Dual capabilities and organizational learning in new product market performance

• Capabilities to influence government and to influence industry can improve the new product market performance differently.
• CIG has a positive effect while CII has an inverted U-shaped effect on NPMP.
• Organizational learning as a contingency will influence the effects of dual capabilities on NPMP in emerging markets.
• Exploratory learning can strengthen the effects of CIG and CII on NPMP.
• Exploitative learning extends the positively affected scope of CII on NPMP.

This article investigates how dual capabilities of influencing external environments (i.e., the capabilities to influence government and to influence industry) can affect new product market performance (NPMP) in emerging markets and how organizational learning (via exploratory learning and exploitative learning) moderates this process. From the responses of 201 firms in China, we find that capabilities to influence government positively affect new product market performance, while capabilities to influence industry have an inverted U-shaped effect on NPMP. Both the capability to influence government and the capability to influence industry are more beneficial when matched with exploratory learning, whereas exploitative learning weakens both of their effects on NPMP. Overall, in this paper, we further develop the understanding of these dual capabilities and their linkages with NPMP, thus extending the view of institutional theory that emphasizes that firms must passively adapt or respond to institutional pressures in an emerging economy. Our work also provides specific managerial guidance to firms in emerging economies to achieve high NPMP by leveraging their dual capabilities, together with their internal learning capabilities.