AoM 2008 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP
The "Hows" of Dynamic Capabilities: Building a Process-Based Research Agenda
Sponsored by
BPS, OMT, MOC, RM
Research on dynamic capabilities has gained traction with strategy and organization scholars as a way of illuminating how firms modify their resource bases and operative capabilities to create new sources of competitive advantage (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000; Helfat and Peteraf, 2003; Teece, Pisano and Shuen, 1997). Much of the scholarship in this area has applied resource-based theoretical logic and examined how dynamic capabilities relate to organizational performance and competitive advantage. However, with an inherent focus on organizational change, the notion of dynamic capabilities invites close attention to the "process side" of organizational and strategy research. Recent conceptual work has taken such an approach, suggesting that organizational processes can be found in both the "development" and "deployment" of dynamic capabilities (Maritan and Peteraf, 2007).
This professional development workshop (PDW) seeks to take up this process side of dynamic capabilities research. As a point of entry into this endeavor, we suggest a number of broad research questions (see "Call for Proposals," below) that seek to unpack how firms develop and deploy their dynamic capabilities. Interactive roundtable discussions focused on these questions will be facilitated by Chris Bingham, Russ Coff, Steven Floyd, Yasemin Kor, Joe Mahoney, Cathy Maritan, Tom Moliterno, Jamal Shamsie, and Maurizio Zollo. A final group discussion and debrief will tie together the table-specific discussions and seek to establish a forward-looking research agenda. The PDW will take place between 2:00-4:00 pm on Friday August 8, 2008.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS:
To facilitate and organize the interactive round table discussions, we are soliciting proposals/abstracts for research on the following research questions. The proposal/abstract can be for either conceptual or empirical scholarship on one of these questions, and should discuss relevant conceptual ideas and develop preliminary thoughts on the topic. We are encouraging of early stage thinking.
1) How do cognitive, social, and/or political factors undermine or facilitate modification of resource and capability configurations?
2) How do firms balance exploration and exploitation in their dynamic capabilities?
3) How does the firm facilitate managerial learning and renewal, and how is this learning manifested in decisions to modify the firm's resource endowment and capabilities?
4) How do a firm's decision-makers make sense of the competitive environment and/or cooperative opportunities, and how does this sensemaking relate to subsequent decisions regarding the firm's capabilities and/or resource portfolio?
5) How does the firm recognize and evaluate technological innovations in the marketplace and factor them into capability development, acquisition, and/or integration?
6) How do scanning and learning processes function and feed input into key decisions about product development, (re)positioning, and elimination?
7) How does the firm adjust human resources practices and/or change allocations of human resources to effectively respond to environmental changes?
8) How does appropriability of rents generated by the firm's resource portfolio or capabilities impact a firm's tendency to modify and renew them?
9) How does a firm learn from internal and external performance feedback and factor such feedback into decisions to change the organization's capabilities and/or resource configurations?
10) How do a firm's stakeholder interactions drive modification of its resource configuration?
INSTRUCTIONS TO CONTRIBUTORS:
Please email your 1-2 pages, single-spaced proposal/abstract to
dc.process.pdw@gmail.com, attaching a Word or PDF file. Please clearly indicate which research question your abstract seeks to address.
Deadline for written proposals is July 1, 2008. Space is limited, so please submit early. Early submissions will be given early consideration. Notification of selected proposals will be made by email.
Organizers: Yasemin Kor & Tom Moliterno, University of South Carolina
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Thomas P. Moliterno
Moore School of Business
University of South Carolina
moliterno@moore.sc.edu**********************************************************