Corporate Dynamic Capabilities Of Evolutionary Theory And Empirical Research

With rapidly developing technological innovation typified by digitalization, deepening globalization, more and more government deregulation, and blurring industry boundaries, a dynamic and changeable competitive environment is emerging. Under this circumstance, firms have to speed up decision-making, learning and innovation in order to achieve survival and prosperity. They face more frequent environmental discontinuities, shorten industry and product life cycle, and accelerating pace of the newness and obsolescence of knowledge. More and more evidences show that today the rate of the newness and obsolescence of organizations is becoming more and more quick and extensive and that firms are more likely to fall into competency traps. That is to say, core competencies are more likely to become core rigidities. Then, dynamic capabilities, the ability to integrate, build and reconfigure internal and external competences to address rapidly changing environments, are becoming the new competitive edge to acquire sustainable competitive advantage.Though dynamic capabilities theory has received more and more attention in the strategy management scholarship and practice since the 1990s and new research results has been emerging, there are some critical theoretic questions remaining unanswered in this pioneering strategy management research domain because of a short history. Within it, how dynamic capabilities emerge and evolve is a bottleneck and lacks systematic analysis. Therefore, Study of this fundamental question has great theoretic and practical implications.To uncover the black box of the evolution of dynamic capabilities, this paper adopt the research logic as follows: capabilities, knowledge and resources →dynamic capabilities →evolution→overall framework of the evolution of dynamic capabilities →three concrete dimensions of the evolution of dynamic capabilities →case and empirical study. Firstly, Literature on business strategy theory, competency theory, and dynamic capabilities theory is reviewed and commented. The evolvement and future development direction of business strategy research is clarified and theshortcomings of strategy research so far are put forward. Based on it, the critical questions and research methodology is pointed out. Secondly, the concepts of capabilities, knowledge, resource, and dynamic capabilities are clearly defined. It is argued that capability is the conflicting ens of static and dynamic capabilities in essence. In order to examine capability comprehensively, it is necessary not only to consider the cross-sectional structure, but also to take the longitudinal change in consideration. Thirdly, with reference to organizational evolution research, an organic three-dimensional "what-where-how" analytical framework is developed. Then, the three dimensions are discussed in detail. From an angle of knowledge and learning, the content, affecting factors and modulating mechanisms of the evolution of dynamic capabilities is studies. The conclusion that the evolution of dynamic capabilities is the evolution of knowledge chain composed of internal awareness, external awareness, internal response and external response is drawn. From the perspective of co-evolution, the context of the evolution of dynamic capabilities is discussed and the role of environments, high managers, middle managers and frontline managers played in the driving processes is clarified clearly. On the "how" dimension, a punctuated equilibrium stage model is put forward, the inevitable paradox between exploration and exploitation is revealed, and an all-inclusive paradox resolve solution is forward. Lastly, three different cases are examined and analyzed to combine theory and practice. In this way, the three-dimensional model of the evolution of dynamic capabilities and related ideas are verified and improved.In all, the operating mechanism of the evolution of dynamic capabilities is revealed comprehensively from many perspectives and dimensions. It provides beneficial theoretic frameworks for firms' promoting dynamic capabilities to develop rapidly and steadily so as to drive corporate renewal and change.