Adapting, shaping, evolving: Refocusing on the dynamic capabilities–environment nexus

In this issue of the Academy of Management Collections, we curate a set of articles on dynamic capabilities from Academy of Management journals that showcase how dynamic capabilities interact with the external environment. Dynamic capabilities were originally conceived as a means by which firms can attain “evolutionary fitness” with their changing business and macro (societal and natural) environments. Despite the importance of environmental change in the original conceptualization of dynamic capabilities, subsequent studies focused on the effects of dynamic capabilities within firms. By analyzing articles in this collection, we develop a typology of approaches to examine the dynamic capabilities–environment nexus that involves (a) the functions that dynamic capabilities perform regarding the environment (adaptation or shaping), and (b) the evolution of the external environment (discrete or continuous change). Scholars have thus far primarily focused on adaptation to discrete changes in the external environment, and we argue for greater attention to the shaping function of dynamic capabilities and to continuous environmental changes. This collection reveals the potentials of an adapting–shaping view of dynamic capabilities and a renewed focus on the dynamic capabilities–environment nexus for improving our understanding of how entrepreneurial managers chart an organization’s path via dynamic capabilities.