Concepedia

Marketing and technology resource complementarity: an analysis of their interaction effect in two environmental contexts

Michael Song, Cornelia Dröge, Sangphet Hanvanich, Roger J. Calantone

Strategic Management Journal · 2005 · 842 citations · 62 references

TL;DR

The dynamic capabilities perspective suggests firms can enhance performance by configuring, complementing, and integrating existing resources, yet empirical evidence on these mechanisms remains scarce. The study examines how marketing and technological capabilities, individually and jointly, affect firm performance and whether these effects differ under low versus high technological turbulence. The authors employ structural equation modeling two‑group analyses with control variables to test these relationships. The results show that marketing and technology capabilities each positively influence performance in both low and high turbulence, but their interaction is significant only under high turbulence, where marketing’s effect is weaker, indicating that complementary capabilities can yield performance gains only in specific environmental contexts. © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract

The dynamic capabilities perspective posits that a firm can leverage the performance impact of existing resources through resource configuration, complementarity, and integration, but little empirical research addresses these issues. We investigate the effects on performance of marketing capabilities, technological capabilities, and their complementarity (interaction), and whether these effects are moderated by low vs. high technological turbulence. Results from SEM two-group analyses (with controls) show that both main effects positively impact performance in both environmental contexts. However, (1) their interaction effect is significant only in the high-turbulence environment; (2) the marketing-related main effect is lower in the high-turbulence environment; and (3) the main effects of technology-related capabilities are the same in both environments. Our research suggests that the synergistic performance impact of complementary capabilities can be substantive in particular environmental contexts: while synergistic rents cannot always be obtained, it is possible to leverage existing resources through complementarity. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.