A process model of capability development

Past literature using the resource-based view of the firm has concentrated on attributes of firms' capabilities and on strategies for exploiting existing firm-specific assets. Comparatively little research has been conducted on how a firm develops, manages, and deploys capabilities to support its business strategy. This study seeks to understand the process of capability development and to establish a model that has both theoretical and practical significance. A longitudinal case study of the electronic commerce strategy formation and implementation at Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil, an Ecuadorian stock exchange, yielded qualitative data that allowed inductive modeling of the capability development process. The model reveals that capability development in support of a new strategy is a gradual process that is cumulative, expansive, and very dependent on the way that difficult-to-imitate resources and actions are combined. At Bolsa de Valores de Guayaquil, actions that supported the development of the firm's capability to strategize seem to have contributed the most in the initial phase of the strategy formation and implementation; actions that helped the development of the firm's capability to be flexible appear to have contributed the most during the middle phase; and actions that supported the development of the firm's capabilities to integrate and engender trust seem to have contributed the most in the final phase. In addition, the key resources that supported the overall capabilities development process included leadership, organizational culture, information technology, long-term view, and social networks. Implications of this model for both research and practice are discussed.