Dynamic entrepreneurial capabilities: an innovative path to innovation in entrepreneurial settings

The aim of this paper is to examine how a small entrepreneurial firm can achieve successful product innovation and technology change by substituting the traditional drivers for innovation with dynamic capabilities. We used a longitudinal case study methodology to investigate a seven-year technology innovation undertaken by Vetromed, a small Italian entrepreneurial firm, from its decision, in 1999, until its successful implementation, in 2006. On the basis of our findings, we introduce the concept of dynamic entrepreneurial capability, defined as a higher order ability to enact and integrate three substantive entrepreneurial capabilities, namely: distributed entrepreneurial insights, entrepreneurial heuristics and entrepreneurial flexibility. Our findings suggest that dynamic entrepreneurial capability can substitute for the traditional drivers of innovation, allowing small entrepreneurial firms to pursue successful innovation.