What can we (still) learn about dynamic capabilities?

Abstract

This systematic review has the goal of understanding how the theme Dynamic Capabilities has been approached by the academic literature. For this, we analyzed the summary of 80 articles extracted from two databases (Scopus and Web of Science) through the search term "dynamic capabilities" and "dynamic capability". The study results suggest that Dynamic Capabilities: is a relatively new theme; can be related to other factors, such as: innovation; knowledge management; learning; performance of the firm; and organizational ambidexterity; the concept of Dynamic Capabilities can be improved based on academic literature, and is associated with valuable resources, rare, hard to imitate and replacement, which enables the achievement of competitive advantage; Dynamic Capabilities are difficult to be implemented in firms, they involve existing intangible assets in complex and turbulent organizational environments, requiring constant change; the identification of mechanisms that generate Dynamic Capabilities can assist firms in understanding the elements needed to build these capacities; relate to organizational ambidexterity Dynamic Capabilities can facilitate understanding of the concepts of exploitation and exploration.