Sensing opportunities in dynamic markets: how to encourage all employees to take part

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how companies can retain their ability to recognize, seize and maintain opportunities. Design/methodology/approach This conceptual work is built on existing research about an organization’s dynamic capabilities and literature on judgment under uncertainty. Findings This study offers specific ways in which companies can develop the dynamic capability of identifying new opportunities and, most importantly, how firms can maintain this rare dynamic capability for significant periods, so that they can harvest the benefits offered by owning this capability. Practical implications This study’s specific insights equip practitioners with turn-key information on how to build or maintain a firm’s unique ability to sense and capture an opportunity via the enhancement of the firm’s portfolio of simple rules. Originality/value This research introduces a novel idea about micro-foundations of a firm’s dynamic capabilities and theoretically argues that a favorable organizational culture and individuals’ rules of thumb can form a company’s dynamic ability to sense and seize an opportunity in high-velocity markets.

A blueprint for succeeding despite uncertain global markets

“…Corporate strategies, hence, have to be creative and tailored to each situation. It is also important for all employees (not just managers) to take part in sensing and seizing opportunities (Evans and Salaiz, 2019), neutralizing threats and implementing capabilities. By adopting a disciplined approach in developing the core capabilities of sensing the context, driving the market and redesigning the business, firms can thrive amid global uncertainty.…”

Thriving in turbulent environments through adaptive forms of organizing

“…The second viewpoint refers to the company's organizational culture. Implementing this employee-empowered organization requires a culture that encourages independent, creative and non-standardized thinking (Evans and Salaiz, 2019).…”

Assessment of the Development of Forest-Based Bioeconomy in European Regions

“…Näyhä (2020) [73] also identified a number of factors for the transition towards forestbased bioeconomy by a given region: (1) key macro-environment factors of transforming forestbased companies: global sustainability goals and challenges, aims for sustainable bioeconomy, supportive and "meeting the needs" of EU-and national-level policies and regulation, societal support for new businesses and entrepreneurship, experience and resources in the field, and value chain distribution; (2) key industry and market environment factors of transforming forest-based companies: high quality education and well-targeted training programs that meet the practical needs of the interested firms, interaction with customers and other stakeholders to truly understand their needs, partnerships, and spearhead products and companies; (3) tangible organizational resources and capabilities needed for the transition of forest-based companies: raw material issues (particularly resource efficiency), technical solutions, ability to scale up innovations, modern infrastructure, logistics, right location, and risk financing; and (4) intangible and human-related resources and capabilities needed for the transition of forest-based companies: innovative, agile, and encouraging organizational culture [56,73], knowledge of new markets, organizational cultures, communication, and marketing, flexible employees, multidisciplinary teams, non-hierarchical top management, and "power people" as a source of an innovative atmosphere [74]. In this line of thought, Evans and Salaiz (2019) [75] and Schoemaker et al (2018) [76] emphasized the importance of having pro-active, flexible employees that can sense and seize new opportunities in fast changing business environments [77].…”