| The purpose of this dissertation was to identify and assess what senior management actions (interventions, behaviors) facilitated the creation and implementation of dynamic capabilities (timely, purposeful change) within organizations. Dynamic capabilities (DCs), for this dissertation, were defined as the abilities of firms to systematically solve problems, formed by sensing opportunities and threats in order to make timely and market-oriented decisions, and to change their resource base (Barreto, 2010). Prior research suggested that organizations that created DCs were better positioned to adapt to changes in the marketplace and create and sustain competitive advantages than those firms that did not. While dynamic capabilities were extensively explored in the scholarly literature, the scholarship was scant on how DCs were created, from the senior manager point of view. This dissertation aimed to show what interventions and techniques senior managers had used to help their organizations develop dynamic capabilities in order to better adapt to change. Using a systematic review of the literature and applying thematic synthesis, this dissertation identified and analyzed a final set of 67 scholarly studies which revealed that senior managers devoted a significant amount of management focus on sensing (and sensemaking), repetitively reviewing the firm's existing resource base and capabilities, and then optimizing (or balancing) strategic initiatives with tactical initiatives. In order to provide additional clarity to the specific activities where senior managers played a role, secondary behaviors, such as firm boundary reframing and alliance building, were also presented and evaluated. |
