How Does a Technological Firm Develop Its Competitive Advantage? A Dynamic Capability Perspective

Dynamic capabilities have been widely discussed in the past decade but how the determinants of dynamic capabilities affect a firm's competitive advantage has not been fully explored. This paper develops a quantitative method to investigate how a firm's dynamic capabilities affect a firm's competitive advantage. This study examines the developed hypotheses through a questionnaire survey of 165 firms together with a number of interviews drawn from Taiwan's information and communication technology industry. The results suggest that three determinants of dynamic capabilities (i.e., path, process, and position) influence a technological firm's competitive advantage in different ways. Both position and process have direct positive impacts on firm competitive advantage while position also has a mediating effect on the relationship between process and firm competitive advantage. This paper closes with theoretical and practical implications.

[1]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  On the evaluation of structural equation models , 1988 .

[2]  C. Prahalad,et al.  Competing for the Future , 1994 .

[3]  M. Holbrook,et al.  The Chain of Effects from Brand Trust and Brand Affect to Brand Performance: The Role of Brand Loyalty , 2001 .

[4]  Niki Hynes,et al.  Corporate culture, strategic orientation, and business performance: new approaches to modeling complex relationships , 2009 .

[5]  Rolph E. Anderson,et al.  Multivariate Data Analysis (7th ed. , 2009 .

[6]  S. Zahra,et al.  Entrepreneurship and Dynamic Capabilities: A Review, Model and Research Agenda , 2006 .

[7]  J. R. Moore,et al.  The theory of the growth of the firm twenty-five years after , 1960 .

[8]  Margaret E. Slade,et al.  Competing models of firm profitability , 2004 .

[9]  Igor Filatotchev,et al.  Network positioning and R&D activity: A study of Italian groups , 2003 .

[10]  Lei-Yu Wu,et al.  Applicability of the resource-based and dynamic-capability views under environmental volatility , 2010 .

[11]  Mie Augier,et al.  Dynamic Capabilities and the Role of Managers in Business Strategy and Economic Performance , 2009, Organ. Sci..

[12]  Robert Jacobson,et al.  The “Austrian” School of Strategy , 1992 .

[13]  G. Dosi,et al.  Technological Paradigms and Trajectories , 2007 .

[14]  Karel Cool,et al.  Asset Stock Accumulation and the Sustainability of Competitive Advantage: Reply , 1989 .

[15]  Pier Paolo Saviotti,et al.  Coherence of the Knowledge Base and the Firm's Innovative Performance: Evidence from the U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry , 2005 .

[16]  Lei-Yu Wu,et al.  Entrepreneurial resources, dynamic capabilities and start-up performance of Taiwan's high-tech firms , 2007 .

[17]  Robert W. Rycroft,et al.  Does cooperation absorb complexity? Innovation networks and the speed and spread of complex technological innovation , 2007 .

[18]  D. Teece,et al.  The Dynamic Capabilities of Firms: an Introduction , 1994 .

[19]  Constance E. Helfat,et al.  Know-how and asset complementarity and dynamic capability accumulation : The case of R&D , 1997 .

[20]  D. Ravenscraft Structure-Profit Relationships at the Line of Business and Industry Level , 1983 .

[21]  I. Nonaka,et al.  The Knowledge Creating Company , 2008 .

[22]  S. Winter Understanding dynamic capabilities , 2003 .

[23]  J. Barney,et al.  Organizational Culture: Can It Be a Source of Sustained Competitive Advantage? , 1986 .

[24]  D. Teece Explicating dynamic capabilities: the nature and microfoundations of (sustainable) enterprise performance , 2007 .

[25]  P. Schoemaker,et al.  Strategic assets and organizational rent , 1993 .

[26]  David G. Sirmon,et al.  Managing Firm Resources in Dynamic Environments to Create Value: Looking Inside the Black Box , 2007 .

[27]  Marjorie A. Lyles,et al.  Dynamic Capabilities: Current Debates and Future Directions , 2009 .

[28]  Kathleen M. Eisenhardt,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES, WHAT ARE THEY? , 2000 .

[29]  David L. Deeds,et al.  The impact of stocks and flows of organizational knowledge on firm performance: an empirical investigation of the biotechnology industry , 1999 .

[30]  Kumiko Miyazaki Building Competences in the Firm , 1995 .

