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Reflections on the 2013 Decade Award—“Exploitation, Exploration, and Process Management: The Productivity Dilemma Revisited” Ten Years Later
Abstract
This article reflects on our 2003 article, "Exploitation, Exploration, and Process Management: The Productivity Dilemma Revisited, " which received the Academy of Management Review's Best Article Award in 2003 and Decade Award in 2013. We consider the context within which we wrote the original article, with particular reference to the theoretical, empirical, and managerial problems salient at that time, and comment on the likely reasons the article has had a sustained influence in the field. Looking forward, we first ask whether the paradoxes and inconsistencies we discussed are still fundamental organizational challenges, and then go further to consider ways the domain of innovation itself has changed. We suggest that because of fundamental shifts in communication and information processing costs and the increasing modularity of products and services, the nature and locus of innovation have changed over the past decade. These secular trends have profound implications for our theories of innovation and organizations. Our extant theory and research are increasingly uncoupled from the phenomena. We would be well served to revisit the nature, locus, and basic processes of innovation.
... Due to the uncertainty of digital phenomena, scholars from various fields have started to question the explanatory power of existing theories (see e.g. Benner and Tushman, 2015;Haefner et al., 2021;Hanelt et al., 2021;Lyytinen, 2022;Nambisan et al., 2019). This aligns with the broader discussion within social science research, wherein scholars are expected to build on previous research to avoid the need to 'reinvent the wheel' (Oxley et al., 2010). ...
... water) rather than a theoretical inquiry, which led me to use an 'exploratory approach' throughout the research process (Yin, 2018). As suggested by previous scholars, studying digitalisation calls for problem and phenomenon driven research (Bailey et al., 2022;Benner and Tushman, 2015;Gkeredakis and Constantinides, 2019;von Krogh, 2018). The aim of problem and phenomenon driven research is not primarily to address a theoretical gap but rather to investigate and seek explanations for an 'empirical puzzle' of interest for scholars and practitioners alike (Schwarz and Stensaker, 2016). ...
... This omission is surprising, especially considering the attention digitalisation has received in adjacent fields, such as innovation studies (see e.g. Benner and Tushman, 2015;Haefner et al., 2021;Lyytinen, 2022). To address this gap, I proposed that digitalisation can be understood as change processes (transitions) driven by the use of digital technologies, drawing upon the information systems field to understand the peculiarities of these technologies. ...
Digitalisation is frequently described as one of the most significant technology trends of our time, with grand narratives depicting an increasingly digital future. We are said to have entered a new technological era where digital technologies drive disruptive change across society. Given the nature of these technologies, digitalisation is expected to be present in virtually every industry and sector in society. In industries such as music, media, and retail, digitalisation has already had a profound impact. While these industries were among the first to digitalise, others are now following. ‘Digital’ has become synonymous with innovation and modernity, establishing a digital imperative across various settings. In some contexts, however, the transformative potential remains less evident. Consequently, we need to pay closer attention to the conditions under which different entities, whether organisations, systems, or industries, become more or less adaptive to digitalisation.
The point of departure for this thesis is the water sector. Similar to other industries, digitalisation has gained general attention in the water sector under labels such as ‘digital water’, ‘Water 4.0’, and ‘the fourth water revolution’. Digital technologies are expected to leapfrog traditional infrastructure development and drive an anticipated transformation. However, the water sector is generally known for being conservative and resistant to change. This inertia is primarily attributed to the infrastructure systems and their focal actors, where sunk investments, long-term technical durability, and vested interests create significant barriers towards change. Empirically, this thesis is based on qualitative studies from the Swedish water sector. It primarily draws upon semi-structured interviews with representatives from the sector and inquires into the respondents’ perceptions of the implementation, use, and implications of digital technologies in urban water management. Theoretically, this thesis draws upon large technical systems and sustainability transitions studies. These literature streams have well-established traditions of studying the interplay between stability and change in infrastructure sectors such as water, energy, and transportation. By depicting the infrastructure systems of the water sector as sociotechnical systems, which constitute technologies and material artefacts, actors and their networks, and institutions and rules, this thesis sets out to explore what digitalisation means in mature and stable infrastructure sectors such as the water sector.
This thesis contributes to the broader discourse on digitalisation present in both academia and practice. First, it draws attention to the dominant narrative regarding the disruptive forces of digitalisation. While this narrative applies to some settings, it is not necessarily true for all contexts. Second, it highlights the importance of contextual anchoring. Digitalisation in the water sector will naturally differ from the
development we have witnessed in the music and media industries because we cannot replace either core technologies or core actors in the water sector. Rather than replacing pipes, pumps, and treatment plants with digital replicas, digital technologies are add-ons that alter the properties and functionalities of the existing technologies. Similarly, the core actors cannot be replaced by digital entrants due to the institutional environment and its established laws, regulations, and expectations. Instead, digitalisation depends on incentives and the ability of established actors to digitalise, wherein digital entrants can form new alliances and rearrange power structures. Consequently, the contextual situation shapes the very nature and scope of digitalisation and, ultimately, the possible digital transformation. Finally, this thesis emphasises adaptability over disruption. Digital technologies, with their flexible and incomplete-by-design nature, can be integrated successively into existing systems without requiring major investments or changes. Their transformative potential arises from the combination of various technologies implemented in various parts of the system. As a result, this offers an alternative narrative to the prevalent focus on disruption, suggesting that it is digital technologies’ ability to fit and conform rather than disrupt that drives widespread digitalisation in society.
... Nevertheless, despite timely concern and substantive relevance of these tensions, several questions remain unanswered about how decision-makers can address conflicting performance objectives, e.g., costs, on-time delivery, and flexibility in OSCM (Lee 2021;Dieste et al. 2021;Antony et al. 2020;Ng et al. 2015;Patel et al. 2012;Agus and Hajinoor 2012;Hendricks and Singhal 2005). Similarly, there is today a salient lack of clarity, theory-informed and prescriptive research analyzing how operations and supply chain managers can cope with these challenges while attending to the expected levels of operational performance (Modi and Cantor 2021;Lee 2021;Sahi et al. 2021;Benner and Tushman 2015;Patel et al. 2012;Agus and Hajinoor 2012). Specifically, a lack of clarity exists that explains how performance improvement programs such as Lean and, particularly, the individual Lean practices or the Lean bundles operationalized in operations and supply chains (i.e., methods, techniques, tools) can support companies to attenuate the effects of these performance paradoxes to respond to some foundational OSCM challenges (Modi and Cantor 2021;Dieste et al. 2021;Dieste et al. 2022;Psomas 2021aPsomas 2021bAntony et al. 2020;Negrão et al. 2017;Ward 2007, 2003;Fullerton et al. 2014;Belekoukias et al. 2014). ...
... The specification of simultaneous interrelationships of the Lean practices and their heterogeneous intensity of influence over the performance objectives address some knowledge gaps in the Lean literature (Mackelprang and Nair 2010;Jasti and Kodali 2015;Abreu-Ledón et al. 2018) and can be particularly useful to help companies to improve performance objectives that are relevant to the company (Antony et al. 2020;Leite et al. 2020;Psomas and Antony 2019). The insights developed from this article can assist companies in improving their competitiveness through OSCM or sustain the existing firm's position over competitors in the market (Khanchanapong et al. 2014;Bevilacqua et al. 2017) through the exploitation of existing knowledge (Benner and Tushman 2015) and Lean competencies. In particular, this study would benefit Lean companies acting in competitive and dynamic markets pressured to attend to conflicting internal and external tensions expressed through the performance objectives. ...
... Furthermore, being a cross-disciplinary research, the paper contributes to knowledge advancement in the research area that examines the performance paradox theory (Benner and Tushman 2015;Lewis and Smith 2014) through the specific lens of Lean by presenting a multidimensional framework from the findings (see Fig. 2). The study also contributes to addressing the apparent reluctance of OSCM scholars to adopt ideas from other management disciplines, which creates isolation of sub-fields, although reputable outlets have been changing this landscape (Boer et al. 2015). ...
The decision-making processes in operations and supply chain management (OSCM) activities often impose tensions that challenge companies to deal with conflicting performance objectives, resulting in several operational performance paradoxes. However, despite timely concern and the substantive relevance and impact of these paradoxes, several questions remain unanswered about how operational practices, such as Lean, can assist companies in mitigating the effects of these paradoxes. This study investigated how Lean practices can assist companies in reconciling conflicting operational performance objectives in OSCM. Qualitative and quantitative methods were employed during the research, including a qualitative Delphi panel, followed by a quantitative Delphi survey with Lean experts and subsequent statistical analyses to test the hypothesis examined. Findings provide additional evidence to the theory about the role of Lean practices in reconciling conflicting performance objectives in OSCM, enabling companies to embrace contradictions against performance paradoxes. First, this study advances knowledge about the influence of the Lean bundles on operational performance objectives. Second, we show which performance objectives are most impacted by the respective Lean practices and those that are non-significant over the performance objectives more accurately. Third, a multidimensional three-level framework that is lean-oriented is drawn from the findings, assisting companies and OSCM decision-makers in managing operational performance tensions. Fourth, the study informs companies to make more accurate predictions when examining their current process improvement programs and find alternatives to address operational performance tensions. This article offers original insights that help to bridge the theory and practice, improving our understanding of the role of Lean in subsidy decisions against contradictory performance objectives in OSCM. Finally, the study contributes to decision-making in OSCM, providing detailed and actionable insights to managers to cope with performance paradoxes.
... Most research findings provide different perspectives on the variations of innovation (Benner & Tushman, 2015;Gholamhossein Mehralian et al., 2024). However, most of the studies claim that innovation is anything original or an improved idea, recombination of old ideas, approaches, or methods, or anything that is perceived as new or improved (Alves et al., 2017;Goni & Van Looy, 2022;Jha & Bose, 2016). ...
