Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:22:28.332Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Integrating the content and process of capability development: Lessons from theoretical and methodological developments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2017

Alireza J. Kashan  and
Kavoos Mohannak
Alireza J. Kashan
Affiliation:
School of Management, QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Kavoos Mohannak*
Affiliation:
School of Management, QUT Business School, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
*
Corresponding author: k.mohannak@qut.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The literature on capability development has focussed on either the content or process of capability development. Such a partial explanation of the capability development phenomenon has created some flaws in the literature. This paper argues that integrating the content and process of capability development is the way ahead in theorising in this field. Analysis of the methodological development in parallel to theory development reveals the critical role of microprocesses in such integration. To develop an integrative view of capability development we propose a conceptualisation of capability development processes through internal and external strategic fit and emphasise the role of knowledge and innovation processes. We also argue that a critical realism approach is of high relevance to researching such an integrative view.

Keywords

capabilities and capability developmentdynamic capability viewambidexteritystrategic knowledge capabilities
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 25 , Issue 5 , September 2019 , pp. 748 - 763
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambrosini, V., & Bowman, C. (2009). What are dynamic capabilities and are they a useful construct in strategic management? International Journal of Management Reviews, 11(1), 29–49.Google Scholar
Anderson, C. R., & Zeithaml, C. P. (1984). Stage of the product life cycle, business strategy, and business performance. Academy of Management Journal, 27(1), 5–24.Google Scholar
Armstrong, C. E., & Shimizu, K. (2007). A review of approaches to empirical research on the resource-based view of the firm. Journal of Management, 33(6), 959–986.Google Scholar
Backmann, J., Hoegl, M., & Cordery, J. L. (2015). Soaking it up: Absorptive capacity in interorganizational new product development teams. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32(6), 861–877.Google Scholar
Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99–120.Google Scholar
Barney, J., Wright, M., & Ketchen, D. J. (2001). The resource-based view of the firm: Ten years after 1991. Journal of Management, 27(6), 625–641.Google Scholar
Barney, J. B. (1986). Strategic factor markets: Expectations, luck, and business strategy. Management Science, 32(10), 1231–1241.Google Scholar
Bauer, F., & Matzler, K. (2014). Antecedents of M&A success: The role of strategic complementarity, cultural fit, and degree and speed of integration. Strategic Management Journal, 35(2), 269–291.Google Scholar
Bechor, T., Neumann, S., Zviran, M., & Glezer, C. (2010). A contingency model for estimating success of strategic information systems planning. Information & Management, 47(1), 17–29.Google Scholar
Boland, R. J. Jr., & Tenkasi, R. V. (1995). Perspective making and perspective taking in communities of knowing. Organization Science, 6(4), 350–372.Google Scholar
Brown, S. L., & Eisenhardt, K. M. (1997). The art of continuous change: Linking complexity theory and time-paced evolution in relentlessly shifting organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42(1), 1–34.Google Scholar
Carmeli, A., Gelbard, R., & Gefen, D. (2010). The importance of innovation leadership in cultivating strategic fit and enhancing firm performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 21(3), 339–349.Google Scholar
Chakravarthy, B. S., & Doz, Y. (1992). Strategy process research: Focusing on corporate self‐renewal. Strategic Management Journal, 13(S1), 5–14.Google Scholar
Chandler, A. D. (1962). Strategy and structure: Chapters in the history of the American enterprise. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Google Scholar
Chen, D.-N., & Liang, T.-P. (2011). Knowledge evolution strategies and organizational performance: A strategic fit analysis. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 10(1), 75–84.Google Scholar
