This document discusses how the concept of dynamic capabilities can be applied to disaster management exercises to help organizations develop a more flexible response capacity. It introduces dynamic capabilities as processes that impact an organization's resources and allow them to be modified. Specifically, it outlines how dynamic capabilities modes like reconfiguration, leveraging, creative integration, and learning can be utilized in disaster management exercises to replicate or transform existing assets and routines. The document concludes that applying dynamic capabilities in exercises can help organizations anticipate changes, advance flexibility, and improve competitiveness by focusing on their flexible potential. Further research is needed to comprehensively measure dynamic capabilities and understand their effects on exercise and response success.

1. DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES
in Disaster Management Exercises
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2. About us
• Ass.-Prof. MMag. Dr. Katharina Anna
Kaltenbrunner
Researcher at the department of social and busi-
ness sciences at Paris Lodron University Salzburg
• Ralf J.J. Beerens, MSc.
Researcher/Dean of the Master of Crisis and Public
Order Management (MCPM) at the Netherlands
Institute for Safety (NIFV)
PhD. Candidate at Lund University
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3. Contents
1. Initial Situation: Changes and challenges in Disaster
Management (Exercises)
2. Introduction to the concept of Dynamic Capabilities (DC)
3. Outline of the Dynamic Capabilities Concept in Disaster
Management Exercises (DME)
4. Conclusion and prospects
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4. Changes in Disaster Management
• The risk landscape is rapidly changing:
- ‚Modern‘ threats such as cyber attacks
or solar storms are causing new
challenges
- ‚Domino‘ effects/cascading events:
Disaster types are becoming
interlinked e.g. a natural disasters that
triggers technological disaster events
(NaTech disasters) such as happened
in Japan
- Boundaries (geographical, functional
and time) are dissolving as the
financial crisis illustrates
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5. Challenges for Disaster management
• The aforementioned changes lead to challenges such as:
– Dealing with uncertainty
– Organizational challenges for responders and coordinating
agencies
– Communication with the public (e.g. social media)
– The design and preparedness of the current ‚emergency
response systems‘.
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6. Dealing with these Challenges
• Disaster Management Exercises (DME) can be used to handle
these challenges and offer organizations an opportunity to
observe, test, evaluate and where required, re-design existing
skills, behavior and capabilities.
• A way to deal with these changes and challenges is to create a
more holistic, systemic and flexible response capacity.
• One element of this flexible response capacity would be the
Dynamic Capability Approach.
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7. Dynamic Capabilities (DC)
Dynamic Capabilities =
processes which have an impact on resources
• DC ≠ resources
• DC ≠ internal and external determinants such as leadership,
perceptions, organization´s characteristics, environmental
complexity etc. but shape DC significantly
• “dynamic“ refers to the way the resource base is modified
• DC evolve from the interaction of
– tacit experience accumulation processes
– explicit knowledge articulation
– codification activities
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8. Dynamic Capabilities (DC)
•Examples
– Consolidation of central functions, e.g. restructuring of
support functions
– Development and use of complementary assets, e.g. applying
an existing brand to an innovation
– New resource configuration, e.g. in form of new quality
control measurements based on experience/routines and an
innovative technical information system
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9. Relevance of Dynamic Capabilities
Value of Dynamic capabilities = new set of valuable resources
•They can contribute to
– advance the flexibility of the organization
– lead to an economic advantage
– improve to organization´s technological as well as to the
evolutionary fitness
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10. DC creation
Conceptualization
Preparation
Exercise Exercise Conduct
Exercise Evaluat
Exercise
s s
o ce
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idua
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interactions
Groorgani
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Intlr ve nal l.
io
-zat rga
o
Cycle of DME as framework for
I nter c
systems,
structures
i r
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rezatio
es
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© Kaltenbrunner 2012

11. 11
© Kaltenbrunner 2012
p roce
Exercise
es ss
s, Gs Ind
Exercise Conduct
I
em Inl e roulev ivid
Conceptualization
tu ao Exercise Evaluation
stn -zarterve p el ualtio
Exercise Preparation
l. r
uc
sy i-zateror tion lrgan rac
i
?
for DC
st tion gan al l. inte
s ourc al
e ns
Creation Modes
Learning
Leveraging
Integration
Reconfiguration
DC concept in DME

12. Reconfiguration in DME
resource B resource B
resource A Resource D  resource A Resource D
Resource C Resource F
resource C
• Reconfiguration = transformation and recombination of existing
assets and/or resources
• Examples in DME
– (re-)shaping of core processes and routines of volunteer
management
– outsourcing of certain DME processes
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13. Leveraging in DME
Unit A, parent Unit B, parent Unit of DME
company company
process A process B process A
standard A standard B  standard B
resource A resource B resource B
• Leveraging = Replication or extension of processes, systems
assets and resources into other units of the organization
• Examples in DME
– The takeover of the organizational chains of command onto
the exercise
– replication of planning and/or operational standards
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14. Creative Integration in DME
resource A
resource B resource C  Resource
X
resource D
• Creative integration = to combine assets and resources
constituting completely new resource configurations.
• Examples in DME:
– EU rapid response capabilities such as EU Modules and EU
Civil Protection teams.
– Interaction and cooperation between EU Member States
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15. Learning in DME
• Learning = processes designed to increase
the effectiveness and efficiency of the
organization‘s performance
• Learning = the foundation of an
organization‘s systematic methods for a range
of innovation as well as for the modification of
processes and routines.
• Examples in DME
– Structured evaluation processes of EU
Exercises using specially trained
evaluators (MCE) in order to provide
feedback information and a better
understanding of any gaps or problem
observed and analyzed during the
exercise mission.
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16. Conclusions and Prospects
• General conclusive remarks
– DC can contribute to an effective and efficient ‘future proof’
(emergency) response capacity by focusing on the flexible potential
of organizations;
– They contribute to:
• anticipate environmental changes
• develop respectively advance the flexibility of the organization
• increase the competitiveness
• Further research is needed regarding the:
– comprehensiveness and the (practice) adequacy of the DC
framework
– identification of parameters for measurement of DC
– effects of DC to the success of DME.
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17. Contact details:
Ralf.Beerens@nifv.nl
Katharina.Kaltenbrunner@sbg.ac.at
THANK YOU!
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