Search results

The aim of this paper is to deconstruct the organizational capability of ambidexterity into a typology of hierarchical dimensions that includes each type’s enabling mechanisms and capabilities.

This work reviews and integrates extant literature on ambidexterity and the hierarchy of capabilities to distinguish dimensions of ambidexterity and link each type to capabilities identified in prior research.

A hierarchy involving zero-, first- and second-order ambidexterity is developed. Mechanisms and capabilities for creating and sustaining each type of ambidexterity are described.

As only an initial and conceptual foray toward the purpose stated above, this research does not attempt to argue a comprehensive theoretical framework. Nor does it intend to extend or propose new theory regarding the origins of ambidexterity capabilities or the specific causal relationships between them.

Although prior literature emphasizes approaches for achieving and maintaining ambidexterity, these generally refer to what is described here as zero-order ambidexterity. The hierarchical and holistic system view offered in this research suggests greater importance for second-order ambidexterity and capabilities of top managers for exercising cognitive, behavioral and process leadership complexity.

Recent literature on ambidexterity begins to suggest varied types or levels of ambidexterity. No known work, however, has expressly deconstructed ambidexterity into component dimensions via the hierarchy of capabilities framework.

During disturbances and unprecedented events, firms are required to be resilient to confront crises, recover from losses, and even capitalize on new opportunities. The aim of this paper is twofold: (1) to examine how different types of capabilities (routine, dynamic or ad hoc) steer an entrepreneurial firm into ecological, engineering and evolutionary resilience and (2) to identify strategic activities that are deployed by firms with different capabilities to achieve resilience.

Data were gathered using structured qualitative interviews with 26 entrepreneurial resilient firms that managed to survive a multitude of coinciding crises.

The findings show that each type of capability enhances the ability to achieve a specific resilience outcome: ad hoc capability for partial engineering resilience, routine capability for ecological resilience and dynamic capability for evolutionary resilience. Furthermore, ad hoc capabilities are shown to be favored when firms' losses are severe. In contrast, routine and dynamic capabilities are preferred when losses are mild. The most significant capability deployment activities related to building resilience are corporate strategic changes, global export strategy, cost reduction, stakeholder support, positive mindset, fund raising, network building, product development, efficiency improvement and restructuring. These activities are segregated based on capability and resilience types.

Practitioners are encouraged to cast off limiting assumptions and beliefs that firms are conditioned to fail when faced with unprecedented crises. This study provides an integrative portfolio of capabilities and activities as a toolbox that can be used by different entrepreneurs and policy makers to achieve resilience and better performance.

The paper undertakes a first of its kind empirical examination of the association between capabilities and resilience. The context is unique as it involves a multitude of coinciding crises including Covid-19 pandemic, city explosion, economic collapse, political instability and a severe banking crisis.

The purpose of this paper is to stimulate, shape and extend current discourse on the relevance of dynamic capabilities on firm competitiveness.

The authors delineate current debates on dynamic capabilities and synthesize them to develop some propositions and a heuristic framework to guide future research on dynamic capabilities as a strategic management construct.

The theoretical and methodological complexities involved in mapping the routines and processes’ underpinning dynamic capabilities has led to conceptual discrepancies, which in turn impede the understanding of the relevance and contribution of dynamic capabilities to competitiveness. Measuring dynamic capabilities remains the biggest barrier to progress in developing directions for theory and research in this area.

Stimulating and shaping the current discourse on the relevance of dynamic capabilities on competitiveness, the proposed integrated framework as a heuristic device can be to gauge the a firm’s dynamic capabilities vis-à-vis their competitors.

The authors propose a framework built around the inter-relationships of capabilities and hierarchies of capabilities to extend the understanding of how dynamic capabilities can be developed relative to a firm’s ability and embedded context.

Leveraging theory from the dynamic capability literature, this study aims to explore how information technology (IT) capability influences firm agility and subsequently translates into firm performance.

