From disaster to discovery: How dynamic capabilities can inform human resource management practices in a VUCA environment Open Access

No issue has been more profound as an extreme global disruptor during the last 75 years than the COVID-19 pandemic (Kwok et al., 2022), radically changing the contours of organisations, sectors, markets and the economic environment in a short period of time (Nalis et al., 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic could be described as the catalyst for the modern volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) environment, causing markets to disappear overnight, allowing little time to develop strategies to manage production and workforces in a structured way (Shet, 2024). In addressing these changing forces at work, we utilise the theory of dynamic capabilities. Augier and Teece (2009) provide the most succinct definition in the context of a VUCA environment, where they describe dynamic capabilities as an organisation’s ability to use internal and external resources and competences to integrate, build and reconfigure the organisation to address and shape a rapidly changing environment. In an examination of contemporary human resource management (HRM) studies, much research has focused on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and human capital theory (HCT) (Barney, 1991) to provide a framework for understanding how organisations grow their human resource capacity aligned to competitive advantage (Boxall et al., 2011). However, in an era associated with mounting disruptive change increasingly explored through the lens of a VUCA environment (Baran and Woznyj, 2020), we argue that theoretical frameworks reflecting this new environment will provide a more pragmatic perspective on the management of (and research on) organisations, and more specifically, their human resources.

The paper explores the drivers of change, and through this framework, reflects and analyses how an emerging small to medium enterprise has enhanced its market position post-pandemic with strategies underpinned by developing its workforce knowledge, skills and ability. As such, we ask the research question: how do organisations use their human resources (employees) to ensure survival in turbulent times?

In answering this question, the paper positions the role of managing critical human resources alongside other resources using dynamic capabilities. Through a qualitative case study, where access was provided through personal contact to the organisation, we identified that dynamic capabilities position a legitimate and workable framework to progress HRM in VUCA environments. We positioned the research to create a meaningful engagement with the case to help direct and shape HRM within the organisation. This has theoretical and practical significance in providing an alternative lens to understanding dynamic capabilities, driving future research agendas and highlighting the significance of the various actors (researchers, human resource practitioner experts and the interviewees) in the research and associated implications.

By exploring the research question, we further deepen the understanding of how qualitative case studies impact HRM research. As such, we outline the process of our case study, the relationships and expectations of key actors within the case study (specifically, the researchers, HR practitioner and company directors) and the impacts of our research on the industry. We do this by outlining the theoretical contribution of VUCA environments and HRM, whilst introducing the reader to dynamic capabilities. After the method, we position the context of the case, and the researchers’ roles and expectations. We exhibit the researcher and practitioner roles and observations for the purpose of understanding our engagement with the case. We finish with a theoretical discussion, with a focus on the reflective insights as the researcher/practitioner in the case prior to the implications.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the global business landscape has become increasingly defined by a VUCA environment (Weiβ, 2025). The sudden onset of the pandemic disrupted supply chains, forced widespread remote work and created sharp fluctuations in consumer demand (Aljohani et al., 2025). Volatility and complexity grew due to the interdependence of global systems and digital acceleration, and ambiguity became evident as leaders faced unfamiliar challenges with no clear solutions (Shet, 2024) as well as the emerging global and political instability.

In response, organisations have had to adapt quickly and become more agile and resilient. Many accelerated digital transformation initiatives to support remote work and maintain customer engagement, while others restructured operations to become leaner and more responsive (Kim et al., 2024b). Leadership styles also evolved, with a greater emphasis on empathy, transparency and adaptive decision-making (Jacquart et al., 2024). Risk management and scenario planning have become more prominent as organisations seek to navigate ongoing disruptions such as geopolitical tensions, climate-related risks and continued health threats (Bolino et al., 2024). In a VUCA environment, HRM plays a critical role in enhancing organisational agility and resilience by fostering a workforce capable of responding to rapid change and uncertainty (Garavan et al., 2024). HRM supports this by implementing flexible and adaptive management strategies, such as agile recruitment, continuous learning and performance systems that emphasise short-term objectives and iterative feedback (Kim et al., 2024a). Additionally, HR practices that promote psychological safety, employee engagement and cross-functional collaboration help build organisational cultures that are more resilient to ambiguity and disruption (Gong et al., 2012). For example, training programs for managers on inclusive leadership behaviours, such as active listening, empathetic communication and encouraging diverse opinions during meetings and providing channels such as anonymous pulse surveys to voice concerns safely, support the promotion of psychological safety (Agarwal and Farndale, 2017).

