Resilience

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Purpose -This research aims at examining the role of the managing director in the development of dynamic capabilities at SMEs. Design/methodology/approach -The paper used a mixed-methods approach and conducted case studies at 13 SMEs. The primary sources of data were semi-structured interviews, which were supplemented by quantitative data from a postal survey and content analysis of the companies' websites. Findings -The paper suggests that managing directors "enact" in the development of dynamic capabilities, if they believe that dynamic capabilities are a source of competitive advantage. If they do not appreciate the importance of dynamic capabilities they can get trapped in a vicious circle. Research limitations/implications -This research focuses especially on small firms, and it is unlikely that the findings can be applied to large firms. Practical implications -The key managerial implication is the threat of a vicious circle if the development of dynamic capabilities is neglected. Originality/value -This paper draws the dynamic capabilities framework and the enactment concept together, suggesting that managerial decisions and behavior affect dynamic capabilities at an organizational level, which then drives firm performance.

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Web services promise a step change in business-to-business application models and practices. But how do we measure web services' performance? Because web services are so new, and implementations so few, the purpose of this paper is to take internet performance as a proxy for web services performance.Design/methodology/approach -The authors surveyed 106 e-business SMEs to identify key drivers for internet performance, and then predicted web services performance.Findings -Surprisingly, it was found that while business resources and IT resources positively impact internet performance, dynamic capabilities do not. Also, there appear to be significant firm size effects.Originality/value -The implications of these findings for the strategic management of web services are discussed, and in particular, managers' need to balance resources and capabilities in volatile business environments.

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