Capacidades dinâmicas, inovação disruptiva digital e intensidade do conhecimento: estudos múltiplos de suas relações e efeitos no desempenho das organizações

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to investigate the relationships between dynamic capabilities, digital disruptive innovation and knowledge-intensive innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems. Therefore, three interdependent studies were developed. In the first study, the bibliometric method was used to identify the intellectual and social network structure that links digital disruptive innovation to dynamic capabilities. The findings pointed to a growing trend of annual publications and citations, suggesting that this research field has attracted increasing attention in recent years. Regarding the intellectual structure, three clusters emerged in the cocitation network: the first cluster discusses the conceptual aspects and the predictive value of the theory of disruptive innovation, raising questions about how incumbents can respond to disruptive innovations, including the factors of motivation and inhibitors of disruption. The second cluster establishes a relationship between technological changes and organizational capabilities in terms of potential impact on organizations. The third cluster discusses business model innovation and its elements as important vectors to drive disruption. Regarding the analysis of social networks, five countries stand out: the United States, England, France, Italy, and China, as they are more prominent both in terms of quantity and tie strength established. It presented evidence that authors from countries with advanced economies are more engaged in joint research, while there is little exchange between researchers from countries with emerging economies. The second study aimed to map the knowledge base of innovation and knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship ecosystems. Through the analysis of principal factor components, three factors were identified that were associated with stimulating the creation of new companies, knowledge flow and sharing. The first factor includes studies that discuss the impact of knowledge on economic activities; the second factor focuses on the topic of entrepreneurial ecosystems; and the third factor, slightly more heterogeneous, comprises studies that discuss theoretical and critical aspects of clusters. The third study investigated the influence of dynamic capabilities on digital disruptive innovation efforts considering the mediating effect of digital platform and knowledge intensity in firms operating in environments that integrate innovation ecosystems and knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship. The research focused on a sample of firms operating in these environments in Brazil, to understand how they create dynamic capabilities in response to digital disruptive innovations and what role these capabilities play in building digital platform capacity, according to the model proposed by Karimi and Walter (2015). The main results indicate that dynamic capabilities have a direct and positive effect on the revenues generated by online products and are an important factor in firms’ ability to develop digital platform capacity. Furthermore, digital platform capacity mediates the relationship between dynamic capabilities and firms’ performance in terms of online product availability. This study differs in including the knowledge-intensity construct when investigating its mediation between dynamic capabilities and the products delivered via digital platforms. In this way, it advances knowledge, indicating that dynamic capabilities directly and significantly affect knowledge intensity, while knowledge intensity does not play a mediating or direct role in online products. The findings provide recommendations for managers as well as entrepreneurs in efforts to launch disruptive products.