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Project Management Journal

Large-scale projects often involve hundreds or even thousands of businesses. There are opportunities for these firms to produce innovations to solve problems and improve the project’s outcomes, but the time-bounded nature of the project and technical interdependencies also constrains innovation. Using quantitative analysis of data from firms in large oil and gas projects, we show that Teece’s sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring model of dynamic capabilities theorizes innovation in this interfirm project context. We also identify connections between these microfoundations that are not captured in Teece’s linear model, where sensing activities moderate the relationship between seizing activities and innovation.

A Dynamic Capabilities Model of Innovation in Large Interfirm Projects