Competence Development and Dynamic Capabilities in a Global Purchasing Organization

Abstract

Companies´ intangible assets such as internal competences are more and more often seen as a response to maintain a superior performance in the dynamic and fast-changing business environment. Furthermore, dynamic capabilities are needed in rapidly changing business environments that are open to global competition, in which geographical as well as organizational sources of innovation and manufacturing are scattered around the globe.

There has been a limited amount of previous research reviewing competencies in the purchasing context. Moreover, further empirical research on the dynamic capabilities has been proposed to see how they are connected to functional capabilities such as purchasing.

Seven in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted in one global case firm, and the data was analyzed based on the theoretical framework of the study. The microfoundations of the dynamic capabilities required to sustain a superior purchasing performance were used as a model for the empirical part. These capabilities are explicated under the themes of sensing, seizing and transforming to discover, how competence development can be managed effectively in major change situations in the case company.

This study found that the self-driven teams, supported with a coaching type of leadership, promote sustainable purchasing performance in rapid change situations. The interviewees stated that the key benefits of the self-driven team model are speed, flexibility and quality. They help to build team level competences and to balance the workload, which results in increased resources for the development actions. Finally, the cross-functional supply teams provide opportunities to utilize these synergies in purchasing activities, share knowledge and build networks with the other departments. The findings are based on the results of one case company, and therefore, they cannot be directly generalized elsewhere. Nevertheless, the findings of the study provide a basis for further research.