Dynamic capabilities in business ecosystem emergence: a marketing technology case study

Purpose This article examines how dynamic capabilities (DC) evolve during the emergence of a business ecosystem. It addresses how sensing, seizing and transforming activities take shape, change character and become distributed as value creation increasingly depends on coordination among interdependent actors. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on a longitudinal, inductive case of Odins.ai, a Norwegian marketing technology company whose value creation model relies on collaboration with complementors, who in this context are also clients, from an early stage. Based on fifty-two interviews and five workshops conducted between 2021 and 2025, the analysis traces the evolution of DC across the early phases of ecosystem emergence. Findings The findings show that DC evolve through recursive interactions driven by distinct mechanisms at different stages of ecosystem emergence. Early DC are enacted by the founder through integrative sensemaking, giving rise to exploratory sensing and experimental seizing. As collaboration expands within the focal firm, DC become team-based and are shaped by strategic consolidation, supporting feasibility sensing, focused seizing and pragmatic transforming. As interdependencies extend beyond the firm, DC become ecosystem-based and are enacted through coordinated integration, enabling collective sensing, shared seizing and collaborative transforming. For managers and founders, the findings highlight the importance of sequencing capability development efforts, first strengthening internal alignment and coordination before engaging ecosystem partners. Originality/value The study advances DC theory by showing how DC evolve during the emergence of a business ecosystem, rather than in established firms or mature ecosystems. It conceptualizes DC as multilevel and processual, demonstrating how their locus, nature and underlying mechanisms change as ecosystems take shape, thereby extending predominantly firm-centered accounts of sensing, seizing and transforming.