Dynamic capabilities in the dock: A case of reification?

Abstract

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. (Forthcoming in Strategic Organization) We gratefully acknowledge the constructive comments of SO editors and reviewers, Shazad Ansari, Cliff Bowman, David Denyer, Koen Heimeriks, Constance Helfat, Pursey Heugens, Mark Jenkins, Gianvito Lanzolla, Donna Ladkin, Will Mitchell and Taco Reus as well as the feedback received from participants at a seminar at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. An earlier version of the paper was presented at the 2010 Academy of Management Conference in Montreal, Canada, and benefited from the extensive comments of three anonymous reviewers and the participants themselves. Permanent repository link: 2 DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES IN THE DOCK: A CASE OF REIFICATION?In his award-winning SO!APBOX essay, Donald Hambrick observed that the strategic management field "is rapidly being pulled apart by centrifugal forces. Like a supernova that once packed a wallop, our energy is now dissipating and we are quickly growing cold " (2004: 91), and included dynamic capabilities as one of the constructs that appeared to be most detrimental to the field's stability. At first sight, as scholars interested in dynamic capabilities, we conceded that Hambrick appeared to be right. Navigating the literature we encountered a plethora of dynamic capability definitions, countless number of capability types (e.g. R&D, marketing, etc.) labelled as 'dynamic' and a variety of formulaic expressions under the generic umbrella of 'to adapt and change firms need dynamic capabilities'. Yet, after nearly two decades, a rising number of over 100 articles, special issues and conference presentations (Di Stefano, Peteraf and Verona, 2010) seem to suggest that dynamic capabilities were, instead, one of the centripetal forces that helped keep the field together. So we were faced with a puzzle: were dynamic capabilities the last flash of the dying supernova, or could they rather save strategic management from its anticipated selfdestruction?More recently, dynamic capability research appears to have become an academic conversation polarized between equally passionate critics and supporters. Perhaps a paramount example is the exchange between Arend and Bromiley (A&B) and Helfat and Peteraf (H&P) on the future of dynamic capabilities published in Strategic Organization in 2009: whereas A&B suggested that the dynamic capability construct should be abandoned due to its weak theoretical foundations and inconsistencies, H&P called for further developmental efforts given the infancy of the field and its growing relevance. Not 3 surprisingly, this paradigmatic match between advocates of rigor and defendants of relevance (Hirsch and Levin, 1999 1 ) has regularly appeared in Strategic Organization's 2 'Most-Read' rankings, together with Hambrick's (2004) call for the consolidation of strategic management. How to solve this dilemma, then: should we discard dynamic capabilities or persist with them?In the...

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