Extending the Natural Resource-Based View: A Configuration of Organizational Capabilities for CSR Implementation - Evidence from Moroccan Automotive Suppliers

Résumé

This article examines how Moroccan automotive suppliers develop the organizational capabilities required to translate global environmental requirements into operational practices under externally imposed standards and constrained organizational resources. The study draws on fourteen semi-structured interviews conducted with managers and executives involved in environmental management, quality, CSR implementation, operations, industrial performance, and strategic decision-making. It adopts an abductive qualitative design oriented toward theory elaboration, allowing empirical observations to be iteratively confronted with the Natural Resource-Based View (NRBV) and the broader organizational capabilities literature.

The findings reveal a sequential capability formation process structured around four interdependent components: interface capability, Normative Bricolage, structuring, and strategic anchoring. Interface capability enables firms to interpret and translate external requirements; Normative Bricolage allows them to adapt implementation pathways to local resource constraints while preserving the underlying objectives of those requirements; structuring formalizes the selected responses into routines and organizational arrangements; and strategic anchoring integrates these practices into managerial decision-making and organizational priorities. The results therefore suggest that these capabilities do not operate as isolated organizational resources, but as a cumulative configuration whose effectiveness depends on their articulation.

Theoretically, the study extends the NRBV by shifting attention from capability possession to the organizational processes through which environmental capabilities are formed. It also introduces Normative Bricolage as a specific adaptation mechanism for situations in which requirements originate outside the firm and implementation must proceed under constrained resources. From a managerial perspective, the proposed process offers a diagnostic lens for identifying where capability formation may break down and where targeted organizational support may be required. The findings remain contextually bounded to Moroccan automotive suppliers operating within global value chains.

Classification JEL: M14, Q56, L62, F23

Paper type: Empirical Research