... However, most of the studies claim that innovation is anything original or an improved idea, recombination of old ideas, approaches, or methods, or anything that is perceived as new or improved (Alves et al., 2017;Goni & Van Looy, 2022;Jha & Bose, 2016). The exploration-exploitation framework of organizational learning gained prominence within organizational, strategic innovation (Benner & Tushman, 2015;Konlechner et al., 2018) and IS literature (Yoshikuni & Galvão, 2023;. According to , exploratory and exploitative innovation are classified into two domains: proximity to existing technologies, products, and services and proximity to existing customers or market segments. ...
... Previous studies demonstrated that DC was positively and highly significant to exploration innovation (effectiveness to create new products) and exploitation innovation (adaptive efficiency to renew existing products) (Pavlou & El Sawy, 2006, 2010Protogerou et al., 2012;Wilhelm et al., 2015). To expand the knowledge and contribute to innovation management research, it is recommended that further studies investigate new constructs associated, with exploration and exploitation innovation (Benner & Tushman, 2015;Jansen, Vera, et al., 2009) leveraged by digital technologies (Nambisan et al., 2017) and specific context factors, such as developing economies (Konlechner et al., 2018;Warner & W€ ager, 2019). This study declares the following hypotheses: ...
The advent of the digital era has transformed the way businesses create, compete,
and maintain their existence, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. To maintain resilience in the ever-changing business landscapes of today, especially in emerging economies, businesses utilize dynamic information technology capabilities (DITC) to cultivate organizational capacities that foster innovation. This article argues that Dynamic Innovation and Technological Capabilities (DITC) allows companies to develop flexible and adaptive skills to foster innovation. The results from 684 Brazilian businesses showed that implementing Dynamic Information Technology Capabilities (DITC) improved their ability to come up with both new ideas and ways to use existing
ones. This was possible because DITC improved the firms' dynamic and
improvisational skills. The post hoc analysis of FIMIX PLS and PLS-POS reveals that
DITC plays a greater role in fostering innovation through dynamic capabilities rather
than improvisational capabilities. The research on unobserved heterogeneity showed that a high level of DITC has big and strong effects on developing dynamic and improvisational skills for coming up with new ambidexterity ideas. The results indicated that companies should integrate the potential of digital technology and information to establish organizational capacities that can effectively compete within developing economies.
... These scholars have stressed that ideas for innovation might be generated either via the synthesis of exploitation of existing resources or by exploring new resources, which involves diverse new knowledge and disrupting patterns. Therefore, to ensure continued success in the present and the future, several researchers stress the importance of a firm's ability to strike a balance between exploitative and exploratory types of innovation (Berraies and Hamouda, 2018;Randle and Pisano, 2021;Benner and Tushman, 2015). This technique of simultaneously exploring contemporary trends and leveraging pre-existing resources in innovation is commonly known as AI (March, 1991a). ...
... This technique of simultaneously exploring contemporary trends and leveraging pre-existing resources in innovation is commonly known as AI (March, 1991a). Moreover, Benner and Tushman (2015) and March (1991a) claimed that both antecedents of AI, that is, exploratory and exploitative innovations, are essential, mutually supportive, and should coexist rather than compete. Therefore, numerous scholars have emphasized that organizational ambidexterity, which refers to a company's capacity to engage in both exploratory and exploitative innovation, is a critical component of a company's CA (Randle and Pisano, 2021;Berraies and Zine El Abidine, 2019;Benner and Tushman, 2015). ...
... Moreover, Benner and Tushman (2015) and March (1991a) claimed that both antecedents of AI, that is, exploratory and exploitative innovations, are essential, mutually supportive, and should coexist rather than compete. Therefore, numerous scholars have emphasized that organizational ambidexterity, which refers to a company's capacity to engage in both exploratory and exploitative innovation, is a critical component of a company's CA (Randle and Pisano, 2021;Berraies and Zine El Abidine, 2019;Benner and Tushman, 2015). ...
Purpose
This study examines the link between the knowledge creation process, ambidextrous innovation, and competitive advantage. Further, this study also tested the moderating role of organizational agility on the relationship between the knowledge creation process and ambidextrous innovation.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical study’s data were collected by surveying 306 respondents employed in 140 Pakistani Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The questionnaire was designed according to the study’s requirements and was based on theoretical knowledge and findings from previous research on the knowledge-creation process, ambidextrous innovation, and competitive advantage. All hypotheses were tested using a structured regression method.
Findings
The study indicates that the knowledge creation process significantly impacts a firm’s competitive advantage. Additionally, this study demonstrates that ambidextrous innovation can moderate the relationship between the knowledge-creation process and competitive advantage.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies should examine mediating factors, such as organizational culture, leadership style, and industry characteristics, as well as moderating variables, such as environmental turbulence.
Practical implications
This study guides SME leaders on the importance of knowledge creation and ambidextrous innovation in achieving operational success and gaining a competitive advantage.
Originality/value
This study explores how the knowledge creation process directly and indirectly, enhances organizational capacity for competitive advantage through the mediating roles of ambidextrous innovation and the moderating role of organizational agility.
... Exploitative innovation refers to the creation and deepening of the technical knowledge of the existing knowledge base of the enterprise, while exploratory innovation refers to the creation of new technical knowledge based on the existing knowledge base [10]. The characteristic of exploitative innovation is the process of local search, refinement, and expansion of the existing knowledge dimension of the enterprise, while the characteristic of exploratory innovation is the process of experimentation, remote search, and deviation from the core knowledge dimension of the enterprise, therefore, the exploitative innovation process meets the needs of current customers or markets by optimizing existing technologies and skills so as to achieve a gradual improvement, while exploratory innovation seeks new measures that break away from existing knowledge and technology trajectories to adapt to emerging customers or markets [11]. ...
... Exploitative innovation refers to the creation of technical knowledge that deepens the existing knowledge base of the enterprise, while exploratory innovation refers to the creation of new technical knowledge on the existing knowledge base of the enterprise. Exploitative innovation is manifested as the process of local search, refinement, and expansion of the existing knowledge dimension of the enterprise, while exploratory innovation is manifested as the process of experimentation, remote search, and deviation of the core knowledge dimension of the enterprise [11]. Ambidexterity of enterprises is believed the optimal method to realize the allocation of organizational resources and the key strategy for organizations to achieve strengthening and sustainable development [26]. ...
... The former is based on the background that China's key core technology research and development field is facing dual pressures from the market and technology. The absorption, imitation, and innovation of advanced technology focuses on the short-term accumulation and expansion of existing technology and faces less uncertainty [11]. The latter focuses on long-term-oriented innovation activities with greater uncertainty, exploring new technical knowledge and corresponding market areas [11]. ...
Ambidextrous innovation synergy is an effective way for new entrants and R&D entities to break the blockade of key core technologies. This paper constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model of new entrants, the R&D entity, and monopoly enterprises under the monopoly situation of key core technologies, discusses the dynamic equilibrium process of how new entrants cooperate with the R&D entity to carry out the ambidextrous innovation synergy strategy, and extends the model to the policy subsidy situations of different development stages of key core technology. The results show that the monopoly of key core technologies enhances the original innovation search ability of new entrants and promotes the evolution of enterprise imitation innovation to the exploratory innovation strategy. In the basic research stage of key core technology, the exploratory innovation strategy of new entrants is more sensitive to the cost of network embedding and the original innovation knowledge search. New entrants prefer the imitation innovation strategy, and policy subsidies have no significant effect on exploratory innovation. In the promotion stage of the key core technology market, fiscal and tax subsidies can more easily promote the evolution of new entrants from the imitative innovation strategy to the exploratory innovation strategy than R&D subsidies, and network embeddedness can induce enterprises to carry out exploratory innovation only when a certain threshold is reached. In addition, this paper discusses the influence mechanism of monopoly enterprises' suppression intensities and key core technology breakthrough probabilities on the evolution equilibrium of new entrants' ambidextrous innovation synergy strategies.
... However, how firms can build operational capabilities to mitigate the trade-off between incremental and radical innovation is largely unknown (Benner and Tushman, 2015;Sahi et al., 2021). Moreover, according to Sahi et al. (2021) and Saleh et al. (2023), there is scarce literature describing how organizations can achieve a trade-off between pursuing exploration and exploitation, enabling practices related to resources, capabilities, competencies, processes and technologies. ...
... Moreover, according to Sahi et al. (2021) and Saleh et al. (2023), there is scarce literature describing how organizations can achieve a trade-off between pursuing exploration and exploitation, enabling practices related to resources, capabilities, competencies, processes and technologies. Benner and Tushman (2015) described that operational capabilities compete with the same scarce organizational resources to create innovation of exploration and exploitation. As a result, firms can be restricted to developing critical ambidextrous capabilities in business processes through organizational resources (tangible and intangible) to mitigate the trade-off of exploration and exploitation (Ardito et al., 2018;Xie et al., 2020;Ho et al., 2009). ...
Purpose
The research aims to identify the impacts of strategic knowledge (SK) and information technology capabilities (ITC) on innovation ambidexterity (IAM) through business process performance (BPP).
Design/methodology/approach
The research framework is developed based on the theoretical grounding of resource orchestration (RO) (SK and ITC) impacts on IAM. The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used to test the research framework on a sample of 441 responses from Brazilian firms.
Findings
The results suggest that SK and ITC facilitate BPP, resulting in IAM. The findings also suggested differences in path coefficients in the SK and ITC of the business value generation process framework under environmental turbulence (ET). Finally, a strong SK of ITC is especially important in enabling BPP and IAM in large firms. Another case of most manufacturing and service firms demonstrated that both SK and ITC are essential to impacting IAM through BPP mediation.
Practical implications
The findings provide insight into how professionals can think and plan carefully to align SK and ITC for achieving balanced innovation and improving BPP in the dynamic business environment.
Originality/value
The study establishes a relationship between SK, ITC, BPP and IAM. The study developed novel constructs of SK and ITC and tested them, which gives new insight and links among the constructs.
... While some studies suggest that standards support innovation, others argue that standards constrain technological development (Zoo et al., 2017) and reduce radical or exploratory innovation (e.g., Benner and Tushman, 2015;Terziovski and Guerrero, 2014). There are also other studies that report a mix of positive and negative effects (Blind, 2004;David and Steinmueller, 1994;Tassey, 2000). ...
... On the one hand, some authors see a productivity dilemma: standards force firms to focus on improving routine tasks at the expense of reducing radical or exploratory innovation (e.g. Benner and Tushman, 2015;Boiral, 2003;Sutcliffe et al., 2000;Terziovski and Guerrero, 2014). According to Zoo et al. (2017, 7), "standards stabilize and thus stagnate technological development which serves as a source of the paradoxical relationship with innovation. ...
Co-regulation involves consulting different stakeholders on the key aspects of a regulatory process. The aim of this explorative study is to examine current challenges of co-regulation drawing on the example of standardization in the context of agricultural innovations and to point out avenues for future research. To this end, we reviewed current literature on co-regulation and compiled interviews with experts from agriculture on the challenges of co-regulation especially in standardization. Four research questions, which we regard as central, could be derived. Two questions deal with the standardization work of technical committees on technological innovations in agriculture, and two questions relate to the agricultural businesses that the standards eventually implement.
... It mainly takes enterprise performance as the goal, market, and technology as the coordinate axis and divides innovation types as shown in Figure Incremental Innovation: Applies to existing technologies and existing markets. It is mainly based on existing technology and known content to further enhance or improve the technical level [40]. This type of innovation takes less time. ...
Innovation has always been the driving force behind social progress. Enterprises will adopt different types of technological innovations according to their goals, resources, and market strategies. The industry generally pays attention to the development and application of electric vehicle technology innovation, but a single method may not be able to fully explain the innovation of electric vehicle technology. Furthermore, the results of technological innovation must be presented in terms of market benefits. Otherwise, insufficient cash flow will lead to innovation interruption. Therefore, this study uses the innovation matrix proposed by Rothaermel to classify the matrix formed by the market and technology. This study collects 43 periodicals and special publications published in 2010–2022 and 40 related electric vehicle literature that can be downloaded, summarizes the literature content according to the innovation matrix using literature bibliometric perspective and analysis, and obtains (1) most of the innovative technologies of electric vehicles originated from the extension of previous technologies and (2) batteries and power supplements that are the key items of electric vehicles. The proportion of radical technological innovation is relatively high, and they are also the main factors of market sales. Theoretically, this study can provide a basis for studying the combination of Rothaermel’s “innovation matrix” and Ansoff’s “expansion matrix”. In practice, this is the first time the electric vehicle industry is taken as an example, combining the two models, aiming at technology/production/market/performance for electric vehicle industry managers, the technological innovation direction, and the formulation of market strategy operations and advanced deployment.
... However, the subjective nature of the diagram generation can lead to bias or oversight of potential causes (Benner & Tushman, 2015). One major disadvantage of traditional RCA methods is their lack of continuous learning capabilities, which restricts their ability to leverage real-time data gathered at the shopfloor for ongoing improvements and adaptations (e Oliveira et al., 2023). ...
... When employees have a shared understanding and commitment to the firm's digital transformation strategy, the positive impact of the innovation climate on transformation outcomes is amplified. This finding contributes to the growing literature on the micro-foundations of digital transformation (e.g., Benner & Tushman, 2015;Hanelt et al., 2021) by highlighting the importance of employee cognition and behavior in shaping transformation processes and outcomes. ...
Background and Aims: With the deepening of the global technological revolution, enterprises are facing an increasingly complex and changing competitive environment. Enterprise digital transformation has become the only way to adapt to environmental changes and reshape competitive advantages. From the perspective of organizational behavior, this paper explores the impact of organizational innovation atmosphere and organizational learning on the digital transformation performance (innovation performance) of technology-based SMEs, and examines the moderating role of employee strategic consensus, to provide theoretical guidance and practical inspiration for the successful implementation of digital transformation in enterprises. Methodology: This study takes organizational innovation atmosphere as the independent variable, organizational learning as the mediating variable, innovation performance as the dependent variable, and employee strategic consensus as the moderating variable to construct a theoretical model. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 718 employees of 108 technology-based SMEs. SPSS 21.0 was used to conduct reliability analysis, validity analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis on the collected valid questionnaire data to test the research hypotheses. Results: The empirical research results show that: (1) organizational innovation atmosphere has a significant positive impact on innovation performance; (2) organizational innovation atmosphere positively affects innovation performance through organizational learning, that is, organizational learning plays a mediating role between the two; (3) employee strategic consensus positively moderates the relationship between organizational innovation atmosphere and innovation performance and between organizational innovation atmosphere and organizational learning. Conclusion: The organizational innovation atmosphere, organizational learning, and employee strategic consensus influence each other and jointly promote the digital transformation of technology-based SMEs, thereby improving innovation performance. This study reveals the internal mechanism of organizational factors affecting the effectiveness of enterprise digital transformation, to provide useful inspiration for the management practice of SMEs.
... Many scholars from the information systems and public administration fields, among others, use Thompson's types of interdependencies and coordination. Despite its origin in the pre-digitalization era, Thompson's contribution is recognized in the literature on institutional management (e.g., Benner & Tushman, 2015;Carlile, 2004;Fu, Zhang, & Chen, 2022), where it is applied to information systems strategizing (Marabelli & Galliers, 2017). Thompson's types of interdependencies and coordination are also used to analyze, for example, institutional differences between public organizations (6,2004), governance structures of strategic alliances (Gulati & Singh, 1998), procurement performance (Gulati & Sytch, 2007), the role of enterprise resource planning in improving the management of interdependencies (El Amrani, Rowe, & Geffroy-Maronnat, 2006), mobile information systems and multi-sided platforms for management purposes (Gebauer, Shaw, & Gribbins, 2010;Tan, Pan, & Zuo, 2019), and the use of management control systems (Frost, Vogel, & Bagban, 2016). ...
The digitalization of public services is particularly challenging in federal states, in part because a federal structure separates organizations through a division of power and established jurisdictions, and digitalization facilitates interconnection between society and its organizations. The many actors involved in federal states' digital public services require coordination, so the literature suggests centralized coordination so federal states can benefit from the advantages of both unitary and federal states. However, this approach has not been adapted to digitalization and it remains unclear how centralized coordination applies to digital public services. This article determines how public managers in federal states should coordinate activities in digital public services with the help of centralization. Since coordination depends on decision-makers' being willing to give up some of their power, we also investigate the mechanisms that public managers in federal states use to influence decision-makers. Using a conceptual analysis and interviews with 28 public managers from three countries, we derive three types of coordination-shared services, digital identity, and strategic committee-and identify the influencing mechanisms of persuasion, incentive, pressure, and experience. In so doing, this article contributes to the literature in identifying the types of coordination, design principles for their arrangement, and the mechanisms managers typically use to influence decision-makers. The three types of coordination constitute a new theoretical lens through which to investigate the influence of the federal structure on the digitalization of public services, while the influencing mechanisms extend existing work by introducing the passive role of the influencer.
... The main issue is that technological innovation is occurring so quickly that it is affecting every industry (Fitzgerald et al., 2014). However, firms face numerous obstacles during the innovation process, such as striking a balance between innovation discovery and exploitation (Benitez et al., 2018;Benner and Tushman, 2015). Additionally, they are constantly under pressure to reduce the time and expense of innovation, which pushes them to investigate novel approaches to innovation. ...
In the era of IR4.0, environmental dynamism and satisfying customer needs through digital innovations have evolved across IT industries. This article attempts to examine the effect of technological culture (TC) and knowledge sharing (KS) on digital innovation (DI), organizational performance (OP), and the moderating effect of self-efficacy (SE) on the link between TC, KS, and DI. This study evaluates a novel conceptual framework utilizing survey data from 270 samples of IT firms’ employees in Bangladesh and analyzing it employing the PLS-SEM approach. The findings indicate that knowledge sharing and technological culture have a significant impact on DI and DI also significantly mediates the relationship between operational, financial, and employee performance. The findings suggest businesses recognize the chance of developing digital technologies and the digitalization trend in IT sectors by being devoted to embracing new technological cultures and upgrading their knowledge exchange to become innovation leaders and increase OP. This study describes how new digital technologies and knowledge sharing may be exploited to produce innovative digital creative digital solutions’ innovative products and services which ultimately increase their OP, where the managers of the IT organizations can apply this knowledge in respected fields.
... Alternatively, if it can be demonstrated that digital learning can help students develop their ECs, then digital learning programs may be a useful tool for teaching students how to be successful entrepreneurs [66]. Further referencing [67] theoretical arguments, which agree that future research should study how digitalization affects innovation processes, it is viable to examine the role of DLO from the students' EC perspective. Accordingly, the following hypothesis is proposed: Hypothesis 1. DLO has significant influence on the development of ECs in graduates. ...
The emerging literature demonstrates the significance of digital learning in developing sustainable employability skills in learners. In the modern scenario of digitally transforming business and entrepreneurship education (EE), the study examines the role of digital learning orientation (DLO) for the development of entrepreneurial competencies (ECs) in graduates while considering the effects of blended learning (BL) behavior. The study data came from a survey of 317 graduate students in Saudi Arabia, where digitalization and entrepreneurship are positioned as new agendas for sustainable development in the education sector. The data analysis results from partial least squares structural equation modelling (SmartPLS 3.0) revealed that DLO has a direct impact on the development of ECs in graduates. However, the effects of BL on ECs were not proven. Nevertheless, BL was found to moderate the relationship between DLO and ECs. As a result, the study produced new theoretical and practical implications underpinning digital learning and EE in the contemporary digitalization context.
... Researchers argue that ambidextrous organisations can balance both strategies (exploitation and exploration) and avoid the problem of being over-reliant on a single strategy (Aljumah et al., 2021;Benner and Tushman, 2015). Although O'Reilly and Tushman (2011) emphasise the importance of organisations exploring new domains and simultaneously exploiting existing ones to survive and grow, it is also clear that firms often find it difficult to do this (Johnson et al., 2022). ...
Purpose
Although businesses continue to take up artificial intelligence (AI), concerns remain that companies are not realising the full value of their investments. The study aims to provide insights into how AI creates business value by investigating the mediating role of Business Process Management (BPM) capabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
The integrative model of IT Business Value was contextualised, and structural equation modelling was applied to validate the proposed serial multiple mediation model using a sample of 448 organisations based in the EU.
Findings
The results validate the proposed serial multiple mediation model according to which AI adoption increases organisational performance through decision-making and business process performance. Process automation, organisational learning and process innovation are significant complementary partial mediators, thereby shedding light on how AI creates business value.
Research limitations/implications
In pursuing a complex nomological framework, multiple perspectives on realising business value from AI investments were incorporated. Several moderators presenting complementary organisational resources (e.g. culture, digital maturity, BPM maturity) could be included to identify behaviour in more complex relationships. The ethical and moral issues surrounding AI and its use could also be examined.
Practical implications
The provided insights can help guide organisations towards the most promising AI activities of process automation with AI-enabled decision-making, organisational learning and process innovation to yield business value.
Originality/value
While previous research assumed a moderated relationship, this study extends the growing literature on AI business value by empirically investigating a comprehensive nomological network that links AI adoption to organisational performance in a BPM setting.
... They occur at the intersections of professions, organizations, sectors, cultures, and national boundaries, presenting a heightened degree of complexity and uncertainty. Traditional problem-solving approaches, typically fragmented across occupations and organizations, are no longer adequate (Leonardi and Bailey, 2008;Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2014;Benner and Tushman, 2015). ...
This inductive study of eight international development interventions analyzes mechanisms that enable integration of evidence in practice, a perennial challenge of learning and collaboration across occupational and organizational boundaries. We demonstrate how structural and programmatic scaffolding practices enabled actors from an array of organizations and communities of practice to collaborate and learn despite the uncertainty and complexity inherent in the international development context. These modular scaffolding practices offered temporary stabilization and support that fostered the counter-normative behaviors and mindsets required for continuous learning and adaptive coordination. Through 226 in-depth interviews with international development experts, including practitioners in eight matched interventions in India, Mexico, South Africa, and Ghana, we identified and analyzed mechanisms that explain the varying effectiveness with which evidence was integrated in each case. Our findings have implications for interorganizational innovation and collaboration under conditions of complexity and uncertainty and for dynamic interactions among individuals, their organizations, and their communities of practice when they are attempting to bring about systemic change.
... Integrating corporate environmental management practices into a strategic implementation programme requires an effective knowledge exploitation process. In the innovation management literature, it is emphasised that short-term innovation performance can be enhanced by leveraging existing knowledge and technologies, while long-term innovation performance can be enhanced by exploring new knowledge and technologies (Benner & Tushman, 2015;González-Ramos et al., 2023;Mathias et al., 2018). ...
While digitalisation has significant implications for environmental management activities, this nexus has received minimal attention in research. Given this backdrop, this study uses a unique survey dataset of 386 micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and conducts an OLS regression analysis to examine the impact of digitalisation on environmental management activities. The study also investigates how family ownership moderates this relationship. The study finds that digitalisation supports environmental management activities as an important strategic mechanism, and that family ownership has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between digitalisation and environmental management activities. This study contributes to ‘institutional theory’ by highlighting its applicability to the new context of MSEs in emerging markets. Further, the study provides managerial insights into how to ensure environmental management practices in the digital age.
... Digitalization is even changing the nature of innovation itself, increasing its complexity, unpredictability, and scope. These changes raise the question of whether traditional approaches to innovation management can continue to be successful when it comes to digital innovation (e.g., Benner & Tushman, 2015;Nambisan et al., 2017Nambisan et al., , 2020. ...
We draw on the attention-based view of the firm to examine whether and when the presence of a CIO in the TMT has a positive effect on both firms’ ideated digital innovation (IDI) (i.e., the intensity of firms’ digital patenting activity) and commercialized digital innovation (CDI) (i.e., the digital sophistication of firms’ new products). Building on the idea that attention processes are context dependent, we also explore the moderating roles of CEO characteristics (IT background and role tenure) as well as environmental characteristics (the industry’s IT attention). We analyze data from a cross-industry panel of U.S. S&P 500 firms over eight years that includes up to 2,852 firm-year observations. The results indicate that CIO presence in the TMT is positively related to a firm’s IDI and CDI. Furthermore, they show that the organizational context related to CEO characteristics moderates the CIO-CDI relationship and that the environmental context related to the industry’s IT attention moderates the CIO-IDI relationship. Our research contributes to the information systems literature by providing robust evidence that CIO presence in the TMT positively influences a firm’s digital innovation outcomes, showing how internal and external boundary conditions affect the work of CIOs, and elaborating the role of managerial attention as an underlying mechanism explaining digital innovation.
... First, whether to actively respond to the requirements of I-deals for exploratory learning and exploitative learning; Second, how to respond to this process, that is, which side should be tilted or how to be compatible between exploratory learning and exploitative learning. The exploration-exploitative learning tension is more likely to promote the cognitive upgrading of employees under the effect of the analytical processing system, rationalize their own choices, and make themselves more inclined to coexist with the exploratory-exploitative learning tension in harmony 23 , thus enhancing the possibility of the realization of breakthrough innovation. Based on this, we can make the following assumptions: ...
Purpose: Scientific and technological independence depends on breakthrough innovation, and the breakthrough of innovation comes from the stimulation of talent vitality. Taking the idiosyncratic deals to meet the unique needs of talents as the starting point, this study constructs a two-stage moderating mediated model based on paradox theory, and discusses the impact of idiosyncratic deals on breakthrough innovation through exploratory-exploitative learning tension, as well as the moderating role of transactive memory systems and cognitive flexibility in this process.
Participants and Methods: In order to reduce the effects of common method biases and causal lag effect, this study was divided into three stages for data collection, with a time interval of a month. 332 employees from four enterprises in Shanghai and Wuhan were selected as samples, and the hypothesis test was carried out by linear regression, bootstrap and Johnson-Neyman method.
Results: The results showed that Idiosyncratic deals has a positive impact on breakthrough innovation through exploratory-exploitative learning tension; transactive memory systems in the first stage and cognitive flexibility in the second stage positively moderate the mediating effect of exploratory-exploitative learning tension between idiosyncratic deals and breakthrough innovation and. Under the combined effect of high transactive memory systems and high cognitive flexibility, idiosyncratic deals has the strongest indirect effect on breakthrough innovation through exploratory-exploitative learning tension.
Conclusion: The study results break through the previous research framework of social exchange theory, and use paradox theory to explore the influence mechanism of idiosyncratic deals, in order to promote the sustainable growth of breakthrough innovation through this non-standard work arrangement.
... Research on strategic and international HR management has emphasized the need for developing HR practices while paying attention to the societal, national, and organizational context within which they are implemented (Benner & Tushman, 2015;Mayrhofer et al., 2018). Recent calls for papers in HR journals also highlight the importance of 'positioning context front and center' in the study of HR practices rather than 'as an afterthought' (e.g., Cooke, 2018;Farndale et al., 2019;Kim & Cooke, 2017). ...
This paper examines the influence of cultural contexts on work‐life flexibility practices and employee productivity. Using extant theory from the work‐life literature and gender egalitarianism, it examines whether flexible work practices are experienced differentially by men versus women in two varied cultural contexts (Australia and India). Results show that the use of flextime reduces the productivity of men more than women in a high‐income individualistic cultural context (Australia); whereas the use of telecommute or vacation time enhances the productivity of men more than women in a relatively paternalistic cultural context (India). Using uniquely comparable samples of 177 and 166 respondents respectively, the study provides new evidence on the effects of cultural contexts on work‐life flexibility practices, with important implications for work‐life flexibility theory and practice. For work‐life flexibility practices to be effective, managers need to implement practices that align with the gendered cultural norms within which they operate.
... However, this digitization of entrepreneurship presents new issues and challenges at the intersection of digital technologies and entrepreneurship (Nambisan, 2016;von Briel et al., 2017). More specifically, the use of digital technologies has altered the kind of uncertainties that affect entrepreneurial processes and results as well as how to deal with it (Benner & Tushman, 2015). Careful analysis of the unique characteristics of digital technology is required in order to address the difficulties associated with digital entrepreneurship (Nambisan, 2016). ...
The domain of digital technology has shaped the dimensions of entrepreneur-ship, including entrepreneurial opportunities, business models of the entrepreneurial firms, and the performance of entrepreneurial firms that opt for the demand of looking for a new window of entrepreneurship usually referred to as digital entrepreneurship. Despite the growing significance of digital entrepreneurship, our knowledge of digital aspects of it remains inadequate. In this backdrop, this chapter looks for how digital technologies affect entrepreneurship as well as the trajectories and changes in those trajectories of newly digitalized entrepreneurial firms. In this respect, this chapter utilizes a theoretical underpinning to explore the fundamental concepts of digital entre-preneurship and how these relate to different aspects of entrepreneurial trajectories specifically the-opportunities, business models, and performance.
This study reveals how incumbent actors leverage physical place as a source of differentiation in response to the threat of digital commoditization. Through a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of the U.S. independent bookselling industry from 1995 to 2019, we outline how dispersed organizational actors responded to the rise of Amazon.com, an online retailer that threatened to displace brick-and-mortar retail. While many analysts predicted that Amazon’s emergence would incite a retail apocalypse, independent bookstores proved to be far more resilient than expected. We identify organizational emplacement—a process by which actors infuse meaning into physical spaces , thereby transforming them into valuable places —as a novel mechanism of value creation. Several practices are associated with this mechanism, including architecting the physical environment, anchoring to the local community, and sanctifying the meaning of place. This study offers a counterbalance to narratives of digital displacement and shows how physical place can be converted from a liability into an asset in the digital era.
Organizational leaders and managers face several challenges, operating in a complex web of institutions including the parent, funding, and host institutions, which all have divergent interests. One area to explore and advocate for in such situations are roles of leadership and management. Based on a constructivist theoretical orientation, we conducted a case study inquiry into the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods (CSRL) and framed our recommendation based on CSRL as a related multistakeholder organization. We first theorized with literature on artistic and scientific leadership and management strategies; and deciphered the four organizational frames including structural, human resources, political, and symbolic, which became our guiding categories in the thematic analysis. The structural frame raised think tanks, reframing, facilities, and technology themes while human resources raised servant leadership, empowerment, professional support, appreciation, welcoming, and farewells. In the political frame, participatory planning, evaluation, fundraising, and transparency emerged while in the symbolic frame, the use of stories, culture, symbols, celebrations, and ceremonies emerged. To achieve managerial and leadership efficiencies, both artistic and scientific management styles across all frames are vital. Understanding employees' working environment and using soft-skill communication are tactics of artistic management. Participation involving experts in setting goals signals scientific style while involving local stakeholders implies artistic and overall collective decision-making. Managers thinking through the structural frame must understand that it is the architectural foundation of their organizations, the helm of power providing vision and direction while in human resources, their goal should be building inter-employee-organizational relationships. Thinking in a political frame, leaders need skills in coalition and negotiation in dealing with conflicts delightfully while in a symbolic frame, leaders ought to maintain the organizational ethos and its public-facing persona through credible communications with the public.
Purpose
This study aims to fill the gap in digital transformation (DT) literature, particularly within the healthcare sector, by investigating the effect of strategic reconfiguration (SREC), as an antecedent, on DT. Further, it also aims to investigate the effect of DT on strategic renewal (SR) as a strategic outcome of DT. Thereby, the current study explores the drivers and outcomes of DT from a new strategic perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The structural model is tested via the partial least squares structural equation modeling using a sample of 264 private Egyptian hospitals.
Findings
SREC directly and positively affects SR. Besides, the SREC–SR relationship is partially mediated by DT. Accordingly, this study introduces a novel strategic perspective model of DT that depicts how Egyptian private hospitals could reconfigure themselves to transform toward digitalization, which ultimately enabled them to deliver new value propositions and diversified services.
Research limitations/implications
The sample is restricted to Egyptian private hospitals; thereby, the results may differ in other sectors and other countries. This study ignores the boundary conditions that may accelerate organizations’ movement toward digitalization.
Practical implications
Managers of private hospitals can leverage the findings of this study to manage their strategic resources through SREC and foster a culture of DT to enhance their renewal in an increasingly digitalized healthcare landscape.
Social implications
By demonstrating the positive effects of DT on SR, this study underscores the role of technology in improving healthcare delivery, patient outcomes and overall quality of care.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first empirical study to introduce a model of the strategic antecedents and consequences of DT within the healthcare sector. Unlike the existing DT literature, the current study goes beyond the traditional technological perspective for studying DT by concentrating on the strategic perspective. Therefore, the current study contributes to the existing DT literature by being the first empirical study to investigate the non-technological strategic antecedents that enable successful DT while propping the potential strategic outcome of DT.
Interventions in line with the complexity of people’s lives require a different approach to innovation that orientates problems from the position of citizen’s lives—not the problems’ ‘fit’ with the existing expertise, capacity, and service remit. Many of these problems and crises are wrongly categorised as ‘poverty’, ‘mental health’, ‘health inequalities’, or ‘homelessness’. This article describes the development of the ‘liberated method’ (LM) in public services in Northumbria, UK, as a public service innovation. It contributes to the relational public service literature by drawing in public service innovation theory to express relational practice as novel, implementable, developmental, and demonstrable of public value. Utilizing these theories together enables an analytic take on the Liberated Method as a means of offering transcendent public service reform. The approach demonstrates how embedded evaluative practices enable the planned emergence necessary for services to respond more coherently to life complexity
Purpose
Embodied intelligent robots are the iconic productivity of the Industry 4.0 era, and their potential to bring about a productivity surge mainly comes from the driving force of robots on innovation rather than efficiency. However, the dynamic impact of robots on the innovation capability of enterprises has not been empirically tested.
Design/methodology/approach
This study integrates panel vector autoregression and threshold effects to investigate this dynamic relationship by a multi-level analysis based on data of Chinese A-share manufacturing listed enterprises.
Findings
(1) The short-term momentum of industrial robot applications (IRA) on exploitative innovation (EII) is significant and the long-term momentum on exploratory innovation (ERI) is stronger. (2) EII affected by IRA is the main source of short-term total factor productivity (TFP) growth, while ERI is the driving factor for long-term TFP growth. (3) The impact of IRA on TFP exhibits a double-threshold effect based on ERI and follows a “stepped” incremental pattern. The promoting effect of IRA on TFP will significantly increase only when ERI surpasses certain thresholds.
Originality/value
Industrial robots accelerate the potential productivity growth in the long term, mainly coming from the augmented contribution of ERI, providing reference and inspiration for enterprises to fully utilize the endogenous growth potential of robots and implement innovation strategies. It also provides forward-looking guidance for organisations to undertake adaptive changes for the forthcoming AI economic revolution.
Prior research on data-driven innovation, which assumes quantitative analysis as the default, suggests a tradeoff: Organizations that rely heavily on data-driven analysis tend to produce familiar, incremental innovations with moderate commercial potential, at the expense of risky, novel breakthroughs or hit products. We argue that this tradeoff does not hold when quantitative and qualitative analysis are used together. Organizations that substantially rely on both types of analysis in the new-product innovation process will benefit by triangulating quantifiably verifiable demand (which prompts more moderate successes but fewer hits) with qualitatively discernible potential (which prompts more novelty but more flops). Although relying primarily on either type of analysis has little impact on overall new-product sales due to the countervailing strengths and weaknesses inherent in each, together they have a complementary positive effect on new-product sales as each compensates for the weaknesses of the other. Drawing on a unique dataset of 3,768 new-product innovations from NielsenIQ linked to employee résumé job descriptions from 55 consumer-product firms, we find support for our hypothesis. The highest sales and number of hits were observed in organizations that demonstrated methodological pluralism: substantial reliance on both types of analyses. Further mixed-method research examining related outcomes—hits, flops, and novelty—corroborates our theory and confirms its underlying mechanisms.
Abstract
This research examines the Sunni Endowment Office in Iraq as a key institution that oversees religious and charitable assets, operating under the authority of the Council of Ministers, thus holding significant influence in Iraq's social and economic spheres. Given the current circumstances, the importance of Sunni endowments is increasing, necessitating a comprehensive study to measure performance and understand the organizational dynamics within this institution.
The study focuses on the strategic placement of employees based on their skills to enhance a productive work culture and increase employee satisfaction. Training and administrative development are considered essential components to equip employees with the necessary skills to face current and future challenges while fostering continuous learning and professional growth within the office. The research also addresses the importance of creating a positive work environment that fosters friendly relationships among colleagues and improving communication channels between employees and management, aiming to build trust and align individual aspirations with
organizational goals. The study emphasizes the need to establish specific and measurable performance metrics to assess impact and identify weaknesses, which will aid decision- makers in making informed decisions regarding promotions, rewards, and identifying areas requiring further training.
The research concludes that strategic employee recruitment and analytical management approaches are fundamental to organizational growth.
It recommends enhancing productivity and quality through training, improving the work environment, and adopting transparent performance evaluation standards.
Keywords: Management, Employee Performance, Institutional Work, Administrative Development, Sunni Endowment.
Continuous improvement (CI) methods are growing in popularity around the world as approaches to leadership and educational change. There has been particular interest in using CI methods such as collaborative data inquiry to address racial inequities in schools. But these ‘wicked’ problems are, in many ways, more complex and uncertain than the kinds of problems CI methods were initially developed to address in the fields of manufacturing and healthcare. Drawing on contingency perspectives in organizational theory, we theorize that educators’ level of uncertainty about the problem they are trying to address may lead them to adapt or modify CI practices. We explore this through two critical cases of school-based teams engaging in a CI process called Data Wise to address an issue of racial inequity. We find that the two schools varied in whether they viewed their problem of racial inequity as fundamentally uncertain, and these diverging understandings of the problem influenced to what extent they took a more straightforward or exploratory approach to engaging in CI. We discuss possible explanations for these findings and offer implications for scholars and educators who are working to adapt or enhance CI methods to promote educational change and better address racial inequities in schools.
Purpose
Quality management (QM) plays a pivotal role in driving organisational efforts to enhance operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. This study aims to explore the most important themes in QM over the past three decades, identifying and analysing the top ten key themes that have shaped the field during this period. This study, involving leading academics and industry practitioners, lays the groundwork for a three-to-four-year exploration of the most influential QM themes worldwide.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a comprehensive review of QM literature over the last three decades from top specialist journals on QM. This is followed by conducting a global pilot survey with leading academics and practitioners to pinpoint the top ten dominant themes of QM for organisations to leverage in gaining and maintaining a competitive edge.
Findings
The top ten themes of QM, as identified by authors through input from academics and practitioners worldwide, offer valuable insights for companies of all sizes and sectors. These themes serve as a guide for the successful and sustainable implementation of QM practices and continuous improvement strategies.
Research limitations/implications
Despite a limited sample size, the initial findings provide a glimpse into critical themes. Over the next three years, as the study progresses, we anticipate potential changes in the results. Notably, the comparison of themes between manufacturing and services as well as large and small enterprises, remains unexplored in the current investigation.
Originality/value
The authors of this study assert that their research will pave the way for future themes in the digitalization era. Moreover, this research stands out as one of the most exhaustive examinations from both academic and practitioner viewpoints, offering a unique perspective not commonly found in existing literature.
Research Summary
This study extends recent findings that inventor CEOs increase innovative output in large established firms by examining how their involvement in the innovative process influences the nature of innovations produced. Our theory suggests that inventor CEOs who take a hands‐on approach to innovation lead their firms to engage in more exploitative rather than exploratory innovation. We further posit that this effect is particularly strong for insider inventor CEOs, and especially founders, but weaker for outsiders and when the firm's board has broader industry experience. Using a sample of S&P 1500 firms from 1994 to 2010 and inventor CEOs' engagement in patenting as an indicator of hands‐on involvement, we find considerable support for our predictions.
