A dynamic capabilities view of employability

2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J Finch ◽  
Melanie Peacock ◽  
Nadege Levallet ◽  
William Foster

Purpose – The increasing demand for post-secondary education, and the ongoing difficulty students’ face in securing appropriate work upon program completion, highlight the importance of an enhanced understanding of employability resources for university graduates. Just as organizations achieve a strategic advantage from resources and dynamic capabilities (DCs), university graduates can similarly apply these principles and tactics to be competitive in the job market. The purpose of this paper is to ask the question: how can new graduates enhance their competitive advantage when entering the employment market? To address this question the authors propose to adopt the DCs framework to analyze the competitive advantage of a graduate and argue that university graduates can take specific steps to enhance their own competitive advantage in the labor market. Design/methodology/approach – An extensive review of the existing human resource and strategic management literature was used to develop a conceptual DCs model of employability. The core dimensions of the conceptual model were refined using 26 one-on-one interviews with employers of new university graduates. This study concludes by recommending specific empirical and experimental research to further test the model. Findings – The results from the qualitative study identified the importance of four specific resources that university graduates should possess: intellectual, personality, meta-skill and job-specific. In addition, the authors suggest that integrated DCs are crucial for enhancing the value of these individual resources. Both pre-graduate application and the construction of personal narratives are essential signals that university graduates can mobilize individual resources in a complementary and strategic manner, in real-world settings, to maximize value. Research limitations/implications – This is an exploratory study and is designed as a foundation for future empirical and experiential research. Practical implications – The findings suggest that, in order to increase employability, university students need to assume a DCs view of competitive advantage. As a result, students need to reflect on both their intrinsic and learned resources to create a systematic competitive advantage that is valued, rare and difficult to replicate or substitute. Social implications – This paper challenges students to assume a holistic view of education by recognizing education extends far beyond a classroom. Therefore, differentiation and value creation is reflected in the synthesis and application of both intrinsic and learned resources. Originality/value – The integration of strategic management and human resource literature is a unique theoretical approach to explore the drivers of graduate employability.

2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ville Eloranta ◽  
Taija Turunen

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the service infusion literature explains competitive advantage through services. The four strategic management theories – competitive forces, the resource-based view, dynamic capabilities, and relational view – are applied in the analysis. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review analyzes the links between the service infusion and strategy literature. Findings – The review reveals that although discussion of service infusion applies strategic management concepts, the stream lacks rigor with respect to construct definition and justification. Additionally, contextual variables are often missing. The result is an over-emphasis of contextually bound measures, such as technology, and focal actors. Research limitations/implications – The growing trends toward social networks, co-specialization, actor dependency and shared resources encourage service infusion scholars to focus on network-related and relational capabilities, co-opetition, open business models, and relational rent extraction. Furthermore, service infusion research would benefit from considering strategy-based theoretical discussions, constructs, and constraints that would improve the scientific rigor, impact and contribution. Originality/value – This paper represents a systematic attempt to link the service infusion literature with strategic management theories and thoroughly analyzes the knowledge gaps and possible misconceptions.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edson Rodrigues de Aro ◽  
Gilberto Perez

Purpose This study aims to understand the interaction between capabilities inherent in open innovation and dynamic capabilities (sensing, seizing and transforming) as a source of competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative method and grounded theory were used as guidelines for data collection and analysis. Findings The study identifies a set of capabilities in the practice of open innovation related to dynamic capabilities, which indicates the importance of developing dynamic capability in the strategic management of internal and external knowledge in the company. Research limitations/implications The number of interviewees approached herein do not allow generalizations, but the use of grounded theory through various strategies of data collection in the interviews allowed the triangulation of the data, increasing the credibility, validity and quality of the research. Originality/value This study presents capabilities identified in open innovation and their relationship with dynamic capabilities, identifying the importance of the dynamic capability in the strategic management of internal and external knowledge in the company as a source of competitive advantage.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bishwajit Nayak ◽  
Som Sekhar Bhattacharyya ◽  
Bala Krishnamoorthy

