Contingent Capabilities and the Procurement of Complex Product Systems

This paper focuses on how organisations utilise external capabilities to procure high-technology products and services. It is argued that the conceptual frameworks developed in the context of organisations which manufacture such products need to be modified to explain the behaviour of organisations that buy them. The use of third-party consultants in the procurement process is explored and a new class of temporary capabilities, termed Contingent Capabilities, is proposed. This class of capabilities occupies the boundary between accepted notions of core and non-core, and play an essential role in the innovation process. The roles of two distinct categories of Contingent Capabilities, strategic and tactical, within the innovation process are explored. The paper concludes with an agenda for further work in this area.