Getting the Job Done: Unlocking the Potential of Ordinary Capabilities for NTBF Performance

New technology-based firms (NTBFs) play a crucial role in technology development and economic growth. However, only a small number of NTBFs successfully overcome challenges to achieve exceptional levels of business performance. Existing research within the Resource-Based View (RBV) has attempted to explain this complex phenomenon by investigating valuable capabilities but has neglected to consider that NTBFs require different sets of capabilities tailored to their business strategies and operating contexts. These studies often fail to acknowledge that NTBF performance cannot be solely attributed to a single capability, regardless of its value or rarity. To address these gaps, we analyze how 48 Brazilian and 52 French agtechs, a unique type of NTBFs, configure their ordinary capabilities to enhance business performance. Employing fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) methods, we demonstrate that no single ordinary capability can independently generate high levels of performance for agtechs in either context. Instead, we identified multiple configurations of ordinary capabilities that form three distinct business growth strategies, improving agtech performance in each context. Specifically, in Brazil, we discovered "resourceful," "outsourcing," and "homemade" growth strategy patterns, while in France, we observed "resourceful," "top performers," and "high-tech" patterns. These findings carry significant implications for RBV theory.