Business capabilities: A systematic literature review and a research agenda

Abstract

The omnipresent need for business transformations, be it digital, agile, or lean, forces organizations to make good choices regarding their optimal business capabilities. Business capabilities provide a link between strategy (the ‘why’) and implementation (the ‘how’). Currently, a comprehensive view on business capabilities is missing. We conducted a systematic literature review on business capabilities. We identified 720 scientific studies, of which 20 were analyzed in-depth. In this review, we investigate how business capabilities are defined, what business capability frameworks are available, and what future research has been suggested for business capability research. From this literature review emerges an extensive analysis on the state of art in business capability research, a new definition for business capabilities, and a potential research agenda for future research.