Building dynamic capabilities for high margin product development: a corporate control style perspective

This paper contributes to the dynamic capabilities (DCs) literature by delving into the relationship between DCs, corporate control style (CCS), and high margin product development (HMPD)-company performance. Our qualitative results are based on semi-structured interviews conducted within a multinational telecommunication corporation. The narratives indicate that DCs positively influence HMPD/company performance. The level of positive influence of DCs on performance will depend on the CCS of the organization, since CCS directly affects the seizing and transforming activities of DCs. CCS also regulates the link between sensing and shaping DCs activities and HMPD/performance. We find evidence that there is no specific order in which the sensing, seizing, and transforming activities occur. We suggest that the identification of “Surge” and “Lurch” events is a key channel for managers to enhance DCs management in their organisation. Our findings are compared to relevant studies on EMNEs.