Purpose This study aims to explore the impact of the adoption of wearable technology products for Indian health insurance firms. It identifies the key dynamic capabilities that health insurance firms should build to manage big data generated by wearable technology so as to attain a competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative exploratory study using in-depth personal interviews with 53 Indian health insurance experts was conducted with a semi-structured questionnaire. The data were coded using holistic and pattern codes and then analyzed using the content analysis technique. The findings were based on the thematic and relational intensity analysis of the codes. Findings An empirical model was established where all the propositions were strongly established except for the moderate relationship between wearable technology adoption and product innovation. The study established the nature of the interaction of variables on technology policy, organizational culture, strategic philosophy, product innovation, knowledge management and customer service quality with wearable technology adoption and also ascertained its influence on firm performance and competitive advantage. Research limitations/implications From a dynamic capabilities perspective, this study deliberates on wearable technology adoption in the health insurance context. It also explicates the relationship between the variables on technology policy, organizational culture, strategic philosophy, product innovation, knowledge management and customer service quality with wearable technology adoption on firm performance. Originality/value This study is one of the first studies to add the context of wearable technology and health insurance to the existing body of knowledge on dynamic capabilities and sustainable competitive advantage for the service sector. It would help existing and prospective players in adopting or setting up appropriate business models.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Shujahat ◽  
Saddam Hussain ◽  
Sammar Javed ◽  
Muhammad Imran Malik ◽  
Ramayah Thurasamy ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this study is primarily to discuss the synergic and separate use of knowledge and intelligence, via knowledge management and competitive intelligence, in each stage of strategic management process. Next, this paper aims to discuss the implications of each stage of strategic management process for knowledge management and competitive intelligence and vice versa. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review was performed within time frame of 2000-2016. Extracted information from reviewed studies was synthesized and integrated in strategic management model of Fred David. Findings A strategic management model with lens of knowledge management and competitive intelligence is proposed. Each stage of knowledge management process has implications for knowledge management and competitive intelligence and vice versa. In addition, synergic and separate use of knowledge and intelligence results in effective decision-making, leading to competitive advantage. Research limitations/implications Learning curve of knowledge management and competitive intelligence and being limited to the use of Fred David model are among the many key limitations. Practical implications Experts of knowledge management, competitive intelligence and strategic management can use this study to gain competitive advantage based on knowledge and information resources. Organizations should have knowledge management function and competitive intelligence to support the strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation. Social implications Readers can take a view for how they can manage their knowledge and information resources from a strategic perspective. Originality/value This study proposes a strategic management model with lens of knowledge management and competitive intelligence. The model discusses ways for synergic and separate use of knowledge and intelligence in each stage of strategic management, leading to competitive advantage. In addition, it discusses the holistic and integrated implications of knowledge management and competitive intelligence for each stage of strategic management process and vice versa.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamil Anwar ◽  
Aqsa Bibi ◽  
Nisar Ahmad

PurposeThis paper presents a comprehensive review of academic research dedicated to the field of Behavioral Strategy. Based on a series of Bibliometric and network analyses, the paper identifies the prominent trend and growth patterns pertaining to the evolution of this important strategic management subfield; it documents which particular journals, articles and authors have most influenced its development, and it maps the intellectual structure and network of authors, publications and countries. Finally, the paper considers the substantive research themes emerging from the analyses reported, in terms of their implications for future work.Design/methodology/approachThe authors undertook a series of Bibliometric and network analyses of 217 relevant articles, published between 1975 and 2020, in journals listed in the Scopus database, using R-studio and VOSviewer. Articles incorporated in the study were selected based on relevant key terms searched from the title, abstract and list of keywords associated with each publication.FindingsThe results demonstrate that behavioral strategy has enjoyed robust and sustained growth, with widespread impact across many areas of the heterogeneous business and management field as a whole. Three distinct periods are identified: an infancy stage (prior to 1999); a steady growth stage (1999–2010); and a take-off stage (2011 onwards). The top three journals in terms of content coverage, based on the number of relevant articles published in relation to behavioral strategy, are Strategic Management Journal, Advances in Strategic Management (AiSM) and the Journal of Management, while the top three most influential journals, in terms of citations pertaining to Behavioral Strategy, based on an analysis of citations in the Scopus database, are Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Perspectives and Journal of Management Studies. Gerard P. Hodgkinson and Thomas C. Powell are the most prolific authors. The emerging themes based on intellectual structures have been identified as Behavioral Strategy, Behavioral Theory of Firm; Strategic Leadership and Dynamic Capabilities; and Strategic Cognition and Decision Making.Practical implicationsThe study contributes to knowledge advancement concerning Behavioral Strategy by opening new possibilities to discover important research areas.Originality/valueThe study is the first of its kind on Behavioral Strategy providing a comprehensive systematic literature review.