Managerial Summary
CEOs with hands‐on experience innovating can substantially increase innovative output in large established firms. Yet, we show that inventors who remain directly engaged in their firms' innovation activities as CEO can limit their scope to incremental innovations that exploit existing technologies as opposed to more radical innovations that result in novel product or service offerings. These tendencies are stronger for inventors who come to the CEO position from inside the firm, especially founders, but weaker when the firm's board has broader industry experience. Overall, our study reveals an important tradeoff for large firms of having an inventor as CEO, how hands‐on involvement by inventor CEOs may narrow their firms' innovative trajectories, and how or when these tendencies can be mitigated.
Digital transformation alters companies’ core value-defining activities. Companies must establish new work practices and change the work environment to create new value propositions leveraging digital technologies. Specifically, to maximize their investments in digital transformation while remaining competitive, they must achieve ambidexterity, which is the capability to balance exploration and exploitation flexibly. More and more companies strive to achieve ambidexterity by establishing digital innovation labs (DILs), where employees explore the opportunities afforded through digital technologies and ensure their successful integration into the main organization. This study analyzes data collected from nine DILs, examining how companies utilize them to achieve organizational ambidexterity. Our analysis reveals a nuanced view on the conceptualization of ambidexterity and how it helps in digital transformation: (1) DILs contribute mainly by transferring employees temporarily from the main organization to the DIL and back. Recombining mechanisms of different theoretical forms of ambidexterity addresses typical issues and tensions stemming from leveraging digital technologies in innovation activities. (2) We find that implementing ambidexterity through organizational design features of DILs provides a successful basis for digital transformation by creating innovations that complement companies’ value propositions with digital technologies.
Purpose
Existing studies have paid less attention to the impact of knowledge accumulation on digital transformation and its boundary conditions. Hence, this study aims to investigate the effects of ambidextrous knowledge accumulation on manufacturing digital transformation under the moderation of dynamic capability.
Design/methodology/approach
This study divides knowledge accumulation into exploratory and exploitative knowledge accumulation and divides dynamic capability into alliance management capability and new product development capability. To clarify the relationship among ambidextrous knowledge accumulation, dynamic capability and manufacturing digital transformation, the authors collect data from 421 Chinese listed manufacturing enterprises from 2016 to 2020 and perform analysis by multiple hierarchical regression method, heterogeneity test and robustness analysis.
Findings
The empirical results show that both exploratory and exploitative knowledge accumulation can significantly promote manufacturing digital transformation. Keeping ambidextrous knowledge accumulation in parallel is more conducive than keeping single-dimensional knowledge accumulation. Besides, dynamic capability positively moderates the relationship between ambidextrous knowledge accumulation and manufacturing digital transformation. Moreover, the heterogeneity test shows that the impact of ambidextrous knowledge accumulation and dynamic capabilities on manufacturing digital transformation varies widely across different industry segments or different regions.
Originality/value
First, this paper shifts attention to the role of ambidextrous knowledge accumulation in manufacturing digital transformation and expands the connotation and extension of knowledge accumulation. Second, this study reveals that dynamic capability is a vital driver of digital transformation, which corroborates the previous findings of dynamic capability as an important driver and contributes to enriching the knowledge management literature. Third, this paper provides a comprehensive micro measurement of ambidextrous knowledge accumulation and digital transformation based on the development characteristics of the digital economy era, which provides a theoretical basis for subsequent research.
This study investigates the digital innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. it
presents a comprehensive view about how the digital ecosystem progresses with the
aid of intermediaries, as they play an active part in shaping it. Seeking to understand
how digital innovation is supported by intermediaries in the Egyptian ecosystem,
this thesis synthesized a framework of knowledge with previous literature
contributions.
The outset of this research is the combination of literature review of previous
accumulated knowledge on digital innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem,
however both concepts were not collectively stated except in a limited number of
writings. Two main areas were identified that are vital in contrasting the whole
phenomenon: digital innovation and intermediaries. afterwards, a conceptual
framework was introduced to explore facts about the three main concepts upon
which the practical study will be constructed.
Empirically, an in-depth examination has been adopted by implementing qualitative
approach in collecting the data. 20 intermediary organizations took part in semi�structured interviews about how they are acting in the digital ecosystem and
digitality level of startups they support. The analysis of given answers illustrates
how dynamic the ecosystem has become during the last decade in relation to the
increase of intermediaries and their expansion in implementing more roles.
However, it uncovers the geographical unfair distribution and the digital growing
effect on entrepreneurship in Egypt
Purpose: After the pandemic digital technologies have increasingly become the focus of companies’ innovation management processes. This trend has led to a rapid expansion of the field, with a growing number of research papers on various facets of this topic being published in academic journals. However, the proliferation of literature in the field has complicated the ease with which practitioners and academics can stay up to date with the latest developments and build on recent findings in their respective work. In order to succeed within the field of digital innovation management a strong grasp of the newest trends is required to not fall behind competitors, and to be able to develop cutting edge research. To address this challenge, this paper aims to answer the research question: What are the most common themes in post-pandemic digital innovation management literature? Design/methodology/approach: To answer this question, this study conducted a systematic literature review of 148 academic papers published between 2020 and 2023. The identified trends were subsequently organized into a framework that provides a comprehensive understanding of the field. Findings: The identified trends can be classified as either catalysts or new opportunities. Catalysts are trends that companies can implement to make their digital innovation management more efficient. The four identified catalysts are: the use of artificial intelligence as a vital part of innovating, educating leaders and employees, incorporating digital knowledge management practices, and collaborating with innovation networks. The articles also point to three trends classified as new opportunities that digital innovation management can enable, such as more sustainable initiatives, better foreign aid, and a transition to platformization. Originality: This study summarizes the research direction of digital innovation management and synthesizes important key developments leading up to the year 2023, which researchers and practitioners should be aware of.
Our research delves into the impact of ambidextrous supply chain activity configurations on performance, particularly in the dynamic and complex contexts of today's business landscape. Drawing from the rich literature on paradox theory, we aim to unravel the efficacy of ambidextrous supply chain setup in mitigating the tensions inherent in managing dynamism, complexities, munificence, and, as well as understanding the contextual factors that modulate this efficacy. To accomplish this, we construct a computational model that captures the resource allocation and search behavior of the ambidextrous supply chain archetype within the ever-shifting terrain of performance. Our findings reveal that ambidextrous supply chain configurations excel at reconciling paradoxical tensions stemming from high complexity, limited resource abundance, and turbulent market conditions. Empirical data substantiate these findings.
Although innovation has attracted increasing attention among scholars and governing bodies seeking to address growing levels of complexity and ongoing crises, little attention has been given to the role of managerial networking in facilitating innovation in networked arrangements. This article examines how and why various types of managerial networking might generate different types of innovation. It presents a two-dimensional networking design model that was verified empirically by comparing four different governance networks that coordinate the development and implementation of digital innovations. The findings demonstrate the significance of managerial networking, especially in facilitating the most advanced innovations, such as radical and architectural innovations.
Entrepreneurship, in many low-developed economies, plays an important role in defeating external distress. It is crucial in such situation that entrepreneurial firms resist and even grow. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how entrepreneurial orientation brings about organisational ambidexterity through the mediation role of intellectual capital in the context of a developing country. This paper reports research results combining a qualitative and quantitative evaluation. The exploratory study is based on qualitative case studies and in-depth interview data collected from 15 Tunisian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the industrial sector. Then, the methodology included a survey of 155 SMEs using a questionnaire and structural equation modelling analyses. The results reveal that SMEs leverage internal and external resources to pursue ambidexterity separately or simultaneously. The data were gathered from a sole informant from every firm. Consequently, more in-depth longitudinal study may be requisite to expand deeper insights into the used variables. SME managers need to focus on the specific barriers to ambidexterity and design effective mechanisms to advance the drivers of ambidexterity. The mechanisms to realize ambidexterity as branded in this study will assist SMEs in particular, and firms in general. A new shape of organisation is an open design allowing more outer acquaintance and resources to be riveted, which is claimed as a novel model for organisation. This study combined the concepts of entrepreneurial orientation and intellectual capital as the basis of innovation ambidexterity. Human, organisational and relational capitals are the intermediate mechanisms to explain the effect of entrepreneurial orientation. Moreover, the Tunisian specific context adds more novelty to this study.
The evidence reveals that for innovation followers, ambidexterity has a greater influence on the practice of eco-innovation, marketing innovation, and product innovation. For moderate innovators, ambidexterity has a greater influence on the practice of product innovation, process innovation, and eco-innovation. Concerning modest innovators, ambidexterity has a greater influence on the practice of product innovation, process innovation, and eco-innovation. With regard to open innovation, for innovation followers, this has a negative influence on product innovation in medium-high and high-tech companies. For moderate innovators, open innovation has a greater influence in process, organizational, and eco-innovation. In the case of modest innovators, open innovation is more significant for innovation outputs in product, organizational, and marketing innovation. Size is not always positively related to innovation outputs.
Organisational ambidexterity allows firms to maintain a competitive advantage. In today's globally competitive environment, characterised by dispersed knowledge and diversified markets, ambidexterity assumes an even more important connotation from a geographic perspective. In this context, emerging economies (EEs) play a vital role as sources of innovators and market disruptors. This has resulted in the emerging phenomenon of reverse innovation (RI) and the rethinking of firms' multinational R&D and innovation strategies. The present study aims to answer how RI can be incorporated into multinational R&D strategies to bring about organisational ambidexterity on a firm level by balancing explorative and exploitative innovative activities across advanced economies (AEs) and EEs. With primary data collected through semi-structured interviews with thirty R&D executives and senior managers, we find that RI can occur in the form of complete products and smaller innovative contributions toward developing new products that arise from the multinational collaboration between headquarters of organisations, their subsidiaries, and partners. We also find that multinational enterprises use both exploration and exploitation in EEs as the foundation for RI. Finally, we propose four distinct explorative and exploitative RI types that multinational enterprises can pursue to balance their ambidextrous activities across geographies. These four types of innovation are comprised of reverse product innovations and reverse flows of innovative contributions, each of explorative and exploitative nature.
The past few chapters have delved deeply into the human aspects of the new management model: We’ve looked at the “special breed of people” it requires, the importance and desired attributes of the culture that is created, and the qualities that leaders must exhibit. Now we shift the focus to key organizational and strategic issues. In order to remain entrepreneurial beyond the startup stage, an organization has to be designed and managed for that purpose. As we’ve seen earlier, it must have dynamic capabilities—the ability to sense and seize new opportunities while transforming itself accordingly—and it must be ambidextrous, able to exploit current business and explore new possibilities at the same time.
The process of user-centered innovation: how it can benefit both users and manufacturers and how its emergence will bring changes in business models and in public policy.
Innovation is rapidly becoming democratized. Users, aided by improvements in computer and communications technology, increasingly can develop their own new products and services. These innovating users—both individuals and firms—often freely share their innovations with others, creating user-innovation communities and a rich intellectual commons. In Democratizing Innovation, Eric von Hippel looks closely at this emerging system of user-centered innovation. He explains why and when users find it profitable to develop new products and services for themselves, and why it often pays users to reveal their innovations freely for the use of all.The trend toward democratized innovation can be seen in software and information products—most notably in the free and open-source software movement—but also in physical products. Von Hippel's many examples of user innovation in action range from surgical equipment to surfboards to software security features. He shows that product and service development is concentrated among "lead users," who are ahead on marketplace trends and whose innovations are often commercially attractive.
Von Hippel argues that manufacturers should redesign their innovation processes and that they should systematically seek out innovations developed by users. He points to businesses—the custom semiconductor industry is one example—that have learned to assist user-innovators by providing them with toolkits for developing new products. User innovation has a positive impact on social welfare, and von Hippel proposes that government policies, including R&D subsidies and tax credits, should be realigned to eliminate biases against it. The goal of a democratized user-centered innovation system, says von Hippel, is well worth striving for. An electronic version of this book is available under a Creative Commons license.
"Nowhere does history indulge in repetitions so often or so uniformly as in Wall Street," observed legendary speculator Jesse Livermore. History tells us that periods of major technological innovation are typically accompanied by speculative bubbles as economic agents overreact to genuine advancements in productivity. Excessive run-ups in asset prices can have important consequences for the economy as firms and investors respond to the price signals, resulting in capital misallocation. On the one hand, speculation can magnify the volatility of economic and financial variables, thus harming the welfare of those who are averse to uncertainty and fluctuations. But on the other hand, speculation can increase investment in risky ventures, thus yielding benefits to a society that suffers from an underinvestment problem.
Senior leaders increasingly embed paradoxes into their organization's strategy, but struggle to manage them effectively. To better understand how they do so, I compared in-depth qualitative data from six top management teams exploring and exploiting simultaneously. The results informed a model of dynamic decision making in which strategic paradoxes can be effectively engaged. The details of this dynamic decision-making model extend and complicate our understanding of managing paradoxes by depicting dilemmas and paradoxes as interwoven, explicating a consistently inconsistent pattern of addressing tensions, and framing both differentiating and integrating practices as necessary for engaging paradox.
As organizational environments become more global, dynamic, and competitive, contradictory demands intensify. To understand and explain such tensions, academics and practitioners are increasingly adopting a paradox lens. We review the paradox literature, categorizing types and highlighting fundamental debates. We then present a dynamic equilibrium model of organizing, which depicts how cyclical responses to paradoxical tensions enable sustainability—peak performance in the present that enables success in the future. This review and the model provide the foundation of a theory of paradox.
Multiple institutional logics present a theoretical puzzle. While scholars recognize their increasing prevalence within organizations, research offers conflicting perspectives on their implications, causing confusion and inhibiting deeper understanding. In response, we propose a framework that delineates types of logic multiplicity within organizations, and we link these types with different outcomes. Our framework categorizes organizations in terms of logic compatibility and logic centrality and explains how field, organizational, and individual factors influence these two dimensions. We illustrate the value of our framework by showing how it helps explain the varied implications of logic multiplicity for internal conflict. By providing insight into the nature and implications of logic multiplicity within organizations, our framework and analysis synthesize the extant literature, offer conceptual clarity, and focus future research.
This book seeks to deepen and broaden the understanding of change in organization populations by examining the dynamics of numbers of organizations in populations. The authors have studied various kinds of organizations, including national labour unions, newspapers and newspaper publishers, brewing firms, life insurance companies, and banks.
What is the status of the Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) revolution? Has the creation of software that can be freely used, modified, and redistributed transformed industry and society, as some predicted, or is this transformation still a work in progress? Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software brings together leading analysts and researchers to address this question, examining specific aspects of F/OSS in a way that is both scientifically rigorous and highly relevant to real-life managerial and technical concerns.
The book analyzes a number of key topics: the motivation behind F/OSS—why highly skilled software developers devote large amounts of time to the creation of "free" products and services; the objective, empirically grounded evaluation of software—necessary to counter what one chapter author calls the "steamroller" of F/OSS hype; the software engineering processes and tools used in specific projects, including Apache, GNOME, and Mozilla; the economic and business models that reflect the changing relationships between users and firms, technical communities and firms, and between competitors; and legal, cultural, and social issues, including one contribution that suggests parallels between "open code" and "open society" and another that points to the need for understanding the movement's social causes and consequences.
Why might firms be regarded as astutely managed at one point, yet subsequently lose their positions of industry leadership when faced with technological change? We present a model, grounded in a study of the world disk drive industry, that charts the process through which the demands of a firm's customers shape the allocation of resources in technological innovation—a model that links theories of resource dependence and resource allocation. We show that established firms led the industry in developing technologies of every sort—even radical ones—whenever the technologies addressed existing customers' needs. The same firms failed to develop simpler technologies that initially were only useful in emerging markets, because impetus coalesces behind, and resources are allocated to, programs targeting powerful customers. Projects targeted at technologies for which no customers yet exist languish for lack of impetus and resources. Because the rate of technical progress can exceed the performance demanded in a market, technologies which initially can only be used in emerging markets later can invade mainstream ones, carrying entrant firms to victory over established companies.
This paper focuses on dynamic capabilities and, more generally, the resource‐based view of the firm. We argue that dynamic capabilities are a set of specific and identifiable processes such as product development, strategic decision making, and alliancing. They are neither vague nor tautological. Although dynamic capabilities are idiosyncratic in their details and path dependent in their emergence, they have significant commonalities across firms (popularly termed ‘best practice’). This suggests that they are more homogeneous, fungible, equifinal, and substitutable than is usually assumed. In moderately dynamic markets, dynamic capabilities resemble the traditional conception of routines. They are detailed, analytic, stable processes with predictable outcomes. In contrast, in high‐velocity markets, they are simple, highly experiential and fragile processes with unpredictable outcomes. Finally, well‐known learning mechanisms guide the evolution of dynamic capabilities. In moderately dynamic markets, the evolutionary emphasis is on variation. In high‐velocity markets, it is on selection. At the level of RBV, we conclude that traditional RBV misidentifies the locus of long‐term competitive advantage in dynamic markets, overemphasizes the strategic logic of leverage, and reaches a boundary condition in high‐velocity markets. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Currently, two models of innovation are prevalent in organization science. The “private investment” model assumes returns to the innovator result from private goods and efficient regimes of intellectual property protection. The “collective action” model assumes that under conditions of market failure, innovators collaborate in order to produce a public good. The phenomenon of open source software development shows that users program to solve their own as well as shared technical problems, and freely reveal their innovations without appropriating private returns from selling the software. In this paper, we propose that open source software development is an exemplar of a compound “private-collective” model of innovation that contains elements of both the private investment and the collective action models and can offer society the “best of both worlds” under many conditions. We describe a new set of research questions this model raises for scholars in organization science. We offer some details regarding the types of data available for open source projects in order to ease access for researchers who are unfamiliar with these, and also offer some advice on conducting empirical studies on open source software development processes.
Innovation traditionally takes place within an organization's boundaries and with selected partners. This Chandlerian approach is rooted in transaction costs, organizational boundaries, and information challenges. Information processing, storage, and communication costs have been an important constraint on innovation and a reason why innovation takes place inside the organization. However, exponential technological progress is dramatically decreasing information constraints, and in many contexts, information costs are approaching zero. We discuss how reduced information costs enable organizations to engage communities of developers, professionals, and users for core innovative activities, frequently through platforms, ecosystems, and incorporating user innovation. We suggest that when information constraints drop dramatically, and the locus of innovation shifts to the larger community, there are profound challenges to the received theory of the firm and to theories of organization and innovation. Specifically, we consider how shifts in information costs affect organizational boundaries, business models, interdependence, leadership, identity, search, and intellectual property.
This paper focuses on dynamic capabilities and, more generally, the resource-based view of the firm. We argue that dynamic capabilities are a set of specific and identifiable processes such as product development, strategic decision making, and alliancing. They are neither vague nor tautological. Although dynamic capabilities are idiosyncratic in their details and path dependent in their emergence, they have significant commonalities across firms (popularly termed 'best practice'). This suggests that they are more homogeneous, fungible, equifinal and substitutable than is usually assumed. In moderately dynamic markets, dynamic capabilities resemble the traditional conception of routines. They are detailed, analytic stable processes with predictable outcomes. In contrast, in high-velocity markets, they are simple, highly experiential and fragile processes with unpredictable outcomes. Finally, well-known learning mechanisms guide the evolution of dynamic capabilities. In moderately dynamic markets, the evolutionary emphasis is on variation. In high-velocity markets, it is on selection. At the level of REV, we conclude that traditional REV misidentifies the locus of long-term competitive advantage in dynamic markers, overemphasizes the strategic logic of leverage, and reaches a boundary condition in high-velocity markets. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
This analysis considers the impact of the top managers in an organization on the organization's outcomes, specifically strategic choices and performance levels. The focus is not on the chief executive alone, but rather on the entire top management team. Using a macro view, these organizational outcomes are perceived to be related to the values and cognitive bases of those high-power individuals in the organization. In developing the model, emphasis is on the background characteristics of the top managers as opposed to the psychological dimensions. A series of propositions that should be tested to support the upper echelons theory are presented. The topics of these propositions include age, functional track, other career experiences, education, socioeconomic roots, financial position, and group characteristics. The creation of this model is just the beginning of the work that is necessary to evaluate and understand the upper echelons theory. Further input is needed from areas such as the executive recruiting industry. Additionally, clinical and statistical studies are both necessary to fully develop this theory. (SRD)
Discussions of the economic impact of open source software often generate more heat than light. Advocates passionately assert the benefits of open source while critics decry its effects. Missing from the debate is rigorous economic analysis and systematic economic evidence of the impact of open source on consumers, firms, and economic development in general. This book fills that gap. In The Comingled Code, Josh Lerner and Mark Schankerman, drawing on a new, large-scale database, show that open source and proprietary software interact in sometimes unexpected ways, and discuss the policy implications of these findings.
