Capability lifecycle

Zuzul, T and Helfat, C (2014) Capability lifecycle. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management. Palgrave.

Abstract

The capability lifecycle is a framework that extends the resource-based view by articulating patterns and paths in the evolution of organizational capabilities. The lifecycle describes the development of a capability from founding to maturity, as well as subsequent branching into additional stages, and explains the sources of heterogeneity in organizational capabilities at each stage.

The capability lifecycle provides a framework that articulates patterns in the evolution of a capability from birth through maturity, and subsequent branching into additional stages of development (Helfat and Peteraf, 2003). A capability’s lifecycle begins with its founding, when a group of individuals organizes around an objective. Subsequently, in the development stage, a capability is built, refined and improved. Finally, a capability enters the maturity stage, where it ceases development and is maintained through exercise. Before or after reaching maturity, a capability can also transform through the ‘6 R’s’ of capability branching: retirement, retrenchment, renewal, replication, redeployment and recombination.