Cockburn, I., Henderson, R., & Stern, S. (2000). Untangling the origins of competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 21, 1123–1145.Google Scholar
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Crotty, M. (1998). The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Danneels, E. (2002). The dynamics of product innovation and firm competences. Strategic Management Journal, 23(12), 1095–1121.Google Scholar
Danneels, E. (2008). Organizational antecedents of second‐order competences. Strategic Management Journal, 29(5), 519–543.Google Scholar
Dess, G. G., Lumpkin, G. T., & Covin, J. G. (1997). Entrepreneurial strategy making and firm performance: Tests of contingency and configurational models. Strategic Management Journal, 18(9), 677–695.Google Scholar
Dierickx, I., & Cool, K. (1989). Asset stock accumulation and sustainability of competitive advantage. Management Science, 35(12), 1504–1511.Google Scholar
Donaldson, L. (1995). American anti-management theories of organization: A critique of paradigm proliferation (Vol. 25) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dosi, G., Nelson, R. R., & Winter, S. G. (2000). Introduction: The nature and dynamics of organizational capabilities. In Dosi, G., Nelson, R. R., & Winter, S. G. (Eds.), The nature and dynamics of organizational capabilities (p. 24). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Eden, C., & Ackermann, F. (2013). Making strategy: The journey of strategic management. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Edmondson, A. C., & McManus, S. E. (2007). Methodological fit in management field research. Academy of Management Review, 32(4), 1246–1264.Google Scholar
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Martin, J. A. (2000). Dynamic capabilities: What are they? Strategic Management Journal, 21(10–11), 1105–1121.Google Scholar
Eisenhardt, K. M., & Santos, F. M. (2002). Knowledge-based view: A new theory of strategy. In Pettigrew, A., Thomas, H., & Whittington, R. (Eds.), Handbook of strategy and management (pp. 139–164). London: Sage.Google Scholar
Floyd, S. W., & Lane, P. J. (2000). Strategizing throughout the organization: Managing role conflict in strategic renewal. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 154–177.Google Scholar
Fry, L. W., & Smith, D. A. (1987). Congruence, contingency, and theory building. Academy of Management Review, 12(1), 117–132.Google Scholar
Gabrielsson, P., Gabrielsson, M., & Seppälä, T. (2012). Marketing strategies for foreign expansion of companies originating in small and open economies: The consequences of strategic fit and performance. Journal of International Marketing, 20(2), 25–48.Google Scholar
Galvin, P., Rice, J., & Liao, T. (2014). Applying a Darwinian model to the dynamic capabilities view: Insights and issues. Journal of Management and Organization, 20(2), 250–263.Google Scholar
Gardner, H. K., Gino, F., & Staats, B. R. (2012). Dynamically integrating knowledge in teams: Transforming resources into performance. Academy of Management Journal, 55(4), 998–1022.Google Scholar
Godfrey, P. C., & Hill, C. W. (1995). The problem of unobservables in strategic management research. Strategic Management Journal, 16(7), 519–533.Google Scholar
Grant, R. M. (1996). Prospering in dynamically-competitive environments: Organizational capability as knowledge integration. Organization Science, 7(4), 375–387.Google Scholar
Hall, P. A. (2006). Systematic process analysis: When and how to use it. European Management Review, 3(1), 24–31.Google Scholar
Harmancioglu, N., Droge, C., & Calantone, R. J. (2009). Strategic fit to resources versus NPD execution proficiencies: What are their roles in determining success? Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 37(3), 266–282.Google Scholar
Helfat, C. E., & Peteraf, M. A. (2003). The dynamic resource‐based view: Capability lifecycles. Strategic Management Journal, 24(10), 997–1010.Google Scholar
Helfat, C. E., & Peteraf, M. A. (2015). Managerial cognitive capabilities and the microfoundations of dynamic capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 36(6), 831–850.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. C., & Venkatraman, N. (1993). Strategic alignment: Leveraging information technology for transforming organizations. IBM Systems Journal, 32(1), 4–16.Google Scholar
