Success factors and competencies in organisational evolution

The purpose of this paper is to investigate organisational evolution and change forces that influence the adaptation process. Despite significant research interest in this topic, the knowledge is still incomplete.

The paper examines the importance of organisational evolution and introduces two frameworks, five change forces and success factors and competencies, in the process of transformation from the new economy to the innovative economy.

The paper finds that organisational capacity for transformation in response to the economic change forces has become the critical success factor in the ever‐changing business environment where more competition means more intense selection. As organisations fight to remain on the market, unadaptive and consequently unsuccessful rivals fail to capture an adequate market share and have to exit.

It would be particularly interesting to conduct studies in different countries to see whether the results are affected by the cultural context.

In today's knowledge‐based economy, different resources are used in creating new value and a broader circle of participants is involved than in the past. Human capital is becoming more important than economic capital.

The paper contributes to the discussion on adaptive evolution of organisations and emphasizes which economic forces have impact on organisations in an era of innovative economy.