Reflecting on the VUCA environment, the researchers found it imperative to understand this evolving nature of unpredictable change within business environments as traditionally, HR departments and organisations have been slow to adapt to change (Garavan et al., 2016). The impetus for the research, therefore, became about how the research team can better understand organisations' reactions to a VUCA environment and how, as HR researchers, we can better inform HR departments and organisations on how to prepare for a constantly changing environment (Weiβ, 2025).

Whilst a new and emerging concept, dynamic capabilities provide a useful framework to understand organisational decision making in a VUCA environment. Dynamic capabilities are within an organisation's capacity to strengthen and reorganise its internal and external resources to adapt to a “new” operating environment, in this case, the pandemic and VUCA environment. Managers need to be agile or forward-thinking to refine and redirect resources to develop the ability to reconfigure organisational routines, including work patterns and HR practices (Teece, 2023). Such an environment focuses the organisation on making processes simple, experimental and relies on quickly created and absorbed knowledge, interaction and execution of reconfigured resources to produce adaptive and unpredictable outcomes (Li et al., 2019). In the context of the pandemic leading to a VUCA environment, the priority for many was to focus on survival, followed by building sustained competitive advantage (Shet, 2024). Teece (2007, 2023), through research, has identified three elements to analyse organisational dynamic capabilities:

In an environment that is rapidly evolving or “high velocity”, the ability to explore, gather and filter information, make decisions and allocate resources to specific trajectories to capture value is critical (Yeow et al., 2018). The ability to focus on absorbing new information to facilitate the development of new knowledge and enable the creation of innovative responses and new scenarios for current and future opportunities is at the core of this (Li et al., 2019; Teece, 2023).

This aspect of dynamic capabilities frames the critical role of management in understanding the changing environment and allocating resources to the appropriate areas of the organisation, by creating new knowledge and innovative products (Schilke et al., 2018). It is only by shedding the outdated way of working that innovation can occur (Kaur, 2023).

The focus here is on engaging in resource allocation in a timely manner, which is critical in a “high velocity” environment (Li et al., 2019). The COVID-19 pandemic and the post-pandemic environment provided such a setting, or the opportunity for management to direct resources to novel organisational strategies to both innovate and address threats to survive and from this build sustained competitive advantage in the new environment (Muriuki et al., 2023).

Whilst Augier and Teece (2009) framed the macro perspective of dynamic capabilities theory, little research has been done on the HRM perspective. This is essential to explore as HRM policies and practices are central to facilitating adaptability, innovation and long-term organisational performance through an organisation's workforce (Apascaritei and Elvira, 2022). HRM practices contribute to dynamic capabilities in a more subtle way by signalling and fostering a learning culture through multi-skilling cross-functional teams, continuous learning programs and employee empowerment, which facilitates knowledge sharing across the organisation (Garavan et al., 2024). By aligning HR practices with organisational objectives, organisations can create a workforce that is not only skilled but also capable of driving and sustaining competitive advantage in VUCA environments, through its ability to align and refine workforce resource allocation (Garavan et al., 2024).