Hendry, J. (2000). Strategic decision making, discourse, and strategy as social practice. Journal of Management Studies, 37(7), 955–978.Google Scholar
Hofer, C. W. (1975). Toward a contingency theory of business strategy. Academy of Management Journal, 18(4), 784–810.Google Scholar
Hong, P., Doll, W. J., Revilla, E., & Nahm, A. Y. (2011). Knowledge sharing and strategic fit in integrated product development projects: An empirical study. International Journal of Production Economics, 132(2), 186–196.Google Scholar
Hoque, Z. (2004). A contingency model of the association between strategy, environmental uncertainty and performance measurement: Impact on organizational performance. International Business Review, 13(4), 485–502.Google Scholar
Houghton, J. D., & Yoho, S. K. (2005). Toward a contingency model of leadership and psychological empowerment: When should self-leadership be encouraged? Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 11(4), 65–83.Google Scholar
Hsieh, Y. H., & Chen, H. M. (2011). Strategic fit among business competitive strategy, human resource strategy, and reward system. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 10(2), 11–32.Google Scholar
Hung, S. Y., Lee, W. T., & Cheng, M. E. (2014). Understanding the relationship between knowledge integration capability and innovative capability: A knowledge-based view. International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 8(4), 419–437.Google Scholar
Jansen, J. J., Tempelaar, M. P., Van den Bosch, F. A., & Volberda, H. W. (2009). Structural differentiation and ambidexterity: The mediating role of integration mechanisms. Organization Science, 20(4), 797–811.Google Scholar
Jarzabkowski, P., Balogun, J., & Seidl, D. (2007). Strategizing: The challenges of a practice perspective. Human Relations, 60(1), 5–27.Google Scholar
Jarzabkowski, P., & Kaplan, S. (2015). Strategy tools‐in‐use: A framework for understanding ‘technologies of rationality’ in practice. Strategic Management Journal, 36(4), 537–558.Google Scholar
Jarzabkowski, P., Kaplan, S., Seidl, D., & Whittington, R. (2016). On the risk of studying practices in isolation: Linking what, who, and how in strategy research. Strategic Organization, 14, 248–259, 1476127015604125.Google Scholar
Jarzabkowski, P., Spee, A. P., & Smets, M. (2013). Material artifacts: Practices for doing strategy with ‘stuff’. European Management Journal, 31(1), 41–54.Google Scholar
Jauch, L. R., & Osborn, R. N. (1981). Toward an integrated theory of strategy. Academy of Management Review, 6(3), 491–498.Google Scholar
Jauch, L. R., Osborn, R. N., & Glueck, W. F. (1980). Short term financial success in large business organizations: The environment‐strategy connection. Strategic Management Journal, 1(1), 49–63.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. (1987). Strategic change and the management process. New Jersey: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Johnson, G. (2007). Strategy as practice: Research directions and resources. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, G., Melin, L., & Whittington, R. (2003). Guest editors’ introduction. Journal of Management Studies, 40(1), 3–22.Google Scholar
Kashan, A. J., & Mohannak, K. (2014). A conceptual analysis of strategic capability development within product innovation projects. Prometheus, 32, 1–20.Google Scholar
Kashan, A. J., & Mohannak, K. (2015). An empirical study of capability development within product innovation projects. Journal of Technology Management & Innovation, 10(1), 70–81.Google Scholar
Ketokivi, M., & Schroeder, R. (2004). Manufacturing practices, strategic fit and performance: A routine-based view. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 24(2), 171–191.Google Scholar
Klein, H. K., & Myers, M. D. (1999). A set of principles for conducting and evaluating interpretive field studies in information systems. MIS Quarterly, 23, 67–93.Google Scholar
LaBahn, D. W., & Krapfel, R. (2000). Early supplier involvement in customer new product development: A contingency model of component supplier intentions. Journal of Business Research, 47(3), 173–190.Google Scholar
Langley, A. (1999). Strategies for theorizing from process data. Academy of Management Review, 24(4), 691–710.Google Scholar
Lawrence, P. R., & Lorsch, J. W. (1967). Differentiation and integration in complex organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 12(1), 1–47.Google Scholar
