El vínculo de la innovación con la renovación estratégica como capacidad

The resource-based view (RBV) of the firm proposes that resources are mobilised by capabilities, and that both arise from ‘dynamic’ capabilities (DC). RBV research suggests that co-specialised DC’s – those which are most valuable together (CDC’s) - are particularly difficult to copy. This paper presents two corporate cases where two DC’s–innovation and strategy renewal- were successfully co-specialised as a CDC and one where it was not. Based on collaborative research, we find that CDC’s linking innovation and strategy renewal served Shell International and Nokia well, but not W.L. Gore. Our research covers a 10 year period and identifies two related themes: first, that companies investing in technological innovation can create strategy renewal opportunities in doing so, particularly by changing the order of selectors who determine if a technology has (or has not) this renewal potential. Secondly, we show that companies create several processes to sustain this CDC, to ensure the politics align with converting innovation into strategy renewal and having strategy renewal guide innovation priorities. Our research suggests that the power structures in W.L. Gore at the time of our study did not allow this CDC to work well. We conclude by summarising a set of factors that make the difference between success and failure with this CDC linking innovation and strategic renewal.