In turbulent business
environments, building and exploiting competitive advantages necessitate
manufacturing companies to start new strategic initiatives. For this purpose,
new product development (NPD) should be seen as dynamic capabilities (DC) that
enable companies to create a better match between the configuration of a firm’s
resources and changing conditions. This study aims to make
use of the operationalised DC model including sensing, seizing and
reconfiguration capacities in a hierarchical decision structure. A
multi-case-studies approach is employed for validation of the DC assessment
model on automotive companies which are categorized as European, Japanese and
American. The qualitative analysis reveals the appropriate management practices
underlying the micro-foundation of DC at the operational management
level, which can help chief executives to implement the appropriate strategy
for enhancing NPD performance. Managers can creatively leverage their
companies’ DC components by conceiving of different ways to integrate these DC
components into NPD projects.