While integrated dynamic capabilities/HRM research is in its infancy (Gerhart and Feng, 2021). The link between HRM and organisational performance is often explained through the “black box” concept, which includes factors like employee turnover and trust-based workplace climates (Boxall et al., 2011). However, scholars have noted that the processes within this “black box” remain insufficiently explored, particularly regarding the role of individual agency in HRM (Jiang et al., 2013). To address these limitations, researchers have proposed integrating dynamic capabilities with HRM (Apascaritei and Elvira, 2022; Chadwick and Flinchbaugh, 2021; Garavan et al., 2016). Apascaritei and Elvira (2022) propose an HRM/dynamic capabilities (HRM/DC) framework to bridge the gap between dynamic capabilities theory and HRM research (see Table 1). Apascaritei and Elvira (2022) note that there are three types of HRM/DC: knowledge building, social integration and reconfiguration. First, HRM/DC that increase knowledge building, include knowledge management and development capabilities, which allow organisations to increase and store knowledge used for innovation, this can include boundary spanning and flexible patterns of working. Second, HRM/DC for social integration are internal and external relational capabilities. Internally, HRM/DC are the employee networks among peers and hierarchical levels and externally, the network within which the organisation operates. Externally, social integration looks at knowledge-sharing networks, customers and labour markets (Apascaritei and Elvira, 2022).

Reflecting on the use of the HRM/DC framework (Table 1), the researchers chose to position this research away from the traditional HRM theoretical frameworks (such as the RBV of the firm and HCT). The dynamic capabilities framework takes a whole organisation approach, and we argue is more compatible than current HRM frameworks, which insufficiently account for a VUCA environment for managing the organisation’s human resources. This has allowed the researchers to understand the case study as a whole and how HR practices fit within the organisational context. It has also allowed the researchers to expand their knowledge of theoretical frameworks that can better explain the VUCA environment and create a greater impact for future HR research.

A case study method provides a detailed insight into a phenomenon, and the idiosyncratic nature of dynamic capabilities (Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000; Ridder, 2017). As Yeow et al. (2018) note, in the context of dynamic capabilities, the use of a case study allows for a more detailed and nuanced approach to the research to identify key themes within the study that are noteworthy and allow for the understanding of the actions taken. A case study approach also allows for interpretations within a social setting, such as a workplace, to explain experiences and understand social processes that are the building blocks of management (Silverman, 2016). The case study is a “born global” gin distillery (referred to as “The Distillery”) in a regional town and a major employer in the region. Semi-structured interviews were used along with participant observations. As Yin (2013), notes, this approach provides a novel opportunity to gather data, where there is an ongoing interaction between the researcher and the subject of the research. Content analysis from available secondary data, such as news sources from the period, was also deemed valuable corroboration and illustration for the case. Analysing secondary data helped to validate the findings from our primary research (Creswell, 2013) and contributed to the narrative within the case.

We accessed The Distillery through a personal contact of one of the researchers with a director. Through ongoing discussions with the director, we identified an opportunity to undertake this research. The authors visited the case study site and conducted in-depth interviews with each of the four directors of the company. Question topics included how the pandemic impacted The Distillery, how The Distillery was able to support employees and the local community and how those changes have further impacted strategy at The Distillery. The site visits also included observations of The Distillery worksite, the shop and the restaurant/bar area and employee interactions within each area. In the findings, quotes from director interviews are noted as “Director One, Two, Three, Four.” As part of the research team, we had a human resource practitioner who offered guidance and advice on the findings and helped us to guide questioning. The practitioner offered practical insights and evaluations and was a valuable addition to the research. Secondary data included news reports, organisational reports, Website information and online videos. At the time, The Distillery was in the popular press as the leader in this space; however, we limited the secondary data from the time as there was a degree of saturation. All documents were publicly available and accessible via the Internet; the inclusion of the documents was determined based on the relevance of the document to the research case. All documents were identified using purposive sampling through keyword searches. Overall, we drew from twenty-two documents, including three video interviews, professional association news and popular press news stories. The potential limitations of the secondary sources are the author biases in the documents. However, given the breadth of documents included in the secondary analysis, a rounded perspective was provided to support the primary data collection.