2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 1511-1534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Jou Chen

Purpose Developing agility and innovativeness as dynamic capabilities are important for firms to sustain their competitive advantage in today’s global economy. The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a framework to investigate how the supply chain agility and innovativeness are achieved through IT integration and trust in members of supply chain and how these, in turn, can enhance firms’ competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach This research employs a survey method and data are collected from senior managers working in the supply chain or IT area. The model and hypotheses are tested utilizing data from 204 usable Taiwan manufacturing firms via structural equations modeling methodology. Findings The study demonstrates that both IT integration and trust in supply chain members significantly enhance supply chain agility and innovativeness, which in turn positively affect firm’s competitive advantage. The results indicate that IT integration and trust are antecedents and major joint partnership resources for improving supply chain agility and innovativeness. Research limitations/implications Data are collected from manufacturing industry in Taiwan and single respondent from each firm, the generalizability of current findings to other industries or countries should require additional investigation. Practical implications The study suggests that a firm should focus on IT integration and trust in supply chain members to achieve supply chain agility and innovativeness. To take advantage of supply chain agility and innovativeness, through maximizing firm’s competitive advantage, firms should continually adapt to the fast changing business environment and search for creative ways to satisfy new market needs. Originality/value Given the attention paid to supply chain agility and innovativeness in terms of importance to responding to business uncertainty and competitiveness, and more recently, as important capabilities in managing supply chain management, this paper investigates how IT integration and trust can contribute to supply chain agility and innovativeness. Provide evidence regarding the impact of IT integration and trust on agility of supply chains, innovativeness and competitive advantage.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Syed Zamberi Ahmad ◽  
Norita Binti Ahmad

Subject area Strategic management, Strategic marketing, Entrepreneurship and Small business ventures. Study level/applicability This case study will be useful for undergraduate level students majoring in strategic management, entrepreneurship, small business ventures and marketing. Case overview Just Fresh Juice is a small entrepreneurial venture in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), specialising in preparing all-fresh juices, special mixes and fruit salads. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how Just Fresh can maintain its competitive advantage, and how it could sustain its rapid growth in the market and gain more market share in the long run. Just Fresh focuses on satisfying its customers more effectively than its competitors through a competitive strategy of cost leadership (Papulova and Papulova, 2006), direct interaction with the customers through social media (Srinivasan, 2014) and creating a customer experience (Porter, 2008), as delivering a good customer experience is often more effective in building a competitive advantage than optimising internal processes. Expected learning outcomes The purpose of this case is to enable management students to evaluate and analyse a small business established in the United Arab Emirates. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of new business set-up and build proper business strategy. They will be able to perform the company’s competitive standing using Porter’s Five competitive forces and analyse its business strategies as well. They will be able to analyse the current status of the company using SWOT analysis and to design alternative strategies for the company using TOWS analysis. Furthermore, students will be able to build a cost analysis model for the company. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.


