Dynamicity and performance in adaptive organizations.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Marino, Alessandro.

Contributor:

Levinthal, Daniel A., committee member.

Siggelkow, Nicolaj, committee member.

Rosenkopf, Lori, committee member.

Levinthal, Daniel A., advisor.

University of Pennsylvania. Management.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Management.

0454.

Penn dissertations--Management.

Management--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Management.

Management--Penn dissertations.

0454.

Physical Description:

133 pages

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 74-10A(E).

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

In this dissertation, I focus on the conceptualization and empirical investigation of organizational adaptation. Specifically, I intend to study how dynamic organizations evolve and under which conditions they successfully adapt to a changing environment. In essay 1 (with D. Levinthal), we develop a simulation model to clarify and explore some of the basic conceptual issues concerning the dynamics through which business practices locally adapt within an intra-organizational ecology of organizational level skills, knowledge, and capabilities subject to processes of mutation and selection. For essay 2 (with A. Prencipe), we designed and conducted a field project by collecting qualitative data: a mix of archival data, interviews and ethnographic field notes. The main goal is to investigate how organizational adaptation plays out under the pressure of various institutional forces. Our findings illustrate that institutional forces generate selective reactions within the ecology of existing organizational routines. Conversely, non-institutional forces adapt to the existing behavioral forms following a two-way dynamic process. In essay 3, I developed an empirical research design based on a panel data analysis to investigate the role of dynamic capabilities in boosting adaptation performance. This work examines some of the fundamental contingencies that impact the relationship between dynamic capabilities and organizational performance. Specifically, although prior experience in product adaptation is considered as a key driver of superior performance, its value is found to be highly conditional on both the level of focal activity -- a recent adaptation effort on specific activities -- and the intensity of the environmental changes.

Notes:

Thesis (Ph.D. in Management) -- University of Pennsylvania, 2013.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 74-10(E), Section: A.

Adviser: Daniel A. Levinthal.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

ISBN:

9781303146633

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.