As is important in research of this type, it is critical to understand the roles of the various actors and the relationships between them. As previously outlined, the conversation with The Distillery commenced informally with a known acquaintance of one of the researchers, this is where the research evolved. The practitioner was a contact of one of the researchers, but provided, through the course of the data collection, expert guidance and advice based on his practical experience. The inclusion of the practitioner also afforded a reflective touch point to review the findings in the context of human resource practice. The learning experience for the researchers to have a practitioner intimately involved surrounds the reinforcement of our practice, introduction of alternative practice and the importance of having this perspective to create impactful research for HRM in the organisation. When the official data collection commenced, the relationship with the directors of The Distillery was transactional in nature, as the intention and expectation was to illicit information to understand the evolution of their story. However, with engaged casual conversations with the directors, we were able to build rapport, which ensured that the data collection was accepted and meaningful to them. The challenges/hurdles that the research faced were that the pandemic was both a driver and novelty of the research, but also restricted access to the case in question. There was a reduced opportunity to speak to people and build more depth through the observations. Additionally, the lack of a dedicated HR department meant that the researchers had few concrete HR policies and practices to review, with practices being ad-hoc. Another hurdle we experienced was the expectations of the key actors and balancing such differing expectations. The researchers expected to explore how the organisation managed the COVID-19 pandemic and what HR outcomes could be used to future-proof organisations within a VUCA environment. The HR practitioner's expectations surrounded the support they could offer the researchers and were focused on the HR practices currently used by The Distillery. The directors expected direction on how to manage their employees and how to create HR policies and practices that could serve their change management strategy, something which the researchers were unsure about being able to fulfil.

The case is a “born global” gin distillery (The Distillery) which lost its core market overnight due to lockdowns and international border closures enforced by the pandemic. The gin market is both highly competitive and lucrative, with high-quality bespoke gin products a significant aspect of the market. The Distillery has been rated the world’s number one gin distillery on several occasions and is one of the world’s most awarded craft gin producers. The Distillery is in regional Australia. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the directors made the decision to maintain the workforce in full employment, both for the benefit of workers and the regional community, in which it was a major employer. The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic turbulence required the organisation to explore new ways of adapting to the ongoing crises. The analysis takes the framework of Apascaritei and Elvira’s (2022) HRM/DC framework (see Table 1) to provide insight and depth to the analysis of how The Distillery engaged proactive strategies to develop and enhance the organisation's core capabilities primarily through their human resources.

In the initial stages of the pandemic, the lockdown forced the closure of The Distillery; however, within this turbulent environment, management made the decision to maintain the workforce in full employment. As Director Four noted, they were the major employer of the region and felt an obligation to the staff and the community. This is where clear expectations came in for the directors, as they wanted more practical strategies to future-proof their organisation. One of the director team discussed the importance of the mindset of the business at the start of the pandemic, particularly, the recognition that The Distillery was unable to keep driving a one-dimensional growth mindset with a sense of entrepreneurial optimism (Victorian Chamber of Commerce, 2020a), with Director One acknowledging in the interview: “maybe we don’t have the right to be optimistic at the moment.” Our practitioner confirmed that at the time for some organisations, the opportunity in the face of adversity was sometimes a difficult paradox to navigate.

Planning and serendipity were the two driving forces behind the pivot and adaptions for The Distillery. One of the by-products of the gin manufacture is alcohol waste, which cannot be used for consumption, but it is a high-grade, high-proof alcohol. One of the directors, given the gravity of the situation with the pandemic, diluted and added some aloe vera to the alcohol so that the staff could protect themselves on the premises and as they moved room to room, using it as their basic sanitiser. The intent of this hand sanitiser at the time was not for commercial purposes, but a useful repurposing of a waste material, which also became the foundation for a more sustainable approach to production and the development of a circular micro-economy in the area:

After many discussions and phone calls from frontline professionals desperate for high-quality hand sanitiser, a new niche market was developed (Heffernan, 2020). The market was a hospital-grade sanitiser for health care professionals. According to Director Four, this was “the call that needed to be answered urgently” and The Distillery had the capacity to answer this call. The researchers observed that there was an evident passion in how the director talked about this need. This supported an underlying philosophy to be proactive in contributing to society, leading the team to develop and manufacture hand sanitiser according to the World Health Organisation recipe, using the by-products of the gin distillation process (The House of Wellness, 2020; Victorian Chamber of Commerce, 2020b). This new product line was the first attempt to proactively explore new opportunities through scanning the environment for new ventures and alliances. The boundary-spanning approach was reinforced by the practitioner as critical to the success and longevity of organisations at the time. The new product also enabled production to be continued with only a minor refining and redirecting of employees, working patterns and HR practices (Augier and Teece, 2009) to meet a significant need for the medical industry (and society) (Starkey, 2020). As noted, whilst a minor adjustment in processes, this began the progression in management and confidence in their attitude to become more agile and proactive with their workforce in terms of working as a team to explore how they could adjust and adopt to the environment. As Director One noted from the interview:

Through further diversification and through the scanning of the needs of consumers, the “Heads, Tails and Clean Hands” sanitiser for public consumption was created (Sydney Morning Herald, 2020; The Moodie Davitt Report, 2020). Initially, The Distillery was producing 50,000 litres of sanitiser over the first weeks of the pandemic. The consumer sanitiser sold out online within 36 h. To make sanitiser at full capacity, the 60-strong workforce required retraining and learning new skills, around product handling and quality control for this new product (Heffernan, 2020). The crucial part of this dynamic capability was how the organisation embraced relatively minor changes through resource reallocation to refocus its manufacturing. The practitioner observed that this appeared to be a smooth transition for The Distillery, keeping production similar, keeping costs down and keeping employees in jobs. The Distillery knew that its employees’ skills could be crafted to support the new direction of the business.

From an HR perspective, the key here for The Distillery management was to plan accordingly before mobilising their employees. The Distillery was able to utilise all staff and production capacity at such a turbulent time or as Augier and Teece (2009) note, refine and redirect resources. This success gave management the confidence to adopt a more agile approach and became the catalyst for the development of an open forum of suggestions for change and opportunities with the workforce around products, jobs and skills, based around a philosophy articulated by Director Two: “ …. people come before stuff, and we are trying to keep the whole team together.”

The context of the pandemic meant that increasing knowledge and skill development was important and developed quickly. The next development in aligning HR skills to the unfamiliar environment was an ongoing discussion with the workforce. The researchers noted that having all employees rotated onto the production line for hand sanitiser, the gap in production left by the collapse in orders for gin was quickly eliminated (Allen, 2020). As Director One noted in the interview:

As the pandemic became more enduring, increased discussions between employees and directors focused on more structured skill development systems, for example, bar staff retraining as forklift drivers. The researchers noted this “pitch in” culture within The Distillery, with employees and directors alike happy to work in new jobs to keep the organisation going, was a testament to the “family” culture built by the directors. In this increasingly agile culture, underpinned by growing levels of communication, management observed a change in approach from the workforce, noting:

Whilst staff were allowed to try any job which became part of the culture, one of the directors noted that an incident with alcohol transfer from the prime mover caused a minor accident – there was a realisation that their form of job crafting was getting ahead of training in work health and safety. As a result of the incident, it was used as an opportunity to train all staff to check the safety standards during the distillation process. During the primary interview, Director Three noted:

This incident was a learning and skill-building opportunity in the more agile culture that was developing. In terms of relationships, as Director Two indicated, the crisis and pivot had illustrated that The Distillery has a resilient, flexible and dedicated team, who fully supported the decision taken in the pivot. Relationships between staff members were strengthened when they rotated jobs; they were able to spend time with different team members, and due to their new skills, could support different teams when required.

As the (global) economy reopened, The Distillery moved back to its core business of gin distilling, whilst scaling back hand sanitiser production (Bayens, 2020). A key outcome of the re-skilling was the creation of a new product line and a closer relationship with the workforce and a more entrepreneurial culture developing as people became familiar with each other and how various aspects of the business operated. For example, suggestions put forward and acted upon included providing excess sanitiser free to local schools and sending the fruit waste back to the farms for animal feed as part of the developing circular economy. The researchers observed that employees felt they could approach management with ideas about work, production and products, for illustration, employees were able to develop their own skills in terms of proposing and developing new gin flavours, cocktails and food recipes, as the restaurant was expanded. It was noted in the interview by Director Two that,

