The Effects of Dynamic Capabilities, Entrepreneurial Creativity and Ambidextrous Innovation on Firm’s Competitiveness

A firm’s competitive advantage generating from empowering its dynamic capabilities is very important for established companies and new business ventures in facing intense competition and in responding to unanticipated environmental changes. This study aims to investigate the relationship between dynamic capabilities of a new business venture and its competitive advantage and the effect of entrepreneurial creativity and ambidextrous innovation mediation on the relationship between dynamic capabilities and the competitive advantage of a new business venture. Data was collected using an online survey from 143 new Indonesian shipping agency companies that spread over two-thirds of Indonesia’s territory and was analyzed using structural equations modeling (SEM). The results showed that the dynamic capabilities of new business ventures are positively associated with competitive advantage but not significantly. This result indicates that empowering a new business venture’s dynamic capability is not sufficient to generate a competitive advantage. However, a new business venture’s dynamic capability is significantly and positively associated with the competitive advantage when mediated by entrepreneurial creativity and ambidextrous innovation. The findings of this study suggest that the competitive advantage of a new business venture can be gained from empowering a firm’s dynamic capabilities through mediating entrepreneurial creativity and ambidextrous innovation in facing intense competition and in responding to unanticipated environmental changes.