service-Dominant Logic (S-D logic), which highlights the importance for clients to possess required capabilities in order to maximize the value co-created. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to comprehend and examine critical capabilities that an outsourcing client should possess, and hybrid research model, consisting both traditional and S-D logic was built to reflect our intention. Survey method was then used to test our hypotheses empirically. Data collected from 400 practitioners showed that client¡¦s capabilities have stronger impact on the outcomes variables than conventional variables, such as product quality and vendor¡¦s capabilities. This study contributes to literature by incorporating a new concept, S-D logic, into IS research and emphasizing the critical role of clients¡¦ capabilities.

The springboard perspective argues that emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) can overcome their latecomer disadvantages via aggressive and risk-taking capability-upgrading measures in developed economies. However, extant research is mainly designed to study cross-sectional data sets rather than longitudinal process research. Therefore, the former contributes little to explaining the evolution of EMNEs’ springboard strategy in a consideration of firm-specific capability-upgrading. Building on these main tenets and echoing scholars’ appeal for further research into EMNE’s capability-upgrading and qualitative process perspective, this thesis opens the way for two new avenues of research in the springboard literature: the initial springboard assumption, the springboard advantages of specific host locations – most notably small and open developed economies, and the relationship between different ownership structures and springboard strategy. By default of process research these avenues have been poorly explored. In order to address these avenues and further uncover the evolutionary motivations and processes of springboard behavior, this study uses Chinese multinational enterprise (CMNE) cases to investigate how they achieve firm-specific capability-upgrading through a process perspective.While CMNE strategies in large European markets such as Germany, the UK, and France have received considerable attention, there is a lack of in-depth research on the locational advantages of most notably small and open economies such as Belgium, the Netherlands or Luxemburg. Given the demand for the extension of the aforementioned springboard perspective and the specificity of the research object and setting, I follow a grounded approach as part of inductive research. Grounded theorizing is especially plausible in research contexts calling for theoretical elucidation grounded in the practitioners’ own experiences. This theory can provide a more complete and convincing argument through creative interpretation and systematic rigor. In this study, our major sources of data are collected by interviews. On the basis of a grounded analysis, five aggregate dimensions emerged which relate to the process of CMNE’ capability-upgrading through overseas investment: (I) Capability-upgrading intent, (II) Initial learning challenge, (III) Learning mechanism, (IV) Subsidiary bound evolution, (V) Capability evolution. Furthermore, we developed a three-phase model of springboard capability-upgrading starting from i) headquarter managers’ initial intent, ii) Subsidiary learning challenge, and iii) consequent renegotiation with headquarter managers with regard to the subsidiary’s capability-upgrading role. This result shows that the subsidiary mandates of CMNEs have evolved along with different stages of internationalization.This study makes two main contributions to the springboard literature. First, it challenges assumptions of the springboard perspective through a process perspective. Second, this study contributes to qualitative process research and proposes a grounded model of CMNE evolutionary springboard process based on a three-stage typology. It suggests that CMNEs’ learning through subsidiaries in small and open economies has extended the scope of the springboard perspective through insights into the evolutionary process. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Although organisational capabilities have been recognised as a key source of competitive advantage, the empirical understanding of marketing capability and its associated components is still relatively under-developed. There is little consistency in approaching what constitutes organisational marketing capability, proposed conceptual frameworks have not been empirically tested and little attention has been paid to how organisational marketing capabilities are developed over the longer term. The purpose of this study was to empirically test how proposed conceptual frameworks of marketing capabilities match real-life organisational marketing capabilities, explore which marketing resources act as inputs into marketing capability and how these resources are transformed into marketing capability. The following key questions were answered: what are components of marketing capability in real-life organisational contexts, what resources inputs does it incorporate and how are these resources transformed into capabilities? This study employed an innovative (in this theoretical context) multiple embedded case study design using multiple data sources to provide a rich and detailed understanding of marketing capability. The target population for the cases was any South African organisation marketing products and services to domestic consumers/ customers. Based on this definition, four company cases were identified, representing the two target groups (business to business and business to customer) as well as products and services. Data was derived from 22 in-depth interviews with multiple interviews conducted for each case, as well as documentation and archival records. This study contributes at the theoretical level by developing a framework of marketing capability and sub-capabilities, providing an enhanced understanding of the nature of marketing knowledge resources underpinning marketing capability and outlining the mechanisms that integrate marketing knowledge resources in the development of marketing capability and sub-capabilities. At practitioner level, the findings can contribute to enhancing effective marketing within organisations by providing a route to building stronger underlying marketing capabilities, which in turn will improve competitiveness. / Thesis (DBA)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / DBA / Unrestricted

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