On reflection, in a discussion post-pandemic with the directors, they concluded that their original philosophy of putting employees first and staying open during the pandemic to maintain the full workforce participation during this period was justified, and was a catalyst for a change to a more agile and sustainable business approach. As the Director Four noted:

This paper identifies the impact of how an organisation’s re-examination and utilisation of their resources, not least their employees, ensured survival in turbulent times and demonstrates the importance of impactful HRM research. A significant aspect of the organisation’s success was the leadership's focus on maintaining the workforce in full employment, which required The Distillery to explore new market opportunities. This began the drive to a more agile agenda to explore alternate strategies, in a highly turbulent market environment (Shet, 2024). The outcomes resulted in the organisation’s ability to retain all employees, enhancing their skill and knowledge base and diversifying their product lines, leading to sustained competitive advantage for the organisation post-pandemic.

Both internal and external social integration capabilities were evident in the case study. The HRM systems in place that promote social integration can positively contribute to the emergence of dynamic capabilities to support organisational performance. Research identifies that social connections allow knowledge to freely flow, enhancing learning, social integration and the creation of a shared identity (Dagnino et al., 2021) in which employees “band together” to get through tough organisational times. Social integration capabilities are also helpful for external relationships and associations, such as maintaining customer relationships, developing alliances with competitors and networking with the local community (Fait et al., 2023). This was a clear impact from the research in identifying the importance of this social integration. At a local level, management gained considerable insight into how integral the organisation had become to the local region and how the maintenance of full employment impacted the local community. Reconfiguration capabilities often rely on flexibility and coordination (Snell and Morris, 2021). As such, how adaptable employees’ skills, abilities and attitudes are directly translate to the flexibility of the organisation. We see this impact within the case study. A key outcome of the re-skilling was the relational aspect, with a more entrepreneurial culture developing as employees became familiar with each other and how various aspects of the business operated, enhanced by the rotation of jobs.

The experience of the evolution of this research is multifaceted. As researchers, working with a human resource practitioner, substantially and fundamentally influenced not only the research process but also reflected the meaning in the findings. As researchers, we were able to tailor our questions and observation techniques, after discussions with the practitioner, to suit the practical nature of the expectations of the directors. We learnt from the practitioner the importance of understanding the practical relevance of findings, which enabled the researchers to better reflect and apply dynamic capabilities to The Distillery. This increased the impact of the research findings for The Distillery, and we were able to give them practical strategies to reinforce their processes and practices to counteract the VUCA environment. For example, we were able to show the impact of dynamic capability on managing the workforce. This offered The Distillery the opportunity to reflect on how they developed their communication, strategies, job design, job crafting and occupational health and safety. This is especially important, even though they did not have an HR department, they became inadvertently focused on HRM.

An interesting reflection here was the outcome of the differing expectations of the key actors. The researchers expected a more focused outcome relating to the emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the outcomes were broader towards a generalist VUCA environment, with the practical outcomes offering strategies to deal with constantly evolving environments. The practitioner ended the study by giving the researchers more practical insights into the business environment, rather than just HR practices and policies; therefore, this role expanded and supported the researchers in additional ways, which impacted the outcomes positively. While the directors expected clearer direction on how to manage their employees and how to create HR policies and practices that could serve their change management strategy, the researchers were unsure about being able to fulfil. We were able to do this and provide clear instructions on how The Distillery could ensure its protection from the VUCA environment.

The researchers offered a report to The Distillery and spoke at length with the directors about the outcomes. First, the research, from an economic perspective, gave The Distillery the ability to reshape and refocus (human) resources within the organisation to increase its resilience both during and post the pandemic, in an increasingly VUCA environment. Second, the research identified leadership qualities that prioritise a holistic management approach (bringing the workforce with you), which enhanced the agility and sustained competitive advantage of The Distillery. The case demonstrated that this approach helped to sustain operations for The Distillery in the long term.

