Toward a comprehensive model of organizational evolution: dynamic capabilities for innovation and adaptation of the enterprise model

This article argues that the rapid evolution of expectations and influence capacity by corporate stakeholders requires managers in MNCs not only to adapt operating activities, but to rethink the purpose and overarching goal of the business enterprise, adapting it from a shareholder-primacy to a multi-stakeholder enterprise model. This complex adaptation process, however, requires the development of a specific form of competence to be developed and honed, different in kind from the typical capabilities focused on organizational change. With the help of concrete examples of sustainability-driven change initiatives, we discuss how the two enterprise models differ and how the development of this new type of competence facilitates the transition from one to the other.