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Once the operational benefits of Six Sigma are well-recognized in the literature, this research advances the strategic advantages of this initiative. Thus, this paper aims to analyze how dynamic capabilities (DCs) mediates the relationship between Six Sigma implementation and organizational flexibility, not discussed in the literature yet.

Data from 66 Six Sigma European firms are used for a structural equation modeling and additional tests –Baron and Kenny’s test and Preacher and Hayes’s test – to analyze the mediating role of DCs. Following the scholars’ recommendations, the authors have created a second-order factor explained by knowledge absorption, organizational learning and knowledge integration to measure DCs. Flexibility, understood as the capacity for organizational adaptation, is measured through its operational and strategic dimensions.

The results show a significant relationship between Six Sigma practices – team management and statistical metrics – and DCs. In addition, the authors find support for a significant relationship between DCs and the operational and strategic dimensions of flexibility. Finally, the results confirm that DCs act as a mediating variable in the relationship between Six Sigma practices and flexibility.

The study contributes to literature that supports the decision to implement Six Sigma. In particular, key Six Sigma practices are identified for those managers who wish to foster DCs generation and organizational flexibility inside their companies.

This research analyzes the relationship between Six Sigma and strategic variables, answering the call for research about Six Sigma influence on long-term organizational success.

The purpose of this paper is to adopt the dynamic capability (DC) view as a theoretical framework to empirically investigate the relationships among human resource (HR)-related quality management (QM) practices: new product development (NPD) as a specific DC, learning orientation, knowledge integration, and strategic flexibility. Learning orientation and knowledge integration represent two antecedents of strategic flexibility, and strategic flexibility is the developed ability that facilitates NPD.

To empirically test the relationships, the authors used data from 236 European firms and performed structural equation modeling.

Results indicate that HR-related QM practices contribute to creating a learning-oriented company, integrating knowledge, and supporting successful NPD. Furthermore, knowledge integration is positively related to NPD through strategic flexibility.

This study is relevant for practitioners because it identifies key points in QM implementation that enable firms to be more strategically flexible and thus better able to regularly develop new products.

When organizations must sustain their competitive positions by continuously adapting to environmental changes, it is important to study not only how QM implementation is positively related to the firm performance on which a significant portion of the QM literature has focused but also to study whether QM implementation is related to strategic variables and can make a contribution to strategic processes. To fill the void in the HR and QM literature, this study offers an integrated framework with empirical support that identifies the role of HR-related QM practices in learning orientation, knowledge integration, strategic flexibility, and NPD.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the outcomes and role of dynamic capabilities (DCs). To explain the outcomes, the authors study the relationship between new product development (NPD) (an example of DCs) and metaflexibility. To explain the role of DCs, the authors study how human resources and operating routines moderate the role of DCs in achieving adaptation in the firm.

Using data from 200 managers of Spanish firms, the authors apply regression analysis to test the moderating role of human resources and operating routines in the relationship between NPD and metaflexibility.

The results demonstrate that highly qualified and committed workers enhance the effectiveness of NPD, while high frequency in repetition of operating routines significantly damages such effectiveness.

This study is limited to analysing a unique DC (NPD), but future research could explore contributions on other consolidated DCs (e.g. alliance management capability) and compare results. Also, the database on managerial perceptions rather than objective measures.

Managers who must address environmental changes should connect generation of DCs to complementary functional strategies, especially human resources strategy.

This paper suggests additional outcomes derived from DCs, such as metaflexibility. It attempts to understand the complex process by which DCs interact to modify operating routines in order to respond to environmental changes.

The aim of this paper is to study empirically the influence of managerial perceptions of the environment on dynamic capabilities (DC) generation. It seeks to identify three dimensions of competitive environment (dynamism, complexity, and munificence) and then use the theoretical model developed by Zollo and Winter to explain DC creation.

The authors use data collected from 200 Spanish firms through a questionnaire to perform multiple and simple regression analyses that examine the relationship between managerial perceptions and DC generation.

It is found that managerial perception of munificence in the environment is related positively and significantly to the processes of DC creation; only when managers perceive the environment as highly dynamic and complex do they promote processes for developing DC.

The findings suggest that managerial cognition plays an important role in DC processes. Thus, managers should evaluate their mental models and value systems to determine whether they provide an accurate understanding of the environment.

The understanding of DC must be developed though empirical papers, as unresolved theoretical inconsistencies create many challenges in this area. The proliferation of theoretical papers has produced a disconnected body of research.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether the influence of manufacturing flexibility on firms’ exploration/exploitation differs between firms that possess Certified Quality Management Systems (CQMS) and firms that do not.

The authors analyze a sample of 231 Spanish manufacturing firms, 131 of which had received some form of Quality Certification. The data were collected through a structured telephone questionnaire addressed to company CEOs. The relationships are modelled using regression equations, including interaction terms, in order to test for the existence of a moderating effect.

The results show that certified companies exploit their own abilities, whereas uncertified firms tend to explore new knowledge. The authors also justify the importance of manufacturing flexibility for both options, exploration and exploitation.

The limitations of this research include the fact that the authors study a variety of forms of certification, not only ISO, and the fact that all companies belong to the same country.

This study contributes to developing empirical knowledge of the benefits of CQMS in the firm.

The paper develops a new model to improve manufacturing flexibility and Quality Management.

The purpose of this study is to explore the dynamic capabilities required of information technology (IT) entrepreneurs for facing globalized challenges.

Using a methodological approach that combines Q‐technique and questionnaire survey, the author collected 98 statements obtained from interviewing ten IT entrepreneurs. A total of 44 out of 98 critical statements were extracted as Q‐samples based on purposive sampling. Subsequently, 20 experts used Q‐technique in terms of the sample the 44 statements to generate a revised questionnaire to investigate 500 Taiwan IT‐based companies.

According to the responses of the 281 valid copies of questionnaire received, market‐oriented sensitivity, the ability to absorb knowledge, social‐networking capability, and the integrative ability to communicate and negotiate are the dynamic capabilities required of IT entrepreneurs.

As for the restrictions, the expansive nature of the IT industry prevented the author from addressing any specific sector of the industry, and no minimum capitalisation of IT companies was set for the sample‐collecting process.

The results can be used by IT entrepreneurs of SMEs in the self‐assessment of capabilities and the development of dynamic capabilities during their start‐up and growth phases. They can also be applied to nurturing successors and cultivating new entrepreneurs.

This study clarifies the intrinsic dynamic capabilities of IT entrepreneurs, and identifies the required components of such capabilities and their priorities. The results can be used in managerial decision‐making and personnel training, both of which help entrepreneurs in building competitive advantages.