AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON IS

CAPABILITIES AND ASSETS IN AN

SMSE
INTRODUCTION
 Understanding how SMSEs build and apply business
and information systems(IS)
 Elaborates and applies dynamic capability theory to
explore and help understand the web of conditions
and factors that shaped and influenced business and
IS capability development and application in one
SMSE.
 Drawing on the overarching theory of dynamic
capabilities, a theoretical model is presented that
posits relationships among (1) a firm's past activities;
(2) its integration, learning and reconfiguration, and
transformation capabilities; (3) its financial,
complementary, locational, and technological asset
positions; and (4) the products and services that
result, and which are of value to an SMSE's
customers.
 THEORETICAL MODEL OF CAPABILITY AND
ASSET DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT

Firm Specific
Capabilities

Commitment
A Commitment to Capabilities are
apply capabilities developed
helps build and through a
Historical leverage firm commitment
Performance specific & non
firm specific
assets

Software
Firm Specific Products
Assets & Deliver &
Institutional Non Firm Services
Funding / Invest
Specific Assets
Venture
Capital
FIRM SPECIFIC CAPABILITIES
Small to medium software enterprises build dynamic
capabilities by
 Engendering high levels of commitment among IT
professionals
 Building close, long lived business and R&D
paertnerships
 Securing R&D funding to develop innovative software
while simultaneously growing firms knowledge assets
and skills
 Facilitating a culture where innovation is encouraged
and rewarded
 Having senior managers/software visionaries act as
overall facilitators, integrators, mentors & knowledge
nodes
FIRM SPECIFIC CAPABILITIES
 Practicing effective project management & software
process improvement techniques
 Possessing creative & imaginative IT professionals
with good interpersonal communication skills
 Having sociable IT professionals who communicate
well with & share their knowledge with peers
 Customizing software products & services across
heterogeneous IT platforms
 Possessing IT professionals who can rapidly master
and apply IT skills in new programming languages,
technology platforms, CASE tools, moving to other
areas and learning new skills while transferring their
experiential and technical knowledge to others
HISTORICAL PERFORMANCE
 Firm specific capabilities and assets area a
function of a company’s past activities.
FIRM SPECIFIC ASSETS
 Experiential and technical knowledge of IT human
assets: managers, technical experts, system analysts
and developers
 Experiential & technical knowledge embedded in
companies products
 Experiential & technical knowledge of project
management software process improvement
techniques
 Documentation that describes how systems were
developed
 Culture of innovation and risk taking
 Relationships with development partners and funding
agencies/financial institutions
 The Company’s reputation in the market place.
NON FIRM SPECIFIC ASSETS
 Availability of funding to underpin financial
assets
 Location:
 Proximity to a well populated human resource poll
 Dynamic economic climates

 Case tools & other software development related

technologies
CONCLUSION
 This study contributes to the articulation of an
applied theory of dynamic capabilities for SMSEs
by identifying and describing in context business
and IS capabilities & assets.
 Presenting a theoretical model of organizational
capabilities and assets
 Describing in an applied IS context the various
component constructs- business & IS capabilities
& Assets, etc & their interactions.
 Illustrating the product or outcome of such
processes
THANK YOU