Using Dynamic Capabilities and Organizational Ambidexterity to Explain Competitive Advantage in Iranian Export Companies

The rapid and continuous development of markets and competitions has changed the boundaries and dynamics of the business environment. Therefore, firms have increasingly confronted with unexpected challenges. The theory of dynamic capabilities states that firms require dynamic capabilities to success and gain competitive advantage in rapidly changing complex environments. The purpose of this study is to quantify the effect of dynamic capabilities on competitive advantage through organizational ambidexterity mediation. Organizational ambidexterity is considered as a new managerial structure, which is discussed for the competitive advantage and survival of companies and is obtained through the efforts of organizations to exploit and explore opportunities. In this research, a questionnaire was developed to collect data and the sample size was suitable for 78 subjects using G*Power software. Research data collected from Iranian export companies. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to measure the effects of variables. The paper argues that dimensions of dynamic capabilities including sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring have a positive significant effect on competitive advantage, both directly and through organizational ambidexterity. Based on the results, all research hypotheses were accepted at a minimum level of 95% confidence. This research showed that dynamic capabilities have a positive impact on gaining competitive advantage. In addition, higher dynamic capabilities will facilitate the company's ability to mobilize resources to attract opportunities and eliminate threats and help to reconfigure knowledge resources to explore and exploit.