Lee, T., & Chu, W. (2013). How entrepreneurial orientation, environmental dynamism, and resource rareness influence firm performance. Journal of Management and Organization, 19(2), 167–187.Google Scholar
Leonard‐Barton, D. (1992). Core capabilities and core rigidities: A paradox in managing new product development. Strategic Management Journal, 13(S1), 111–125.Google Scholar
Lewin, A. Y., Massini, S., & Peeters, C. (2011). Microfoundations of internal and external absorptive capacity routines. Organization Science, 22(1), 81–98.Google Scholar
Lin, C.-H., Tsai, F.-S., Tarn, D. D., & Hsu, S.-C. (2014). Strategic fit among knowledge attributes, knowledge management systems, and service positioning. Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 13, 272–280.Google Scholar
Lockett, A., & Thompson, S. (2001). The resource-based view and economics. Journal of Management, 27(6), 723–754.Google Scholar
Miles, R. E., Snow, C. C., Meyer, A. D., & Coleman, H. J. (1978). Organizational strategy, structure, and process. Academy of Management Review, 3(3), 546–562.Google Scholar
Mohr, L. B. (1982). Explaining organizational behavior (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Naesens, K., Gelders, L., & Pintelon, L. (2009). A swift response framework for measuring the strategic fit for a horizontal collaborative initiative. International Journal of Production Economics, 121(2), 550–561.Google Scholar
Newey, L. R., Verreynne, M., & Griffiths, A. (2012). The relationship between dynamic and operating capabilities as a stage-gate process: Insights from radical innovation. Journal of Management and Organization, 18(1), 123–140.Google Scholar
Nordqvist, M. (2012). Understanding strategy processes in family firms: Exploring the roles of actors and arenas. International Small Business Journal, 30(1), 24–40.Google Scholar
Olson, E. M., Slater, S. F., & Hult, G. T. M. (2005). The performance implications of fit among business strategy, marketing organization structure, and strategic behavior. Journal of Marketing, 69(3), 49–65.Google Scholar
O’Reilly, C. A., & Tushman, M. L. (2008). Ambidexterity as a dynamic capability: Resolving the innovator’s dilemma. Research in Organizational Behavior, 28, 185–206.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, A. M. (1985). Contextualist research and the study of organizational change processes. In Mumford, E., Hirschheim, R., Fitgerald, G., & Wood-Harper, T. (Eds.), Research methods in information systems (pp. 53–78). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, A. M. (1990). Longitudinal field research on change: Theory and practice. Organization Science, 1(3), 267–292.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, A. M. (1997). What is a processual analysis? Scandinavian Journal of Management, 13(4), 337–348.Google Scholar
Porter, M. E. (1980). Competitive strategy techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Porter, M. E. (1991). Towards a dynamic theory of strategy. Strategic Management Journal, 12(S2), 95–117.Google Scholar
Regnér, P. (1999). Strategy creation and change in complexity: Adaptive and creative learning dynamics in the firm (dissertation). Institute of International Business, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm.Google Scholar
Regnér, P. (2008). Strategy-as-practice and dynamic capabilities: Steps towards a dynamic view of strategy. Human Relations, 61(4), 565–588.Google Scholar
Rice, J., Liao, T., Martin, N., & Galvin, P. (2012). The role of strategic alliances in complementing firm capabilities. Journal of Management and Organization, 18(6), 858–869.Google Scholar
Rouleau, L. (2005). Micro‐practices of strategic sensemaking and sensegiving: How middle managers interpret and sell change every day. Journal of Management Studies, 42(7), 1413–1441.Google Scholar
Rouse, M. J., & Daellenbach, U. S. (1999). Rethinking research methods for the resource‐based perspective: Isolating sources of sustainable competitive advantage. Strategic Management Journal, 20(5), 487–494.Google Scholar
Saad, G. H., & Siha, S. (2000). Managing quality: Critical links and a contingency model. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 20(10), 1146–1164.Google Scholar
