- Title
- The use of dynamic capabilities by multinational enterprises for global orchestration: the enabling role of organisational structure and culture
- Creator
- Apthorpe, Mark
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2020
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- This study puts forward the following research question: What is the role of organisational structure and culture in enabling the dynamic capabilities used by multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the global orchestration of their operational capabilities? Dynamic capabilities are the processes used to manage operational capabilities, such as marketing and technological capabilities. While previous research has provided us with valuable insights into these important organisational capabilities for organisations in general, few studies have investigated them in an international business (IB) context. However, dynamic capabilities are especially valuable for MNEs with regard to taking advantage of global opportunities and addressing the unique challenges in global capability orchestration. It is understood that the role played by dynamic capabilities is conditioned by enablers. Organisational structure and culture have been proposed as enablers, but there is little understanding of their role. To address the research question, two exploratory research objectives are proposed: (1) explore the role of organisational structure and how it enables dynamic capabilities and (2) explore the role of organisational culture and how it enables dynamic capabilities. This thesis uses a qualitative multiple case study approach to explore the roles that organisational structure and culture play as enablers of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring processes of dynamic capability deployment used by MNEs. The findings indicate that a combination of formal and informal centralised governance are the organisational structure characteristics that enable these dynamic capabilities; put simply, they are enabled through formal coordination utilising a global perspective combined with informal reinforcement of support for global orchestration. A collaborative culture is found to enable dynamic capabilities through creating alignment with global orchestration initiatives. This study’s contribution lies in providing a link between the dynamic capabilities and IB literature. More specifically, the study contributes to the dynamic capability literature by identifying the organisational structure and culture characteristics that enable dynamic capabilities, in addition to outlining how they enable dynamic capabilities. The study also contributes to the debate in both the dynamic capabilities and IB literature on the value of centralisation versus decentralisation by finding that centralisation, supported by a collaborative culture, is to be valued in the global orchestration of operational capabilities by MNEs. It also provides managerial implications, which indicate that MNEs should adopt the identified organisational characteristics in order to enable the dynamic capabilities that would help them take advantage of global opportunities.
- Subject
- dynamic capabilities; orchestration; operational capabilities; organisational structure; organisational culture; global
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1419701
- Identifier
- uon:37485
- Rights
- Copyright 2020 Mark Apthorpe
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 1 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 261 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |