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Structural Differentiation and Ambidexterity: The Mediating Role of Integration Mechanisms

Justin J. P. Jansen1, Michiel Pieter Tempelaar1, Frans van den Bosch1, Henk W. Volberda1•
Erasmus University Rotterdam1
05 Nov 2008-ERIM report series research in management Erasmus Research Institute of Management (Erasmus Research Institute of Management)-
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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Journal Article•DOI•
The Role of Ambidexterity in Marketing Strategy Implementation: Resolving the Exploration-Exploitation Dilemma

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Christiane Prange1, Bodo B. Schlegelmilch2, Bodo B. Schlegelmilch3•
EMLYON Business School1, Vienna University of Economics and Business2, University of Leeds3
01 Dec 2009-Business Research
TL;DR: In this paper, a framework of multiple types of ambidexterity is introduced to overcome marketing dilemmas and support strategy implementation by drawing on ambidextrous designs.
Abstract: Formulating consistent marketing strategies is a difficult task, but successfully implementing them is even more challenging. This is even more pertinent as marketing strategies quite often incorporate inherent conflicts between major breakthroughs and consolidation. Consequently, marketers need to balance exploratory and exploitative strategies. However, the literature lacks concrete insights for marketing managers as to how exploratory and exploitative strategies can be best combined. This paper addresses this issue by introducing a framework of multiple types of ambidexterity. Based on qualitative research, tools and procedures are identified to overcome marketing dilemmas and support strategy implementation by drawing on ambidextrous designs.

44 citations

Exploratory studies into strategies to enhance innovation-driven international competitiveness in a port context

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Rick M.A. Hollen
16 Oct 2015
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present six different exploratory studies into how efficiency-dominated ports in economically advanced countries can become more ambidextrous and, in turn, strengthen their innovation-driven international competitiveness.
Abstract: Research has highlighted that firms competing in dynamic environments have to balance exploitative (efficiency-directed) activities with explorative (innovation-directed) ones in order to remain internationally competitive. In economically advanced countries, whose competitiveness is innovation-driven, this prerequisite of ambidexterity also holds at the aggregate level of (sea)ports. Ports, being important junctions in international integrated chain systems, however, appear to focus predominantly on exploiting their existing assets and market position, minimizing the costs of freight flows, and enhancing overall efficiency levels. This dissertation contains six different exploratory studies into how efficiency-dominated ports in economically advanced countries can become more ambidextrous and, in turn, strengthen their innovation-driven international competitiveness. These studies variably emphasize how firms, business associations and, in particular, port authorities can play a role in this endeavor. Drawing on case study findings and prior literature, it is shown how new ways of organizing and managing, i.e. management innovation, introduced by these organizations at the intra-, inter- or multi-organizational level may contribute to enhanced resource productivity, greater environmental performance, advancements in technological innovation, improved safety procedures in ports, and to a more innovative business climate in general. Also, it is elaborated how the business model of port authorities and, in this connection, their strategic use of generic policy instruments are related with a port’s level of strategic connectivity and strategic value creation for its country. Several conceptual framework and propositions are developed that provide interesting directions in which future studies on management innovation, multi-organizational collaboration, and port authority strategies may be usefully enriched.

44 citations

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

  • ...…technologies, products, services and knowledge, entering new customer or market domains, pursuing new organizational competencies, engaging in new ways of organizing and managing, and developing new (types of) organizational relationships (e.g. Holmqvist, 2004; Jansen et al., 2009; March, 1991)....

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  • ...…of long-term competitiveness in the context of changing environments is the ability to engage in both exploration- and exploitation-directed activities (e.g. Benner & Tushman, 2003; Gibson & Birkinshaw, 2004; Gupta et al., 2006; He & Wong, 2004; Jansen et al., 2009; Tushman & O’Reilly, 1996)....

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  • ...These changes may include developing new process technologies, products, services and knowledge, entering new customer or market domains, pursuing new organizational competencies, engaging in new ways of organizing and managing, and developing new (types of) organizational relationships (e.g. Holmqvist, 2004; Jansen et al., 2009; March, 1991)....

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  • ...The most traditional view of organizational ambidexterity, which draws partly on Duncan’s (1976) notion of ‘dual structures’ as a means for organizations to effectively manage the initiation and implementation stages of innovation, is that ambidexterity is to be achieved through structural separation of organizational entities such as business units (e.g. Benner & Tushman, 2003; Burgelman, 2002; Jansen et al., 2009; Tushman & O’Reilly, 1996)....

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  • ...Various scholars have pointed out that established firms encounter difficulties in dealing with contradictory intra-organizational pressures for exploration and exploitation (Burgers et al., 2008; Jansen et al., 2009; March, 1991; O’Reilly & Tushman, 2008; Russo & Vurro, 2010)....

