Dynamic Alliance Capability As A Business Innovation Enabler Towards Sustained Economic Development: An Empirical Study Of Organizational Practices

Abstract

Nowadays, increasing competition and rapidly changing market conditions are constantly affecting firms’ ability to sustain their businesses, and transforming to a more sustainable economic system is in extreme need. Although researchers have recognized the importance that firms need to become more sustainable, little attention is paid to the economic aspect. Meanwhile, despite a large number of start-up companies fail to survive, the extant literature mostly focuses on the corporate perspective or macro-economic level. To address challenges regarding sustained economic development, business model innovation appears to be superior to other types of innovation. Also, recognition has been given to paramount benefits that strategic alliances could deliver to a firm’s capabilities; however, much less effort is made to examine alliance capability under the dynamic capability approach as an enabler of business model innovation towards sustained economic development. This research responds to the call of having more studies on business model innovation towards sustained economic development from a dynamic capabilities approach in the context of start-up companies. It aims to shed light on the organizational practices and routines that contribute to the development of the dynamic alliance capability, and its relevance to the company’s effort in innovating the business model design to achieve sustained economic development goals. By disaggregating practices and routines that underpin this higher-order capability, the study offers an in-depth understanding of how the capability is practically built and exploited in start-up companies.