企业动态能力及其功效:环境不确定性的影响

当前关于动态能力的维度及其功效还存在较大分歧,有些学者甚至认为动态能力毫无价值,应该摒弃动态能力研究.本文从战略过程视角,依据相关文献与访谈调查,将动态能力分解为组织意会能力、柔性决策能力及动态执行能力,探讨了动态能力与持续优势的关系及环境不确定性在其中的影响作用.通过对中国地区217家企业的实证研究发现,动态能力确实对持续优势有显著的正向影响,环境不确定性是动态能力的驱动因素而非调节变量,环境动态性对企业持续优势有显著的正向影响,敌对性则对持续优势有显著的负向影响.本研究的结论澄清了动态能力的价值前提,探明了环境不确定性的影响机理,对理论研究与实践操作都有一定的启发意义.

Dynamic Capabilities and Their Functions: The Impact of Perceived Environmental Uncertainty

With the ongoing upgrading of global financial crisis, enterprises find it increasingly difficult to obtain and maintain competitive advantage. In such an uncertain world, scholars of the Resourcebased theory (RBT) are aware of its static defects, and put forward a new concept, called "dynamic capabilities". Current studies focus on the antecedents, nature, processes and consequences of dynamic capabilities, but still with large divergences on the dimension and function about dynamic capabilities. Some scholars even argue that dynamic capabilities are useless and we should waste no more effort. According to interviews and related researches, from a strategic process perspective, we argue that dynamic capabilities are the patterned capacity for an organization to purposefully create or change its resources, routines or processes to match or even create environment change, which can be decomposed into organizational sense-making capacity, flexible decision-making capacity and dynamic implementation capacity. Organizational sense-making capacity is the process to develop cognitive maps, to sense and interpret the stimuli or change in the reference frameworks to effectively search for and analyze information from internal and external environment. Flexible decisionmaking capacity is the process to quickly evaluate and formulate strategic programs and timely adjust with environmental changes. Dynamic implementation capacity is the process to comprehensively apply various resources and mechanisms to coordinate all forces to ensure the right direction. We explore the relationship between dynamic capability and sustained advantage and, the role of perceived environmental uncertainty. With an empirical study of 217 enterprises in China, we found that dynamic capabilities do significantly positively affect sustained advantage, and perceived environmental uncertainty is a driver rather than moderator, environmental dynamism has a significant positive impact on sustained advantage, while environmental hostility has a significant negative effect. This study clarifies the value premise of dynamic capabilities and the mechanism of perceived environmental uncertainty between them, thus is of great value both in theory and practice.