An Analytical Framework of Dynamic Capabilities: An Answer to Why the Firm Sustains a Competitive Advantage in the Long Run

From the 1990s, the dynamic capabilities framework led by D. J. Teece and colleagues (Teece and Pisano 1994; Teece et al. 1997; Teece 2007, 2014a) has been focused as the essential argument to explain how firms gain sustained competitive advantage in strategic management studies. For understanding and reconfirming this framework, this chapter examines the outline of this argument to examine what the dynamic capabilities are and how they have been developed, refined, and applied. In the examination, this chapter consists mainly of seven parts, as follows: first, showing the background to the emergence of the DCs framework, briefly discussing why the DCs perspective has become essential; second, focusing on the features of the DCs framework, particularly explaining in detail what the DCs theoretical framework is; third, confirming the nature of DCs including the OCs; fourth, reviewing its various applications; fifth, referring to the recent criticisms of DCs; sixth, reviewing the empirical methods of the DCs framework and presenting the efficiency of the historical case; finally, the concluding part summarizes the main points.