An incumbent’s renewal failure has long been attributed to technological change and the inability to develop capabilities and challenges arising from past adaptation success. Central to these challenges is the learning paradox which arises from rigidities in established values and other social characteristics. Working through this condition is taxing for organizational members and managers because of pace and uncertain effects in renewal trajectories. Building on these characteristics of technological trajectories, we develop a model that explains the phenomenon strategic renewal, how social contexts influence capability reconfiguration mechanisms in the incumbents’ responses to technological change and illuminate why and how configuration lock-ins can be overcome. Our model purports a meta-configurational trajectory of core paradoxes.