A firm's capacity to act in anticipation of the unfolding future in which it will compete is the critical differentiator in its performance compared to its peers in 4IR. The greater its Dynamic Capacity the greater its ability to win as the future unfolds.

​4IR Dynamic Capacity was identified through structured university-led* research with over 50 global corporations (2012-2015). ​The stock-price performance of the listed corporations included in the study were tracked over a five-year period (Dec 2014-Dec 2019). 

*Faculty from the following universities supported the research: University of Cambridge, Peter Drucker School of Management, Singapore Management University, Indian School of Business, University of Bath.

Dynamic Capacity can be understood by analogy to a sportsman or woman; consider a top tennis player. Given the speed at which tennis is played, the player has to begin preparing for the next shot much before the ball arrives near to them, even before it has been struck by the opponent. The earlier that they can identify where the ball is going, the more time they have to decide upon and to prepare for their winning response. Players at the top of their game have an ability to sense what their opponent is about to do before it happens. Having made sense of what is about to unfold the player then has to decide what to do about it; what is their best response, what will provide them with an advantage or help them recover from a set-back. It is equally critical that the player is able to execute the planned shot, at the right time, so they must be able to move to the right position. The combination of these same skills in an organisation is called Dynamic Capacity.

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A firm (or tennis player) with a great ability for making sense of the unfolding situation, but unable to decide what to do about it, or unable to move quickly enough to be in the right position to make the play is not effective and will loose to more capable opponents. Similarly being able to execute perfectly, with great operational prowess is of limited value if they have not correctly anticipated and prepared for the correct unfolding future situation; perhaps failing to see that they had to move to a new market-space (or place on the tennis court) or failing to adjust to a new opponent whose strengths were different to those they had encountered previously. 

Dynamic Capacity is the product (multiplication) of the strength of the firm with all three sets of skills:

(1) Sense & Make Sense

(2) Seize & Replicate 

(3) Reposition and Reconfigure

The firm must work to strengthen each of these sets of capabilities AND their interaction together. 

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Video: Build Dynamic Capacity.
Axiom #1 of  achieving superior competitive performance in 4th Industrial Revolution

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Build Dynamic Capacity

Thrive in 4IR

Our support to clients to thrive in 4IR focuses primarily on building these three sets of capabilities and strengthening the interplay between them. We start with a detailed audit of the existing operations and benchmark against best practices globally, before then defining with the client which areas to prioritise and how best to raise the the overall level of Dynamic Capacity for the entire corporation or a specific business unit. A key part of our support is building a dashboard to assist the client with ongoing measurement and monitoring of their level of Dynamic Capacity and the activities that underpin the performance. Our ongoing support consists of regular updates of best-practices being adopted by other firms globally, so that the client can continue to extend and enhance their 4IR performance.