Organisational capabilities and learning in complex product systems: towards repeatable solutions

This paper suggests that Chandler's (Chandler, A.D., 1990. Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism. Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Pres s, Cambridge, MA.) organisational capabilities framework can be modified to explain how suppliers of complex product systems (CoPS) build the capabili ties necessary to expand successfully into new lines of business. In additi on to Chandler's functional and strategic capabilities, we propose the conc ept of 'project capabilities' to refer to important CoPS activities of bid preparation and project execution. An organisational learning cycle model i s presented to show CoPS firms can move from the first bid or project of it s kind in a new domain of business, to achieve what we call 'economies of r epetition' by putting in place organisational changes, routines and learnin g processes to provide a growing number of similar bids and projects more e fficiently and effectively. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reser ved.