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Structural Differentiation and Ambidexterity: The Mediating Role of Integration Mechanisms

TL;DR: The findings suggest that the previously asserted direct effect of structural differentiation on ambidexterity operates through informal senior team and formal organizational integration mechanisms, and contributes to a greater clarity and better understanding of how organizations may effectively pursue exploration and exploitation simultaneously to achieve ambideXterity.
Abstract: textPrior studies have emphasized that structural attributes are crucial to simultaneously pursuing exploration and exploitation, yet our understanding of antecedents of ambidexterity is still limited. Structural differentiation can help ambidextrous organizations to maintain multiple inconsistent and conflicting demands; however, differentiated exploratory and exploitative activities need to mobilized, coordinated, integrated, and applied. Based on this idea, we delineate formal and informal senior team integration mechanisms (i.e. contingency rewards and social integration) and formal and informal organizational integration mechanisms (i.e. cross-functional interfaces and connectedness) and examine how they mediate the relationship between structural differentiation and ambidexterity. Overall, our findings suggest that the previously asserted direct effect of structural differentiation on ambidexterity operates through informal senior team (i.e. senior team social integration) and formal organizational (i.e. cross-functional interfaces) integration mechanisms. Through this richer explanation and empirical assessment, we contribute to a greater clarity and better understanding of how organizations may effectively pursue exploration and exploitation simultaneously to achieve ambidexterity.

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Citations
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Dissertation
01 Jul 2010
TL;DR: In this paper, Knoke's Ph.D. dissertation is described as a Sociology major with a focus on the intersection of sociology and social science, and it is published online.
Abstract: University of MInnesota Ph.D. dissertation. July 2010. Major: Sociology. Advisor: Professor David Knoke. 1 computer file (PDF); viii, 166 pages, appendices A-B.

1 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the necessity of ambidexterity in small firms and find that small firms are competent of effectively engaging both in pursuing exploration and exploitation, and stress the importance of finding a balance between these two processes to reap competitive advantage from the markets characterized with hyper competition and dynamism.
Abstract: The concept of organizational ambidexterity has gained momentum research in business firms. This study aims to explore necessity of ambidexterity. The main objective of this study is to investigate why small firms should be ambidextrous and how they can reach ambidexterity under the pressure of limited resources and competitive forces. Result of the study reveals that small firms are competent of effectively engage both in pursuing exploration and exploitation. The study stresses the importance of finding a balance between these two processes in small firms to reap competitive advantage from the markets which are characterized with hyper competition and dynamism. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed in this paper.

1 citations


Cites background from "Structural Differentiation and Ambi..."

  • ...Ambidextrous provides better landscape for firms to realization of current profit and productivity issues while addressing the adaptability issues in the changing environment (Jansen et al. 2009)....

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  • ...Although increasing attention toward the concept of ambidexterity in recent years contribute to the refinement and extension of the concept, a review of the extant literature reveals that important research issues are remained unexplored (Jansen et al. 2009; Lubatkin et al. 2006; Gulati and Puranam, 2009)....

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  • ...Recent research criticizes the early idea that tradeoffs between exploitation and exploration as insurmountable and proposes that ambidextrous firms are capable of engage in underlined processes at simultaneously (Jansen et al. 2009; Lubatkin et al. 2006)....

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  • ...…increasing attention toward the concept of ambidexterity in recent years contribute to the refinement and extension of the concept, a review of the extant literature reveals that important research issues are remained unexplored (Jansen et al. 2009; Lubatkin et al. 2006; Gulati and Puranam, 2009)....

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01 Jun 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, an inductive approach retrieving keywords from the body of text and based on the validity analyses provides more robust results than the original terminology and keywords proposed by March to construct indicators of firms? orientation towards exploration or exploitation.
Abstract: Since the seminal work of March (1991) outlined the importance of balancing exploration and exploitation in organizational learning, an increasing number of studies has analyzed the relationship between this balance and firm performance. While most studies have relied on survey or patent-based indicators to measure firms? exploration and exploitation activities, attention has recently shifted to the use of text based indicators and content analysis, as this holds the promise of generality and universal application. The limited number of studies applying content analysis have used the original terminology and keywords proposed by March to construct indicators of firms? orientation towards exploration or exploitation. In this paper we show 1) that March?s original terminology is unlikely to deliver valid and generally applicable indicators 2) how the construction of representative indicators should be based on a structured series of validity analyses 3) that an inductive approach retrieving keywords from the body of text and based on the validity analyses provides more robust results. Empirically, we analyze more than 100,000 R&D-related press articles (1996-2003) covering 151 R&D intensive firms based in Europe, Japan and the US. As part of our validity analyses, we confirm an inverted-U shaped relationship between firm performance and exploration orientation ? but only if exploration is measured using an inductive approach that departs substantially from March?s original list of keywords.

1 citations

Book ChapterDOI
12 Dec 2014
TL;DR: The case study at one of the biggest European banks which is introducing Big Data technologies to support the activity of its corporate relationship managers gives evidences that cross-functional teams involving directly these two poles are not, at the first step, the most effective solution at middle-manager level.
Abstract: This manuscript examines, in a context of radical innovation, the effectiveness of cross functional teams mediating between exploration and exploitation and the knowledge processes that enable organizational ambidexterity. To do so, we conducted a 9 month case study at one of the biggest European banks which is introducing Big Data technologies to support the activity of its corporate relationship managers. The case study focuses on the relationship between the R&D Department and the ICT services provider of the bank and gives evidences that cross-functional teams involving directly these two poles are not, at the first step, the most effective solution at middle-manager level.