Third, we noted to The Distillery the importance of a dedicated HR department, with HR policies and practices that promote and encourage employee development, which can enhance an organisation’s dynamic capabilities, this is critical in re-skilling and internal mobility in VUCA environments. Thus, enabling the potential for diversification and innovation, in the case of The Distillery, this is the product pivot and embracing new ways of working. This bottom-up innovation (new recipes, job crafting and job rotation) reinforces an organisational culture that is entrepreneurial in spirit and where employees feel valued, managers were able to prioritise empowering employees to generate innovative ideas. This is not new, but is a challenge; the rewards may far outweigh the perceived risks or the change required in the culture, as the VUCA environment appears to be a permanent fixture for most organisations. Thus, reinforcing the role that leaders play in enabling organisational knowledge creation (Von Krogh et al., 2012) and supporting employees through their own values and beliefs. While The Distillery did not indicate that an HR department was part of their strategy, they did acknowledge that their HR policies and practices need future proofing and added that this research has aided them to do so.

The present study makes two significant contributions to the HRM literature. The first is contributing to the advancement and understanding of theoretical frames of reference in HRM. Our research offers corroboration of Apascaritei and Elvira's (2022) HRM/DC framework, as we identified that the HR systems can build dynamic capabilities leading to increased organisational agility. However, we suggest that further research on HRM/DC needs to be explored. While research by Garavan et al. (2016) shows a clear integration of dynamic stretegic human resource development (SHRD) capabilities, mapping dynamic capabilities and SHRD together, we suggest that, due to a VUCA environment, HRM needs to consider continuous renewal strategies to fully contribute to sustained competitive advantage. Whilst we recognise the importance of SHRD as outlined by Garavan et al. (2016), we suggest that, while responding to the VUCA environment, HRM needs to use the full range of processes and HR practices (such as skill assessments, job redesign, crafting and rotation). As such, further research needs to explore the types of strategies, practices and processes more fully that would benefit organisations responding to the VUCA environment.

Second, the paper further extends the dynamic capabilities literature by identifying that the development of dynamic capabilities is not only a top-down approach, but it is socially embedded and co-created with multiple stakeholders through human resources and leadership practices (Apascaritei and Elvira, 2022; Fait et al., 2023). The case study provides evidence on how leadership (the directors) at The Distillery, operating in a VUCA environment, played a key role that was both relational and integrative (Shin et al., 2012). As a result, The Distillery was able to empower employees, foster social cohesion and engage with its local communities. Offering a further dimension for dynamic capability research.

Whilst this qualitative approach may offer deeper and more nuanced insights into how dynamic capabilities and HRM policies and practices combine to enable the organisation's survival and enhance sustained competitive advantage post the pandemic, it is only a single case study. The generalisation of the findings may be limited to this workforce. We therefore encourage further research with larger samples over a longer period and across various sectors. We also suggest a deeper focus on HR practices that can inform and support the dynamic capabilities framework (Garavan et al., 2016). As such, we recommend empirical testing with, for example, multiple case studies undertaking longitudinal research and embracing multilevel analysis to better understand the multi-dimensional phenomenon of HRM and its effects on both managers, workers and sustainable competitive advantage across organisations.

It would be useful to conduct research to ascertain if the momentum for a more agile workplace is maintained in less turbulent times. Further case study research will also help to unpack the extent to which dynamic capabilities are promoted or stagnate or the influence of changing leadership. It would be worthwhile for HRM scholars to study the breadth and effectiveness of the different dimensions of dynamic capabilities linked to HRM practices in influencing the effects on employees. For example, research on the impact of dynamic capabilities and HRM practices and their effects on employee attitudes to issues such as job satisfaction, engagement and the impact on psychological contract is essential, over an extended period to gauge the influence of these changes.

This study makes important contributions to the field of HRM and our understanding of how HRM can contribute to organisational competitiveness in a VUCA environment. Our study has demonstrated that research and practice should be open to a move away from traditional HRM frameworks, such as RBV, to a more dynamic understanding of the environment that HRM finds itself in. In doing so, HRM can contribute to the continuous organisational renewal needed in such VUCA environments. The study presented dynamic capabilities (Augier and Teece, 2009) as such a framework that can extend our understanding of HRM in turbulent times, and in doing so emphasise the importance of these capabilities and the leadership in driving organisational agility in action.