Exploring the role of dynamic capabilities as internal drivers of business model innovation within the critical metals mining sector

Abstract

This research is intended to deepen the understanding of the role of an organisations dynamic capabilities as internal drivers impacting and influencing business model innovation within the organisation. As a business problem, this study investigated and described the dynamic capabilities required by small and medium-sized enterprise companies in the critical metals mining sector to innovate their business models, focusing on dynamic capabilities as internal drivers influencing change. Supply disruptions to metals markets brought about by the Covid pandemic, coupled with the accelerated societal shift to renewable energy and battery electric solutions, have created an opportunity for critical metals mining companies to create and innovate their business models to identify, optimise and capture new value. This need to innovate is not unique to mining companies, and holds across capital and asset intensive ecosystems at the intersection of the transition to renewable energy, including capital markets, mining, automotive, and manufacturing sectors. Organisations in this ecosystem are embracing innovation at an ever increasing rate to reduce capital and operating costs, and to extract further efficiencies through uptake of new technology and greater digital integration across the value chain. The dynamic capabilities theory provides a useful framework to analyse the drivers of business model innovation in the critical metals sector.