Journal of Management and Organizations Strategy

Dynamic Capabilities And Core Competencies As Drivers Of Sme Resilience Under Policy Shocks: Evidence From Nigeria's 2023 Economic Reforms

Auteurs : Gumel Babandi Ibrahim .

Résumé

This study examines how dynamic capabilities and core competencies shape the strategic resilience of Nigerian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the aftermath of Nigeria’s 2023 policy shocks involving fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange-rate harmonization. Drawing on dynamic capability theory and the resource-based view, the study adopts a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected from 288 SME managers in Nigeria’s manufacturing and service sectors and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4.0. The findings show that subsidy removal and exchange-rate unification intensified operational costs, liquidity constraints, demand contraction, and regulatory uncertainty, thereby undermining SME sustainability and operational continuity. However, sensing, seizing, learning, and reconfiguration capabilities significantly strengthened SMEs’ capacity to absorb shocks, adapt resources, and sustain operations. Core competencies, particularly cross-functional integration and adaptive resource orchestration, mediated the relationship between dynamic capabilities and resilience. The study offers guidance for SME managers on developing capability bundles as buffers against policy volatility and underscores the need for policymakers to complement macroeconomic reforms with accessible credit, infrastructure support, regulatory clarity, and targeted capability-development programs. The study advances a Policy Shock Resilience Framework that shifts the dynamic capabilities debate from conventional market- and technology-driven turbulence to abrupt state-induced macroeconomic policy shocks. It argues that policy shocks differ from competitive shocks because they are externally imposed institutional discontinuities that SME managers can neither predict with certainty nor directly influence. By demonstrating how sensing, seizing, learning, and reconfiguration capabilities buffer such shocks through core competency renewal, the study extends dynamic capability theory beyond competitive adaptation to institutional adaptation under policy volatility.

Mots clés

Dynamic capabilities ; Core competencies ; SME resilience ; Economic policy shocks ; Nigerian SMEs