Reconfiguring the Firm’s Assets for Innovation

Dusan Schreiber; Patricia Tometich; Aurora Carneiro Zen; Raquel Engelman

doi:10.4067/S0718-27242020000100027

Authors

Dusan Schreiber Universidade Feevale https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4258-4780
Patricia Tometich Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8654-0785
Aurora Carneiro Zen Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4078-4359
Raquel Engelman Universidade Feevale https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7312-773X

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-27242020000100027

Keywords:

Dynamic capabilities, Innovation, Furniture industry.

Abstract

The innovation process and the generation of sustainable competitive advantage are permanently on the agenda in technology management. According to Teece (2007), one way to achieve a competitive advantage is to develop dynamic capabilities, a process in which the author identifies three moments: i) to perceive and shape opportunities and threats (sensing), ii) to grasp the opportunities (seizing), iii) to increase, to combine, to secure and, when necessary, to reconfigure the tangible and intangible assets. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the strategic internal changes were introduced to influence on developing the innovation capability in order to sustain and expand the competitive advantages of the firm. To do so, a case study was carried out in a firm that work within the furniture sector more than 30 years and took decision to increase its competitive advantage by investing in product design, what created conditions for the development of new capabilities. Interviews were conducted using questions that allowed the respondents to freely express their experiences and perceptions about the changes that have occurred in their sectors as a result of this process and was possible to identify the intensity of reconfigurations in capabilities that resulted from the creation of the Design Center.

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