Logistics Service Providers’ Specialized Capabilities for Fine Art: Evidence from a Case Study.

The logistics activities regarding the movement of fine art have grown considerably in value, volume and complexity at global level, confirming its strategic and economic importance. This “movement” is not simply a physical transfer, but a set of essential activities for the protection, promotion, and international presence of a nation's cultural and artistic heritage. Fine art logistics is increasingly emerging as an enabling activity for the functioning of the entire cultural and artistic ecosystem, both nationally and internationally. In this setting, the role played by logistics service providers offering fine art services is crucial. However, academic contributions studying this field remain very few and fragmented. This study addresses this gap by analysing how logistics service providers develop their capabilities to offer fine art specialized services. To address this research question, we built on the dynamic capabilities’ theory, distinguishing among sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring processes. This research design relies on the action research approach and the empirical investigation, due to the exploratory context of this original study, is focused on a case study analysis. The selected case is an historical Italian leading logistics service provider that offers specialized fine art logistics services. The findings suggest that dynamic capabilities in fine art logistics are deeply embedded in micro-level practices and are continuously enacted throughout project-based operations. As such, this study contributes to the dynamic capabilities literature by highlighting how these capabilities unfold in highly customized, non-standardized environments, where traditional assumptions of routinization and sequential processes may not fully apply.