[31]  D. Teece ECONOMIES OF SCOPE AND THE SCOPE OF THE ENTERPRISE , 1980 .

[32]  David J. Teece,et al.  Towards an economic theory of the multiproduct firm , 1982 .

[33]  Linda F. Edelman,et al.  Co-alignment in the resource–performance relationship: strategy as mediator , 2005 .

[34]  Ulrich Lichtenthaler,et al.  The Drivers of Technology Licensing: An Industry Comparison , 2007 .

[35]  G. Dosi Technological Paradigms and Technological Trajectories: A Suggested Interpretation of the Determinants and Directions of Technical Change , 1982 .

[36]  P. Fan Catching up through developing innovation capability: evidence from China's telecom-equipment industry , 2006 .

[37]  D. Denison,et al.  Corporate Culture and Organizational Effectiveness. , 1991 .

[38]  C. Prahalad,et al.  The Core Competence of the Corporation , 1990 .

[39]  M. Tushman,et al.  Technological Discontinuities and Organizational Environments , 1986 .

[40]  O. Williamson,et al.  Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications. , 1977 .

[41]  David C. Mowery,et al.  Measuring Dynamic Capabilities: Practices and Performance in Semiconductor Manufacturing , 2009 .

[42]  D. Leonard-Barton CORE CAPABILITIES AND CORE RIGIDITIES: A PARADOX IN MANAGING NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT , 1992 .

[43]  R. Calantone,et al.  The Impact of Market Knowledge Competence on New Product Advantage: Conceptualization and Empirical Examination , 1998 .

[44]  Michael G. Harvey,et al.  A Resource Perspective of Global Dynamic Capabilities , 2001 .

[45]  J. Barney Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage , 1991 .

[46]  Paul A. Pavlou,et al.  Technology-Based New Product Development Partnerships , 2006, Decis. Sci..

[47]  D. Teece,et al.  Strategy as Evolution with Design: The Foundations of Dynamic Capabilities and the Role of Managers in the Economic System , 2008 .

[48]  Otto C.C. Lin Science and technology policy and its influence on economic development in Taiwan , 2002 .

[49]  Constance E. Helfat,et al.  Dynamic capabilities : understanding strategic change in organizations , 2007 .

[50]  Rossitza Rousseva,et al.  Identifying technological capabilities with different degrees of coherence: The challenge to achieve high technological sophistication in latecomer software companies (based on the Bulgarian case) , 2008 .

[51]  R. H. Myers Classical and modern regression with applications , 1986 .

[52]  Catherine L. Wang,et al.  Dynamic Capabilities: A Review and Research Agenda , 2007 .

[53]  K. Boal,et al.  Strategic resources: Traits, configurations and paths to sustainable competitive advantage , 2007 .

[54]  Maurizio Zollo,et al.  Deliberate Learning and the Evolution of Dynamic Capabilities , 2002 .

[55]  Yannis Caloghirou,et al.  Internal capabilities and external knowledge sources: complements or substitutes for innovative performance? , 2004 .

[56]  D. Teece,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1997 .

[57]  Margaret A. Peteraf The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource‐based view , 1993 .

[58]  Jae Kyeong Kim,et al.  The impact of IT investment on firm performance in China: An empirical investigation of the Chinese electronics industry , 2009 .

[59]  R. John Linear Statistical Models: An Applied Approach , 1986 .

[60]  Scott L. Newbert New Firm Formation: A Dynamic Capability Perspective , 2005 .

[61]  V. Ambrosini,et al.  How the Resource‐based and the Dynamic Capability Views of the Firm Inform Corporate‐level Strategy , 2003 .

[62]  Georg Schreyögg,et al.  How dynamic can organizational capabilities be? Towards a dual-process model of capability dynamization , 2007 .

[63]  Jason L. Dedrick,et al.  Asia's computer challenge : threat or opportunity to the United States and the world? , 1998 .

[64]  J. Barney,et al.  IS THE RESOURCE-BASED " VIEW " A USEFUL PERSPECTIVE FOR STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT RESEARCH ? , 2001 .

[65]  Christoph Zott,et al.  DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES AND THE EMERGENCE OF INTRAINDUSTRY DIFFERENTIAL FIRM PERFORMANCE: INSIGHTS FROM A SIMULATION STUDY , 2003 .

[66]  R. Grant The Resource-Based Theory of Competitive Advantage: Implications for Strategy Formulation , 1991 .