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Exploratory Innovation, Exploitative Innovation, and Ambidexterity: The Impact of Environmental and Organizational Antecedents

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Abstract

Organizational ambidexterity (i.e., the ability to pursue exploratory and exploitative innovation simultaneously) is crucial to firm survival. In this study we explore how multiunit firms might develop ambidextrous organizational units in response to environmental demands. We examine how environmental and organizational antecedents affect a unit’s level of organizational ambidexterity. Our study reveals that multiunit firms develop ambidextrous organizational units to compete in dynamically competitive environments. Moreover, we show that organizational units with decentralized and densely connected social relations are able to act ambidextrously and pursue exploratory and exploitative innovations simultaneously. Our study provides new insights how multiunit firms can cope with contradictorily pressures for exploratory and exploitative innovations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Strategy Department, RSM Erasmus University, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Justin J. P. Jansen,  Frans A. J. Van den Bosch &  Henk W. Volberda

Authors
  1. Justin J. P. Jansen
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  2. Frans A. J. Van den Bosch
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  3. Henk W. Volberda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Justin J. P. Jansen.

Additional information

The Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) has supported this research. We would like to thank Dania Dialdin, Arie Lewin, and Raymond van Wijk for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

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Jansen, J.J.P., Van den Bosch, F.A.J. & Volberda, H.W. Exploratory Innovation, Exploitative Innovation, and Ambidexterity: The Impact of Environmental and Organizational Antecedents. Schmalenbach Bus Rev 57, 351–363 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03396721

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03396721

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