The new data (from a range of countries in varying stages of development) documents the mixing of open source and proprietary software: firms sell proprietary software while contributing to open source, and users extensively mix and match the two. Lerner and Schankerman examine the ways in which software differs from other technologies in promoting economic development, what motivates individuals and firms to contribute to open source projects, how developers and users view the trade-offs between the two kinds of software, and how government policies can ensure that open source competes effectively with proprietary software and contributes to economic development.
What counts? In work, as in other areas of life, it is not always clear what standards we are being judged by or how our worth is being determined. This can be disorienting and disconcerting. Because of this, many organizations devote considerable resources to limiting and clarifying the logics used for evaluating worth. But as David Stark argues, firms would often be better off, especially in managing change, if they allowed multiple logics of worth and did not necessarily discourage uncertainty. In fact, in many cases multiple orders of worth are unavoidable, so organizations and firms should learn to harness the benefits of such "heterarchy" rather than seeking to purge it. Stark makes this argument with ethnographic case studies of three companies attempting to cope with rapid change: a machine-tool company in late and postcommunist Hungary, a new-media startup in New York during and after the collapse of the Internet bubble, and a Wall Street investment bank whose trading room was destroyed on 9/11. In each case, the friction of competing criteria of worth promoted an organizational reflexivity that made it easier for the company to change and deal with market uncertainty. Drawing on John Dewey's notion that "perplexing situations" provide opportunities for innovative inquiry, Stark argues that the dissonance of diverse principles can lead to discovery.
The dynamic capabilities framework has had a significant impact on strategic management theory and practice, but the sizable literature on the topic has not always been unified. This paper begins with a restatement of the framework encompassing clarifications and extensions that have occurred since it was introduced. The paper highlights key elements that have been omitted or poorly integrated into the dynamic capabilities literature: the role of individual action by entrepreneurial managers, the role of resources, strategy, and the distinction between ordinary and dynamic capabilities. Dynamic capabilities is advanced as a multidisciplinary framework to explain long-run enterprise performance. Ambidexterity and other related frameworks are tailored versions of dynamic capabilities. Linkages between (strategic) management theory and (Austrian) economic theory are explored. The concepts of x-inefficiency and d-ineffectiveness are compared.
This book integrates and assesses the vast and rapidly growing literature on strategic leadership, which is the study of top executives and their effects on organizations. The basic premise is that, in order to understand why organizations do the things they do, or perform the way they do, we need to comprehend deeply the people at the top-their experiences, abilities, values, social connections, aspirations, and other human features. The actions-or inactions-of a relatively small number of key people at the apex of an organization can dramatically affect organizational outcomes. The scope of strategic leadership includes individual executives, especially chief executive officers (CEOs), groups of executives (top management teams, or TMTs), and governing bodies (particularly boards of directors). Accordingly, the book addresses an array of topics regarding CEOs (e.g., values, personality, motives, demography, succession, and compensation); TMTs (including composition, processes, and dynamics); and boards of directors (why boards look and behave the way they do, and the consequences of board profiles and behaviors). The book synthesizes what is known about strategic leadership and indicates new research directions.
Currently, two models of innovation are prevalent in organization science. The "private investment" model assumes returns to the innovator result from private goods and efficient regimes of intellectual property protection. The "collective action" model assumes that under conditions of market failure, innovators collaborate in order to produce a public good. The phenomenon of open source software development shows that users program to solve their own as well as shared technical problems, and freely reveal their innovations without appropriating private returns from selling the software. In this paper, we propose that open source software development is an exemplar of a compound "private-collective" model of innovation that contains elements of both the private investment and the collective action models and can offer society the "best of both worlds" under many conditions. We describe a new set of research questions this model raises for scholars in organization science. We offer some details regarding the types of data available for open source projects in order to ease access for researchers who are unfamiliar with these, and also offer some advice on conducting empirical studies on open source software development processes.
While sustainable high performance requires the capacity to simultaneously explore and exploit, the management literature is divided on the most feasible and efficient route toward this end. We review two proposed approaches for achieving simultaneously high levels of exploration and exploitation: organizational ambidexterity and organizational vacillation. To facilitate comparison, we map these approaches onto a common performance landscape, making precise the empirical question of which delivers superior long run performance. We then analyze canonical cases from both literatures, examining patterns of decision making and corresponding performance over time. These cases suggest that vacillation may offer higher long run performance than ambidexterity, while ambidexterity enhances performance on the margin when utilized within larger epochs of vacillation. We conclude that ambidexterity and vacillation are complements with respect to performance, albeit through different mechanisms.
Why might firms be regarded as astutely managed at one point, yet subsequently lose their positions of industry leadership when faced with technological change? We present a model, grounded in a study of the world disk drive industry, that charts the process through which the demands of a firm's customers shape the allocation of resources in technological innovation - a model that links theories of resource dependence and resource allocation. We show that established firms led the industry in developing technologies of every sort-even radical ones - whenever the technologies addressed existing customers' needs. The same firms failed to develop simpler technologies that initially were only useful in emerging markets, because impetus coalesces behind, and resources are allocated to, programs targeting powerful customers. Projects targeted at technologies for which no customers yet exist languish for lack of impetus and resources. Because the rate of technical progress can exceed the performance demanded in a market, technologies which initially can only be used in emerging markets later can invade mainstream ones, carrying entrant firms to victory over established companies.
We investigate the effect of corporate sustainability on organizational processes and performance. Using a matched sample of 180 U.S. companies, we find that corporations that voluntarily adopted sustainability policies by 1993—termed as high sustainability companies—exhibit by 2009 distinct organizational processes compared to a matched sample of companies that adopted almost none of these policies—termed as low sustainability companies. The boards of directors of high sustainability companies are more likely to be formally responsible for sustainability, and top executive compensation incentives are more likely to be a function of sustainability metrics. High sustainability companies are more likely to have established processes for stakeholder engagement, to be more long-term oriented, and to exhibit higher measurement and disclosure of nonfinancial information. Finally, high sustainability companies significantly outperform their counterparts over the long term, both in terms of stock market and accounting performance.
This paper was accepted by Bruno Cassiman, business strategy.
We summarize the manifest and latent content of the articles that make up the Special Topic Forum on Theory Development. Rather than offering new theories, however, most of the articles offer a series of critical accounts of current organizational theory and a range of novel ideas about the process of theory construction. We conclude by speculating about the institutional barriers to new theory creation and how those barriers might be changed.
QUESTION: How do theories which are generally considered interesting differ from theories which are generally considered non-interesting ? ANSWER: Interesting theories are those which deny certain assumptions of their audience, while noninteresting theories are those which arm certain assumptions of their audience. This answer was arrived at through the examination of a number of famous social, and especially sociological, theories. That examination also generated a systematic index of the variety of propositional forms which interesting and non-interesting theories may take. The fertility of this approach suggested a new field be established called the Sociology of the Interesting, which is intended to supplement the Sociology of Knowledge. This new field will be phenomenologically oriented in so far as it will focus on the movement of the audience's mind from one accepted theory to another. It will be sociologically oriented in so far as it will focus on the dissimilar base-line theories of the various sociological categories which compose the audience. In addition to its value in interpreting the social impact of theories, the Sociology of the Interesting can contribute to our understanding of both the common sense and scientific perspectives on reality.
Organizational ambidexterity refers to the ability of an organization to both explore and exploit — to compete in mature technologies and markets where efficiency, control, and incremental improvement are prized and to also compete in new technologies and markets where flexibility, autonomy, and experimentation are needed. In the past 15 years there has been an explosion of interest and research on this topic. We briefly review the current state of the research, highlighting what we know and don’t know about the topic. We close with a point of view on promising areas for ongoing research.
Why does the number of organizations of any given kind vary over time? Utilizing a diverse group of organizations including national labor unions, newspapers and newspaper publishers, brewing firms, life insurance companies, and banks, this book seeks to deepen and broaden the understanding of change in organizational populations by examining the dynamics of numbers of organizations in populations. Such an approach involves explaining the sources of growth and decline in the sum of organizations (what the authors call "density") over the histories of populations of organizations. The authors conclude their study by formulating a theory of density-dependent legitimation and competition.
Although a growing literature explores occupational identity, or the overlap between “who we are” and “what we do,” this literature has not fully considered how occupa- tional identity may interact with technological change. In this paper, we explore this interaction, asking how an occupation’s identity shapes and is shaped by its interac- tions with a new technology. We focus, specifically, on the relationship between librarians and Internet search. Drawing on an analysis of 22 years of articles from library journals, we demonstrate how and why librarians initially discounted Internet search and differentiated themselves from it. We argue that these responses were associated with a “paradox of expertise,” by which librarians missed innovation opportunities around one of the most important information technologies in history precisely, and ironically, because of their deep knowledge of non-Internet searching. Later, however, we demonstrate how librarians engaged with this same technology, drawing upon it to redefine their occupational identity. Our findings demonstrate how occupational identity conditions the interpretation of a technology, while also showing how these interpretations can change with ongoing interactions. We also illustrate how occupational identity itself can change in response to new technology. Finally, we elaborate upon why expert insiders may not actually be best positioned to pursue emerging technologies.
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.