Dynamic capabilities and knowledge management: an integrative role for learning?

Modern strategic management theories try to explain why firms differ, because new sources of competitive advantage are keenly sought in the dynamic and complex environment of global competition. Two areas in particular have attracted the attention of researchers: the role of dynamic capabilities, and the firm's abilities for knowledge management. In this paper, we argue that there is a link between these two concepts, which has not been fully articulated in the literature. The aim of the paper is therefore to ascertain the conceptual connection between them as a basis for future research. Our proposed framework acknowledges and critiques the distinct roots of each field, identifies boundaries, and proposes relationships between the constructs and firm performance

Responsible chain management: a capability assessment framework

In recent years, increased attention has been paid to issues of responsibility across the entire product lifecycle. Responsible behaviour of organizations in the product chain is dependent on the actions of other parties such as suppliers and customers. Only through co-operation and close interaction between the different parties involved is it possible to come to a specified form of responsible chain management. Drawing on stakeholder theory and literature on the resource-based view of the firm, this article presents a framework for assessing the organizational capabilities of responding to claims from internal and external parties. Interpretations of stakeholder interests, integration into business processes, monitoring these processes, and communication with stakeholders are the central processes in this framework. The application of this framework to three cases of responsible chain management illustrates the functioning of the framework as a tool for assessing organizational capabilities

Corporate Social Responsibility and Multiple Agency Theory: A case study of internal stakeholder engagement

[Abstract]: Employee engagement via Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) involves conflicts of interests among firms, employees and political institutions. We studied the international transfer of employees in an airline company as a case study of a CSR strategy based on human resource management. From a double approach of Multiple Agency Theory and Resource-Based perspective we found that, by increasing worker mobility costs, the European Union hindered the firm´s CSR strategy of employee engagement. This contrasts with the stated aim of the European Union to promote worker mobility

Splitting the pie: rent distribution in alliances and networks

This paper addresses the issue of how relational rents, generated through alliances, are distributed to the participating firms. We argue that rent distribution is influenced by factors affecting both jointly generated common benefits and private benefits gained from the alliance relationship. We draw on four perspectives to explain these various effects. The first three, namely the resource dependence perspective, related resources perspective, and structural holes perspective, essentially highlight the private ‘exploitation’ opportunities that a firm's alliance network presents the focal firm. In contrast, the resource development perspective underscores the private ‘exploration’ benefits a firm potentially derives from its alliance network. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58065/1/1391_ftp.pd

Research on the strategy of multinational enterprises: Key approaches and new avenues

Over decades, research on multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) strategies has been anchored in internalization theory. Strongly grounded in transaction cost economics to explain foreign market entry, it hardly explains how MNEs can build and sustain a competitive advantage. Thus, this paper aims at understanding how the nature of strategic thinking has influenced the research in the field of MNEs’ strategy. A content analysis of 1116 papers was conducted. The intellectual structure and dynamics of research to date are provided, without losing sight of the key foundations of strategy and strategic management. The links between human capital and knowledge are the factors on which to underpin the explanation of the MNEs’ strategies and support the coevolving theory. This theory is a promising avenue of research under the umbrella of RBV and KBV approaches. The context-dependency of strategy implies that different contexts require different approaches. Accordingly, we provide insights for future research by combining main schools of strategy though

Competitive Groups as Cognitive Communities: The Case of Scottish Knitwear Manufacturers Revisited

In this paper we reflect on the contribution of our 1989 article ‘Competitive Groups as Cognitive Communities: The Case of Scottish Knitwear Manufacturers’. We begin by recalling our backgrounds and motivations as collaborators on the project, and then discuss recent developments in the Scottish Borders knitwear industry. Noting that the industry has suffered continual decline in the twenty years since we published our paper, we suggest that the case still raises issues that remain open questions in the field despite the significant efforts by management researchers in recent years to understand the sources of industrial decline and revitalization. We outline what we feel are gaps in the existing literature and then end with the suggestion that these gaps are likely to be addressed only through multidisciplinary research that integrates resource, power, and cognitive theories of industrial dynamics

The Role of Organizational Competences in the Evolution of Business Models

International audienceThis paper presents the use of a conceptual framework designed for the management of organizational competences to contribute to the evolution of the business model of an enterprise. The framework, developed based on a detailed review of the history of the car manufacturer Toyota, was used for a Delphi study and an action-research applied in the furniture industry. The results suggest that it is applicable for ex-post analysis of organizational changes, as well as a strategy planning tool

Human Resources and the Resource Based View of the Firm

The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm has influenced the field of strategic human resource management (SHRM) in a number of ways. This paper explores the impact of the RBV on the theoretical and empirical development of SHRM. It explores how the fields of strategy and SHRM are beginning to converge around a number of issues, and proposes a number of implications of this convergence

Universal Rights and Wrongs

This paper argues for the important role of customers as a source of competitive advantage and firm growth, an issue which has been largely neglected in the resource-based view of the firm. It conceptualizes Penrose’s (1959) notion of an ‘inside track’ and illustrates how in-depth knowledge about established customers combines with joint problem-solving activities and the rapid assimilation of new and previously unexploited skills and resources. It is suggested that the inside track represents a distinct and perhaps underestimated way of generating rents and securing long-term growth. This also implies that the sources of sustainable competitive advantage in important respects can be sought in idiosyncratic interfirm relationships rather than within the firm itself