Capabilities for Sustainably Growing Software Companies

Abstract

This master thesis investigates the capabilities required by software companies to achieve sustainable growth by combining an in-depth literature review with qualitative analysis of expert interviews. The theoretical concept is built upon the dynamic capabilities (Teece et al., 1997) and the dynamic managerial capabilities (Adner & Helfat, 2003). While dynamic capabilities describe core functions like sensing, seizing, and transforming, they often remain abstract and offer limited practical guidance. To address this gap, exploratory expert interviews were conducted to identify concrete, actionable capabilities. These extracted capabilities were grouped into the three categories for both dynamic and dynamic managerial capabilities. A resulting framework shows how the extracted capabilities are categorized and how dynamic and dynamic managerial capabilities are interconnected. It provides examples for Enablers which act as the underlying conditions where capabilities can emerge in organizations. While each capability has individual value, their combined application leads to greater impact. To reflect this, the thesis introduces Capability Clusters that capture the synergy between related capabilities. This thesis shows that a clear understanding of how dynamic and dynamic managerial capabilities can be applied in combination offers valuable guidance for achieving sustainable growth in software companies.

Date of Award	2025
Original language	English
Supervisor	Kristiana Roth (Supervisor)