This study examines the proposed relationships by using survey data from a sample of 296 Chinese retail firms. Structural equation modeling is used to test this study’s hypotheses.

The following results are produced: the direct effect of IT capability on firm agility is confirmed; firm agility has a direct impact on firm performance; and the indirect effect of IT capability on firm performance via firm agility is demonstrated (i.e. partial mediation).

The catastrophic outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the importance of firm agility more than ever. Although the traumatic event is painful, however, there is nothing like a crisis to offer a tremendous business opportunity. In response to the pandemic circumstance, firms are required to operate their business by reacting to unpredictable and dynamic market changes quickly and efficiently. This study sheds light on why firms should develop their IT capability and how it affects firm performance via firm agility during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Enterprise, Strategy

This case study documents the history of e-commerce adoption and usage in a fabric and garment manufacturing firm operating in an African country. Lessons drawn from the case could be applied to understanding the achievement of e-commerce benefits through the complex interrelationships between firm-level, national and global resources.

The case study presents a summary of e-commerce capabilities in the firm, the key resources developed and actions taken to deploy e-commerce capabilities and the notable benefits obtained through these e-commerce capabilities. The study shows that, first, the ability to access information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure matters in developing countries, but managerial capabilities matter more. Managerial capabilities enable firms to find external resources (both in-country and globally) to substitute for internal resource deficiencies. Second, intangible social resources – trust, reputation and credibility – play a critical role in determining whether the e-commerce strategies of firms are successful or not.

An understanding of how managerial capabilities influence the creation of e-commerce capabilities and the achievement of e-commerce benefits, especially in an African or Ghanaian context. Learners can also draw lessons that could be applicable to understanding how a firm's strategic orientation, resource portfolio and the nature of its target market differentiate the extent of integration or adoption and usage of e-commerce in the firm.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Market orientation (MO) has been shown to provide a valuable resource-based advantage in domestic markets. How internationalizing firms from emerging markets can benefit from this capability is more complex while facing institutional distance. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a theory to suggest that although MO capabilities can enhance export performance, the structure where they are deployed, namely the export channel a firm uses and the market in terms of institutional distance from home, can affect the benefits derived from MO.

With a sample of Chinese exporters and data collected via questionnaire survey, this research uses a multiple regression model to test the hypotheses.

It finds that firms with stronger MO capabilities can improve export performance by using hierarchical channels and by exporting to more institutionally distant markets where MO provides greater value.

This research claims to make several important contributions to the literature by providing a better understanding of how firms can successfully deploy MO capabilities when exporting.

This study examines whether managerial capability fit between line managers, middle managers and top-level managers enhances effectiveness.

Effectiveness data and managerial capability ratings from more than 1,600 manager–supervisor dyads were collected in the United States and Germany. Polynomial regression was used to study the relation between manager–supervisor fit and managerial effectiveness.

Our results indicate that the fit of managerial capabilities between a manager and his/her supervisor predicts the effectiveness of this manager. The most effective managers show particularly high managerial capabilities that are in line with predominantly high managerial capabilities of their supervisors. Two aspects are important: the manager–supervisor fit and the absolute capability level that both possess. The results further indicate that the importance of the manager–supervisor fit varies across lower, middle and top-level management dyads.

This study contributes by advancing research on managerial capability fit conditions between managers and their supervisors as a central element in viewing and managing effectiveness.

This article informs managers, supervisors and HR professionals about pitfalls in organizations that degrade effectiveness.

This article shows how the alignment between managers and their supervisors relates to effectiveness in a large-scale study across different hierarchical levels.

This study establishes a set of seafood processing circular supply chain capabilities (CSCCs) in Vietnam using qualitative data analytics. This study specifies the interrelationships and hierarchical structure comprising six aspects and 24 criteria for the seafood processing circular supply chain in Vietnam.

