Interrelation Between the Dynamic Capabilities of Knowledge Management, Learning, Adaptation, with Innovation in Medium and Large Companies in an Emerging Economy in Times of Pandemic

Abstract

The general idea of this article is to analyse the interrelation between the dynamic capabilities of knowledge management, learning, adaptation, with innovation in medium and large companies in an emerging Latin American economy. This is because innovation is a key strategy for dealing with crises such as the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A Likert scale survey of 106 executives from the same number of firms in the pharmaceuticals, information and communication technologies and processed food sectors was applied to obtain data. The general findings show that there is a significant inter-relationship between the different dynamic capabilities of the firms above described. However, when analyzing the interrelationship between the dynamic capability of innovation with the other three capabilities, the strongest interrelationship is with adaptive capability. These findings, positively draw attention, given that a literature review on the subject indicates that in emerging economies the companies developing these capabilities are unusual. These encouraging findings suggest that companies in these economies have the capacity to effectively address the issues posed by the COVID-19 epidemic.