Dynamic and Autotelic Capabilities in Knowledge-Intensive, Low-Tech Ventures

Dynamic capabilities have been treated mainly as organisational, firm-specific capabilities in the context of large, established high-tech organizations. However, a small but increasing stream of research suggests the entrepreneurial team as a source of DCs indicating that these capabilities can exist already at the outset of the venture. The present paper explores the organizational and entrepreneurial dynamic capability perspective by a two-fold study: it examines the existence and significance of DCs in knowledge-intensive, low-tech firms providing answers to questions unaddressed by previous studies. It further introduces the Autotelic Capabilities Framework as a first endeavour to shed light on the unexplored strategic side of the start-up activity in low-tech knowledge-intensive entrepreneurship. The study revealed that possessing and further cultivating autotelic capabilities can be a major success factor in knowledge-intensive ventures. The dimensions of Autotelic Capabilities, bricolage, improvisational and transcendental capabilities located mainly in the entrepreneurial team, create novel business concepts and establish successful ventures in saturated competitive arenas. The conceptual framework advanced can add to the understanding of core issues of the emerging stage of low-tech ventures and the creation of initial competitive advantage. Regarding Dynamic Capabilities, the study proved that low-tech companies that invest and build their strategy on knowledge intensiveness and innovation, develop relatively strong DCs to gain competitive advantages, usually resulting in niche creation, adding value and surpassing fierce price competition. While the basic micro-foundations of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring were detectable in all sampled companies, there were considerable differences due to sector, size and age.