Fuzzy Delphi method is used to confirm the validity. Fuzzy set theory is used to deal with the complexity and uncertainties from the qualitative information. The decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method is used to examine the interrelationships among attributes. The analytical network process segregates (or displays) the capabilities in a hierarchical structure.

The results show that management control and technological capability dominate in circular design, circular sourcing, circular production and resource recovery. In practices, the strategic planning, action planning, information technology and technological facilities are important to seafood processing industry.

The CSCCs are pivotal in establishing a concrete foundation for the execution of circular supply chain management, with the aim of optimizing resource utilization and eliminating waste; however, prior studies have lacked a focus on the capability associated interrelationships and hierarchical structure in qualitative data analytics.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the relative importance of task, relations, and change capabilities of managers at low, middle, and top hierarchical levels.

Data were gathered from performance reviews and evaluations from human resources personnel for 2,307 managers in one large company in a high-tech industry. Separate regressions for each management level were performed with standardized regression coefficients allowing comparisons across the different regressions.

Significant differences were observed in the effectiveness of managers using task, relations, and change capabilities. At top management, change-oriented capabilities become 2 to 3 times more important than at the lowest level. Task-oriented capabilities become significantly less important at the top level. Relations-oriented capabilities are important at all levels.

Studies with participants from multiple industries and longitudinal studies could benefit research by further validating the findings and offering new insights on other situational factors, which change over time.

Managers, who have been successful in lower and middle positions, may not necessarily be effective top managers.

Few studies have explored differences in managerial capabilities at different hierarchical levels in organizations. The study offers a clear rationale to consider when conducting any analysis of different levels of management by practitioners or researchers.

This study aims to investigate the dynamic capabilities of Indonesia’s local government internal auditors (LGIAs). LGIAs are the functional civil apparatus that is responsible for the main task of auditing local governments at the provincial, regency and municipal levels. Meanwhile, the LGIAs are also a spearhead in identifying and analysing errors, irregularities and fraudulent actions in the finance and development of local government.

The exploratory case study methodology was used, gathering insights from 18 individuals through interviews. In addition, the authors use a critical perspective of the LGIAs’ behaviours in enhancing their capabilities in compliance with the regulations. Moreover, the authors discuss the low motivation of LGIAs in terms of achievement in knowledge acquisition, a mechanistic curriculum creating a climate of low spirit, mental models in rooted ordinariness and behavioural anxiety in hierarchical systems of expertise.

This paper infers that the LGIAs reflect inertia in terms of capabilities because its curriculum, environment and organisation have pervasively changed the culture of the work environment. Consequently, although immorally convenient and practical, the LGIAs work with professional discipline and expedient behaviours. In addition, the LGIAs behave performativity, presenting task performances with undynamic capabilities. Lastly, these behaviours imply the need to enhance the LGIAs’ dynamic capabilities by structuring local governments’ adaptive environment. Hence, this adaptive environment, in turn, could facilitate LGIAs’ further being in high spirits in enhancing knowledge-based expertise.

This study firstly implies that the research findings indicate the need for environmental-, organisational- and curriculum-made transformations to change the capabilities and competencies of LGIAs in the future, facilitating them to increase assimilation-learning abilities. Furthermore, the research shows that mental models dominate LGIAs, resulting in low spirits and reluctance to develop their dynamic capabilities. The paper recommends creating a work culture where anxiety is not dominant and changing the flexibility of the professional structure for LGIAs so that they can be promoted from functional to structural officers.

LGIAs work in a cultural environment that is always structured to fulfil what the regulations require. So, this study’s first novelty is that it underlines the ordinary job practices of LGIAs and the low incentives to enhance their dynamic capabilities. Secondly, it is highlighted that the institution’s auspices do not facilitate LGIAs to advance their dynamic capabilities because of the static competency-based development curriculum. Thirdly, the research shows that the LGIAs are a civil apparatus whose employment system in Indonesia implies a no-dismissal culture and halo effect in measuring performance.