Sanchez, R., & Heene, A. (2004). The new strategic management: Organization, competition and competence. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Schendel, D. (1992). Introduction to the summer 1992 special issue on ‘strategy process research’. Strategic Management Journal, 13(S1), 1–4.Google Scholar
Schilke, O. (2014). On the contingent value of dynamic capabilities for competitive advantage: The nonlinear moderating effect of environmental dynamism. Strategic Management Journal, 35(2), 179–203.Google Scholar
Sha, D., Chen, P., & Chen, Y.-H. (2008). The strategic fit of supply chain integration in the TFT-LCD industry. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 13(5), 339–342.Google Scholar
Simsek, Z. (2009). Organizational ambidexterity: Towards a multilevel understanding. Journal of Management Studies, 46(4), 597–624.Google Scholar
Simsek, Z., Jansen, J. J., Minichilli, A., & Escriba‐Esteve, A. (2015). Strategic leadership and leaders in entrepreneurial contexts: A nexus for innovation and impact missed? Journal of Management Studies, 52(4), 463–478.Google Scholar
Sminia, H. (2009). Process research in strategy formation: Theory, methodology and relevance. International Journal of Management Reviews, 11(1), 97–125.Google Scholar
Spender, J. C. (1996). Making knowledge the basis of a dynamic theory of the firm. Strategic Management Journal, 17(S2), 45–62.Google Scholar
Teece, D. J., Pisano, G., & Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509–533.Google Scholar
Thomas, L., & Ambrosini, V. (2015). Materializing strategy: The role of comprehensiveness and management controls in strategy formation in volatile environments. British Journal of Management, 26(S1), S105–S124.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. (1967). Organizations in action: Social science bases of administrative theory. Classics in organization and management series. Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
Tortorella, S., Marotta, G., Cruciani, G., & De Angelis, F. (2015). Quantitative structure–property relationship modelling of ruthenium sensitizers for solar cells applications: Novel tools for designing promising candidates. RSC Advances, 5(30), 23865–23873.Google Scholar
Tripsas, M., & Gavetti, G. (2000). Capabilities, cognition, and inertia: Evidence from digital imaging. Strategic Management Journal, 21(10–11), 1147–1161.Google Scholar
Tsoukas, H., & Knudsen, C. (2002). The conduct of strategy research. Handbook of strategy and management, ed. by Andrew Pettigrew, Howard Thomas and Richard Whittington, London: Sage, pp. 411–435.Google Scholar
Vaara, E., & Whittington, R. (2012). Strategy-as-practice: Taking social practices seriously. The Academy of Management Annals, 6(1), 285–336.Google Scholar
Van de Ven, A. H., & Huber, G. P. (1990). Longitudinal field research methods for studying processes of organizational change. Organization Science, 1(3), 213–219.Google Scholar
Venkatraman, N., & Camillus, J. C. (1984). Exploring the concept of ‘fit’ in strategic management. Academy of Management Review, 9(3), 513–525.Google Scholar
Venkatraman, N., & Prescott, J. E. (1990). Environment‐strategy coalignment: An empirical test of its performance implications. Strategic Management Journal, 11(1), 1–23.Google Scholar
Vorhies, D. W., & Morgan, N. A. (2003). A configuration theory assessment of marketing organization fit with business strategy and its relationship with marketing performance. Journal of Marketing, 67(1), 100–115.Google Scholar
Weick, K. E. (1979). The social psychology of organizing (Topics in social psychology series). USA: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Whittington, R. (2006). Learning more from failure: Practice and process. Organization Studies, 27(12), 1903–1906.Google Scholar
Winter, S. G. (2003). Understanding dynamic capabilities. Strategic Management Journal, 24(10), 991–995.Google Scholar
Yin, R. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Zaefarian, G., Henneberg, S. C., & Naudé, P. (2013). Assessing the strategic fit between business strategies and business relationships in knowledge-intensive business services. Industrial Marketing Management, 42(2), 260–272.Google Scholar
Zajac, E. J., Kraatz, M. S., & Bresser, R. K. (2000). Modeling the dynamics of strategic fit: A normative approach to strategic change. Strategic Management Journal, 21(4), 429–453.Google Scholar
Zollo, M., & Winter, S. G. (2002). Deliberate learning and the evolution of dynamic capabilities. Organization Science, 13(3), 339–351.Google Scholar