Just heard a keynote talk from Prof David Teece – father of the ‘dynamic capabilities’ concept. He has an outstanding record not only as a top strategy prof but also as entrepreneur and consultant … problem is no-one I spoke to could work out what exactly he means.
To summarise the idea [if I get it right?] – if ‘capabilities’ are our abilities to run things and build things as we are in the business and competitive environment we face today, then dynamic capabilities are the ability to detect the need for change, interpret that need in terms of new technologies or market opportunities, then implement the new strategy. These 3 are shown as a perpetual cycle that firms, especially in fast-moving hi-tech sectors need to be good at.
I did try – really I did – to understand the ‘framework’ he offered, but all I saw was a checklist of things to think about. I’m sure David is just outstanding at what he does, and he’s certainly spawned a vast number of papers by others citing hiw work, but can anyone else replicate and really use these ideas in the real world. We’d love to hear from you if you have been able to make usable sense of the concepts.