1 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article seeks to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ, and delineates the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena.
Abstract: In this article, we attempt to distinguish between the properties of moderator and mediator variables at a number of levels. First, we seek to make theorists and researchers aware of the importance of not using the terms moderator and mediator interchangeably by carefully elaborating, both conceptually and strategically, the many ways in which moderators and mediators differ. We then go beyond this largely pedagogical function and delineate the conceptual and strategic implications of making use of such distinctions with regard to a wide range of phenomena, including control and stress, attitudes, and personality traits. We also provide a specific compendium of analytic procedures appropriate for making the most effective use of the moderator and mediator distinction, both separately and in terms of a broader causal system that includes both moderators and mediators.

80,095 citations


"Structural Differentiation and Ambi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...A four-item scale ( = 0 70) measures firmlevel exploitative innovation (Jansen et al. 2006) and captures the extent to which organizations build on existing knowledge and pursue incremental innovations that meet the needs of existing customers (Abernathy and Clark 1985, Benner and Tushman 2003,…...

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Book ChapterDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the link between firm resources and sustained competitive advantage and analyzed the potential of several firm resources for generating sustained competitive advantages, including value, rareness, imitability, and substitutability.

46,648 citations


"Structural Differentiation and Ambi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...provides organizations with competitive advantages over time (Barney 1991)....

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  • ...Our study broadens the conceptual interpretation of organizational ambidexterity and suggests that it is difficult to achieve yet rare and not easily imitated, and 797 provides organizations with competitive advantages over time (Barney 1991)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the ability of a firm to recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends is critical to its innovative capabilities.
Abstract: In this paper, we argue that the ability of a firm to recognize the value of new, external information, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends is critical to its innovative capabilities. We label this capability a firm's absorptive capacity and suggest that it is largely a function of the firm's level of prior related knowledge. The discussion focuses first on the cognitive basis for an individual's absorptive capacity including, in particular, prior related knowledge and diversity of background. We then characterize the factors that influence absorptive capacity at the organizational level, how an organization's absorptive capacity differs from that of its individual members, and the role of diversity of expertise within an organization. We argue that the development of absorptive capacity, and, in turn, innovative performance are history- or path-dependent and argue how lack of investment in an area of expertise early on may foreclose the future development of a technical capability in that area. We formulate a model of firm investment in research and development (R&D), in which R&D contributes to a firm's absorptive capacity, and test predictions relating a firm's investment in R&D to the knowledge underlying technical change within an industry. Discussion focuses on the implications of absorptive capacity for the analysis of other related innovative activities, including basic research, the adoption and diffusion of innovations, and decisions to participate in cooperative R&D ventures. **

31,623 citations


"Structural Differentiation and Ambi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Organizational integration mechanisms not only facilitate new value creation through linking previously unconnected knowledge sources (Cohen and Levinthal 1990), but also through providing opportunities to leverage common resources and obtaining synergies across exploratory and exploitative units…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The dynamic capabilities framework as mentioned in this paper analyzes the sources and methods of wealth creation and capture by private enterprise firms operating in environments of rapid technological change, and suggests that private wealth creation in regimes of rapid technology change depends in large measure on honing intemal technological, organizational, and managerial processes inside the firm.
Abstract: The dynamic capabilities framework analyzes the sources and methods of wealth creation and capture by private enterprise firms operating in environments of rapid technological change. The competitive advantage of firms is seen as resting on distinctive processes (ways of coordinating and combining), shaped by the firm's (specific) asset positions (such as the firm's portfolio of difftcult-to- trade knowledge assets and complementary assets), and the evolution path(s) it has aflopted or inherited. The importance of path dependencies is amplified where conditions of increasing retums exist. Whether and how a firm's competitive advantage is eroded depends on the stability of market demand, and the ease of replicability (expanding intemally) and imitatability (replication by competitors). If correct, the framework suggests that private wealth creation in regimes of rapid technological change depends in large measure on honing intemal technological, organizational, and managerial processes inside the firm. In short, identifying new opportunities and organizing effectively and efficiently to embrace them are generally more fundamental to private wealth creation than is strategizing, if by strategizing one means engaging in business conduct that keeps competitors off balance, raises rival's costs, and excludes new entrants. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

27,902 citations


"Structural Differentiation and Ambi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...…capabilities, which are embedded in the distinct ways that organizations integrate, build, and recombine competences flexibly across boundaries, are fundamental to long-term strategic advantage (Eisenhardt and Martin 2000, Henderson and Cockburn 1994, Kogut and Zander 1992, Teece et al. 1997)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, structural equation models with latent variables are defined, critiqued, and illustrated, and an overall program for model evaluation is proposed based upon an interpretation of converging and diverging evidence.
Abstract: Criteria for evaluating structural equation models with latent variables are defined, critiqued, and illustrated. An overall program for model evaluation is proposed based upon an interpretation of converging and diverging evidence. Model assessment is considered to be a complex process mixing statistical criteria with philosophical, historical, and theoretical elements. Inevitably the process entails some attempt at a reconcilation between so-called objective and subjective norms.

19,160 citations