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Posted Content•
Exploring and Exploiting Network Relationships to Commercialize Technology: A Biofuel Case

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Christopher J. Medlin1, Jan-Åke Törnroos2•
University of Adelaide1, Åbo Akademi University2
04 Jun 2015-Social Science Research Network
TL;DR: In this article, a longitudinal case study of biofuel development and commercialization exemplifies the conceptual issues of ambidexterity of exploring and exploiting in an innovation context, and the authors provide an understanding of the way in which managers are exploiting the business network to adapt and commercialize a breakthrough technology.
Abstract: We seek to understand how ambidexterity of exploring and exploiting is managed in an innovation context. We contribute to the literature by elaborating exploring and exploiting as three processes shared between actors in a dynamic business network. An innovator firm needs to (1) explore the current business network to find partners and gain access to resources, (2) develop business relationships for exploiting the emerging network, and (3) explore and find a network-technology fit inside a future business network. The final process is essential to innovation and commercialization. Further, the quality of the network-technology fit will affect the speed and success of the other two processes. Our contribution provides an understanding of the way in which managers are exploring and exploiting the business network to adapt and commercialize a breakthrough technology. A longitudinal case study of biofuel development and commercialization exemplifies the conceptual issues. Final sections address managerial and research implications.

43 citations

Journal Article•DOI•
Achieving Temporal Ambidexterity in New Ventures

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Stephanie Lu Wang1, Yadong Luo2, Yadong Luo3, Vladislav Maksimov4, Jinyun Sun5, Nikhil Celly6 •
Indiana University1, University of Miami2, Sun Yat-sen University3, University of North Carolina at Greensboro4, Fudan University5, University of Houston6
01 Jun 2019-Journal of Management Studies
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce the concept of temporal ambidexterity and define four intertemporal tensions involving an organization's objectives, resources, markets, and uncertainty, and examine how firms can address these tensions successfully in the context of new ventures.
Abstract: Organizations face a common intertemporal choice problem, where actions suitable in the shortterm are different from those that work in the longterm. Building on the organizational ambidexterity theory, we argue that organizations can reconcile their short‐term and long‐term tensions, but this does necessitate managerial endeavours that orchestrate this reconciliation. We introduce the concept of temporal ambidexterity and define four intertemporal tensions involving an organization’s objectives, resources, markets, and uncertainty. We examine how firms can address these tensions successfully in the context of new ventures, and to do so we focus on three managerial capabilities of founder‐CEOs: expertise breadth, external connectivity, and empowering leadership. Results from 243 new ventures in China suggest that temporal ambidexterity improves with these managerial capabilities, and more so for younger ventures. Our findings shed light on solutions and mechanisms by which intertemporal balance is fulfilled, particularly for new ventures in a dynamic environment.

43 citations

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

  • ...…argue that ambidexterity can be achieved by adopting structural separation, where different units perform different activities to avoid tensions (Jansen et al., 2009 ; Tushman and O’Reilly, 1996 ), by engendering a behavioural and relational context, where the members of a single unit can…...

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  • ...The main challenge to managers in this type of ambidexterity is to implement mechanisms to integrate these structurally differentiated units (Jansen et al., 2009 ) and to be actively involved in supporting ambidexterity while tolerating conflicts and helping to resolve them (O’Reilly and Tushman,…...

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  • ...Second, we are aware of different approaches to operationalize the strength of ambidexterity, such as product or the multiplicative (e.g., Gibson and Birkinshaw, 2004 ; He and Wong, 2004 ; Hill and Birkinshaw, 2014 ; Jansen et al., 2008 , 2009 ; Jansen et al., 2012 )....

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Journal Article•DOI•
Balancing exploration and exploitation in inventions: Quality of inventions and team composition

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Pengfei Wang1, Vareska van de Vrande2, Justin J. P. Jansen2•
BI Norwegian Business School1, Erasmus University Rotterdam2
01 Dec 2017-Research Policy
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the antecedents and consequences of inventions that balance new and existing knowledge using patent data from the semiconductor industry and find that balanced inventions that combine a firm's existing knowledge with new knowledge are of higher quality than inventions that are either over-exploratory or overexploitative.

43 citations

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

  • ...…to deal with these challenges, studies have primarily provided a firm-level perspective, and have advocated the use of differentiated units for exploration and exploitation where there is targeted integration between the units or their activities (Jansen et al., 2009; Raisch and Birkinshaw, 2008)....

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More filters
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"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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Texas A&M University1
01 Mar 1991-Journal of Management
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.

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"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 Article•DOI•
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Wesley M. Cohen1, Daniel A. Levinthal2•
Carnegie Mellon University1, University of Pennsylvania2
01 Mar 1990-Administrative Science Quarterly
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 Article•DOI•
Dynamic capabilities and strategic management

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David J. Teece1, Gary P. Pisano2, Amy Shuen3•
University of California, Berkeley1, Harvard University2, San Jose State University3
01 Aug 1997-Strategic Management Journal
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 Article•DOI•
On the evaluation of structural equation models

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Richard P. Bagozzi1, Youjae Yi1•
University of Michigan1
01 Jan 1988-Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
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.
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19,160 citations

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