Organizational capacity for change and strategic ambidexterity: Flying the plane while rewiring it (original) (raw)
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ORGANIZATIONAL AMBIDEXTERITY AS A NEW RESEARCH PARADIGM IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Long-term survival and growth depends on the rm’s ability to exploit its current competencies while exploring fundamentally new ones. Finding the balance between exploration and exploitation is called am- bidexterity in the literature. This paper is a comprehensive review of organizational ambidexterity theory. Creating and maintaining the capacity to simultaneously pursue these contradictory activities is an ext- remely dif cult managerial challenge. Although, several aspects are well-researched, especially structural and leadership solutions in large, multinational enterprises, but little is known about: (1) how ambidexterity forms in earlier growth stages? (2) What are the key drivers and elements of organizational context that makes organizations able to become ambidextrous? (3) What is the role of different managerial levels in this formation process? Reviewing the literature, in this article the author would like to introduce the paradox of exploration and exploitation, the tensions and different aspects of ambidexterity, the elds current stage and some important research gaps.
The Role of Strategic and Operational Absorptive Capacity in Organizational Ambidexterity
Social Science Research Network, 2018
In today's dynamic corporate environment where firms struggle to maintain a competitive advantage, ambidextrous firms focusing on both exploration and exploitation are more likely to survive and prosper in the long run. Scholars have identified and examined a number of antecedents of organizational ambidexterity, but DEDICATION To Ivan, Rocio, Luz and Javiera, with all my love. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply grateful to Dr. Charlotte Ren for her insightful comments and clear guidance. I also extend my gratitude to the members of my Examining Committee, Drs.
Ambidexterity as a dynamic capability: Resolving the innovator's dilemma
Research in Organizational Behavior, 2008
How do organizations survive in the face of change? Underlying this question is a rich debate about whether organizations can adapt-and if so how. One perspective, organizational ecology, presents evidence suggesting that most organizations are largely inert and ultimately fail. A second perspective argues that some firms do learn and adapt to shifting environmental contexts. Recently, this latter view has coalesced around two themes. The first, based on research in strategy suggests that dynamic capabilities, the ability of a firm to reconfigure assets and existing capabilities, explains long-term competitive advantage. The second, based on organizational design, argues that ambidexterity, the ability of a firm to simultaneously explore and exploit, enables a firm to adapt over time. In this paper we review and integrate these comparatively new research streams and identify a set of propositions that suggest how ambidexterity acts as a dynamic capability. We suggest that efficiency and innovation need not be strategic tradeoffs and highlight the substantive role of senior teams in building dynamic capabilities.
Managing Organizational Ambidexterity
2023
We define organizational ambidexterity as a high order dynamic capability governing the continuous enhancement of the interaction between exploration and exploitation. Managing this interaction implies resolving the firm’s permanent struggle to overcome perceived barriers in realising the right resource configuration between exploration and exploitation. Since organizations learn to manage ambidexterity through iteration and experience, fostering path dependencies, we expect that the type of capabilities deployed to overcome these barriers will be contingent on the strategic orientation of the firm. Thus ambidexterity can be seen as a theory of adaptability and innovativeness.
Organizational Ambidexterity: Balancing Exploitation and Exploration for Sustained Performance
Organization Science, 2009
O rganizational ambidexterity has emerged as a new research paradigm in organization theory, yet several issues fundamental to this debate remain controversial. We explore four central tensions here: Should organizations achieve ambidexterity through differentiation or through integration? Does ambidexterity occur at the individual or organizational level? Must organizations take a static or dynamic perspective on ambidexterity? Finally, can ambidexterity arise internally, or do firms have to externalize some processes? We provide an overview of the seven articles included in this special issue and suggest several avenues for future research.
Ambidexterity broadly refers to an organization's ability to pursue two disparate things at the same time. Ambidextrous firms are capable of exploiting existing competencies as well as exploring new opportunities with equal dexterity. Capacity to pursue both exploitative and exploratory orientation depends on combinations of contradictory organizational characteristics such as decentralization, formalization, and connectedness. This study aims to explain organizational ambidexterity and organizational factors that are antecedents of ambidexterity in a theoretical way and to examine the impacts of these factors on organizational ambidexterity empirically. Data was obtained from private corporations operating in Kayseri (Turkey). Regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between organizational ambidexterity and contradictory organizational characteristics, and to test the research hypothesis. The results of regression analysis provide support for hypothesis.
Strategic marketing ambidexterity: antecedents and financial consequences
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 2015
Strategic marketing ambidexterity (SMA), the blend of a firm's exploitation of existing competencies and exploration of future capabilities in strategic marketing activities, represents a dynamic capability that is vital in achieving superior performance. Given its criticality, the authors examine how firm antecedents and industry contexts affect the shift in a firm's SMA over time (movement in the blend of exploitation and exploration). In addition, the authors examine SMA's influence on firm financial outcomes, i.e., risk and return. Using data from 1999 to 2011 on publically traded firms, the authors show that firm maturity and slack (financial and strategic) are key determinants of SMA. Specifically, increased firm maturity and strategic slack result in a shift toward exploitation, whereas increased financial slack results in a shift toward exploration. Industry competitiveness moderates these effects. In terms of the financial performance implications of SMA, the authors find that shifts in SMA toward exploitation increase return, but they also increase firmidiosyncratic risk. The authors conclude with implications for theory and managerial practice.
European Journal of Management Studies, 2021
PurposeEstablishing a competitive advantage in today's dynamic environment involves optimizing an organization's exploration and exploitation strategy. This paper aims to explore how an open innovation strategy complements the organization's ambidextrous strategy in attaining a competitive advantage. Organizational ambidexterity and dynamic capability theories are also explored to investigate the impact of open innovation on the organization's ambidextrous strategy and competitive advantage – especially inbound and outbound open innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a systematic literature review using Boolean search techniques, which was focused on the research fields of the sub-areas of general management, strategy, innovation, organization studies, information management, entrepreneurship, international business, marketing, and economics, supplemented by the snowball technique.FindingsOrganizations that combine their ambidextrous strategy wit...