Author(s):  
Vilani Sachitra ◽  
Siong-Choy Chong

Purpose The agribusiness sector has long been acknowledged as a major source of livelihood to many people in developing countries. Hence, determining the resources and capabilities influencing farm-level competitive advantage are vital to better understand and formulate appropriate strategies to increase the competitiveness ofminor export crops farms. This study aims to understand of the link between resources-capabilities-competitive advantage for appropriate measures to be recommended to enhance the competitive position of the smallholding farms. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts the resource-based view in combination with dynamic capabilities. The scope comprises owners of farms who possess experience in commercial cultivation of minor export crops in Sri Lanka. A self-administrated structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Findings Based on the responses from 456 farm owners, results of the multiple regression analysis indicate that variables representing resources such as human assets, physical assets, financial assets, institutional capital, collective action and entrepreneurial identity; and dynamic capabilities such as organisational learning, relationship building, quality management and marketing are significantly associated with competitive advantage of the minor export crops farms. Reputation and farm process management capability are the only two insignificant variables. Taken together, the resources and dynamic capabilities investigated explain 89.3 per cent of the variation in competitive advantage, in which 82 per cent is contributed by resources. Originality/value The findings provide useful insights not only in terms of understanding the link between resources, dynamic capabilities and competitive advantage but also how resources and capabilities can be channelled and leveraged to bring about competitive advantage to the minor export crops farms. Theoretical and practical implications as well as future research directions are provided.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 659-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debarun Chakraborty ◽  
Wendrila Biswas

Purpose Today, the employees stand firm as an integral part of the organization and are a precious asset. They are willing to learn, accept challenges and strive hard to deliver their level best. The role of the employees has become pronounced and significant, and it is no more conventional. They are now taking up responsibilities in strategic planning and development of the organization. Thus, HR department plays a profuse role in planning for the human resource of the firm to optimize the utilization of their potentials that would help support and meet the business as well as strategic goal of the firm. These HR planning programs ensure managing people within a planned framework and make them develop their performance that becomes a source of sustained competitive advantage for the firm. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach A descriptive research has been conducted with cross-sectional survey through a formalized questionnaire. Multistage sampling has been used in the study. Primary data have been collected from different manufacturing industries of India. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis have been conducted on the hypothesized research model. Structural equation modeling has been done to specify the relation between the measured and latent variables. Findings The HR planning programs, namely, staffing plan and succession plan, yield a better result in addressing the strategic goal of the company. Succession plan, staffing plan and talent management strategies augment the efficacious performance of the firm. Effectual performance aids in gaining a competitive advantage for the firm in a substantial way. Job analysis and design have no impact in achieving the strategic intent of the organization. Originality/value The study gives a comprehensive scenario of the HR planning programs that can help the organization to meet and uphold their strategic goals. The study provides a model that can solidify and bind the organization toward securing organizational intent and leading a steadfast business process in this dynamic competitive marketplace.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-153
Author(s):  
Adebayo Serge Francois Koukpaki ◽  
Kweku Adams ◽  
Adegboyega Oyedijo

PurposeThis research explores the significant contribution of human resource development (HRD) managers in building organisational brands in the hotel industry through the lenses of dynamic capabilities for sustaining competitiveness.Design/methodology/approachUsing a qualitative case study design, this study deployed a semi-structured interview research method. It used a purposive sample of 20 HRD managers across twenty different hotels in India and South East Asia (ISEA) to explore their contribution to organisational brands. The data was analysed using thematic analysis.FindingsThe findings show the significance of HRD in building organisational brands. From a dynamic capabilities perspective, it was found that HRD has an impact on fostering brand awareness culture; HRD functional branding enhances the creation and sustaining of quality service culture; functional branding of HRD helps differentiate the brand and quality service, for product development and innovation by linking talent development and growth of key competencies and capabilities; brand training and behavioural training directly influence the right behaviour knowledge and effective communication that is translated into the enhancement of guest experience; and finally, organisational branding through branding culture and employer branding creates organisational wealth.Originality/valueThe authors propose a new conceptual framework for the branding of the Heroes to reclaim the HRD's splendour in the realm of other functions in the hotel industry in ISEA contexts. While the authors do not claim an external generalisability, we believe that an analytical application of this framework could be relevant in similar environments. The study also claims that HRD practitioners could use parallel literature repertoires from brand management discourse to value their strategic contributions in building and maintaining their reputational position at the board level. Practical implications and further research are discussed.


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