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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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Report•DOI•
The Impact of Knowledge Inflows on the Performance of National Laboratories in Technological Latecomer Countries

[...]

Pattravadee Ploykitikoon1•
Portland State University1
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a list of abbreviations and abbreviations for the following words: i.i.d. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv list OF TABLES xiii list of FIGURES xiv GLOSSARY or list of ABBREVIATIONS/SYMBOLS xvi
Abstract: i DEDICATION iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv LIST OF TABLES xiii LIST OF FIGURES xiv GLOSSARY OR LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS/SYMBOLS xvi

8 citations

Additional excerpts

  • ...It is a well-known challenge in most innovation-driven firms (Tushman & O’Reilly, 1996; O'Reilly & Tushman, 2004; Gibson & Birkinshaw, 2004; Raisch & Birkinshaw, 2008; O'Reilly & Tushman, 2008; Ambos et al., 2008; Simsek, 2009; Raisch et al., 2009; Andriopoulos & Lewis, 2009; Taylor & Helfat, 2009; Rothaermel & Alexandre, 2009; Cao et al., 2009; Jansen et al., 2009; Mom et al., 2009; O'Reilly & Tushman, 2011), and has been observed in the university environment (Y....

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  • ...5), just like private corporations do (Tushman & O’Reilly, 1996; O'Reilly & Tushman, 2004; Gibson & Birkinshaw, 2004; Raisch & Birkinshaw, 2008; O'Reilly & Tushman, 2008; Ambos et al., 2008; Simsek, 2009; Raisch et al., 2009; Andriopoulos & Lewis, 2009; Taylor & Helfat, 2009; Rothaermel & Alexandre, 2009; Cao et al., 2009; Jansen et al., 2009; Mom et al., 2009; O'Reilly & Tushman, 2011)....

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Journal Article•DOI•
Exploration and Exploitation in Latin American Firms: The Determinants of Organizational Ambidexterity and The Country Effect

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Juan Acevedo1, Ivan Diaz-Molina1•
University of the Andes, Chile1
12 Dec 2019-Journal of Technology Management & Innovation
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the determinants of organizational ambidexterity across Latin American countries from innovation surveys of 2,786 manufacturing companies and find that higher GDP per capita relates to higher exploration and exploitation ability of firms.
Abstract: In this article, we explore the determinants of organizational ambidexterity across Latin American countries -Chile, Ecuador, and Peru- from innovation surveys of 2,786 manufacturing companies. The study introduces valuable information on ambidextrous organizations in emerging economies, contrasting to traditional literature frequently focusing on developed countries. Findings confirm the importance to measure ambidexterity in a multidimensional perspective, relating exploration to radical innovation, and breaking down exploitation into incremental exploitation, related to incremental innovation and repetitive exploitation related to operational efficiency. This work also finds that higher GDP per capita relates to higher exploration and exploitation ability of firms and supported our hypotheses that political and economic uncertainty of each country impact on organizational ambidexterity. Additionally, we expand on Diaz-Molina´s model (2018), on the relationship between strategic and operational absorptive capacity on ambidexterity by validating his findings across several countries and uncovering a positive interaction term between strategic and operational absorptive capacity when both impact on ambidexterity.

8 citations

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

  • ...Studies have identified many antecedents to ambidextrous firms in developed countries (Piao and Zajac,2016; Jansen et al., 2009; Lederman, 2010); however, little research has examined the Latin-American context....

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Journal Article•DOI•
How do IT outsourcing vendors develop capabilities? An organizational ambidexterity perspective on a multi-case study

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Wenyu Du1, Shan L. Pan2, Junjie Wu1•
Beihang University1, University of New South Wales2
21 Feb 2020-Journal of Information Technology
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors have generated rich findings on how vendors develop capabilities, but these findings have been found to have miscalculations in the evaluation of the vendor capabilities.
Abstract: Vendor capabilities are an important research stream in the IT outsourcing literature. The extant studies have generated rich findings on how vendors develop capabilities, but these findings have m...

8 citations

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

  • ...These individuals are known as organizational linkages (Taylor and Helfat, 2009) or cross-functional interfaces (Jansen et al., 2009)....

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  • ...The first category advocates structural differentiation, where organizations assign exploitation and exploration activities to two different business units to minimize the conflicts and integrate them at a higher management level (Jansen et al., 2009; Taylor and Helfat, 2009)....

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Journal Article•DOI•
Sequences of learning types for organizational ambidexterity

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Russell Seidle
13 May 2019-The Learning Organization
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine how distinct sequences of organizational learning types (experiential and vicarious) underpin processes of exploratory versus exploitative innovation, and propose a structural differentiation and integration mechanisms useful to foster organizational ambidexterity.
Abstract: This paper aims to examine how distinct sequences of organizational learning types (experiential and vicarious) underpin processes of exploratory versus exploitative innovation.,Data collection consists of 16 interviews conducted with senior personnel at two firms in the biopharmaceutical sector, with sequences of organizational learning types derived from the associated innovation projects. These sequences and their differential emphases on experiential or vicarious learning are used to construct a conceptual model. Propositions describe the structural differentiation and integration mechanisms useful to foster organizational ambidexterity.,Technological brokering emerges as a key means by which organizations can reconcile the learning sequences underlying exploration and exploitation. For exploration, a structure incorporating cross-industry technology brokerage during the initiation and development phases of innovation is posited. For exploitation, a structure harnessing intra-industry technology brokerage during the development phase of innovation is suggested. Integration of these projects can be accomplished through cross-unit interfaces incorporating both types of brokerage roles, with emphasis on their use during implementation.,This paper considers the ways in which organizations focus on separate types of organizational learning at different stages of the innovation process. Insights are provided into how firms mobilize internal and external knowledge to advance these projects independently, as well as to link these efforts and thereby facilitate ambidexterity.

8 citations

Dissertation•DOI•
Individual, team and organizational antecedents of explorative and exploitative innovation in manufacturing firms

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Matthias de Visser
28 Mar 2013
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the antecedents of exploration and exploitation on the individual, team and organizational level, and show that organizations pursuing both incremental and radical innovation should structure explorative and exploitative processes differently.
Abstract: Innovation is crucial for the long-term survival and growth of organizations. Many manufacturing companies face intense pressures to innovate and develop new products that meet customer requirements. A central component of success in new product development is the maintenance of a balance between exploration and exploitation. Exploration can be defined as the pursuit of new knowledge of things that might come to be known, exploitation as the use and development of things already known. Organizations encounter various challenges in balancing and organizing these activities as they entail inherent contradictions that need to be managed. This research provides new insights into the antecedents of exploration and exploitation on the individual, team and organizational level. It demonstrates that organizations pursuing both incremental and radical innovation should structure explorative and exploitative processes differently. Incremental innovation requires a functional structure, whereas radical innovation benefits from a cross-functional structure. Besides structural factors, this research stresses the relevance of cognitive factors in explaining innovation performance. In new product development teams, analytical processing of information has a positive impact on the performance of both explorative and exploitative innovation projects. Intuitive processing, however, only has a positive impact on performance of explorative innovation projects, where creativity and experimenting are important. In exploitative projects, where focus lies on efficiency and standardization, intuitive processing has a negative impact on project performance. Exploration and exploitation thus demand different organizational structures, but also different thinking styles. This research also shows how thinking styles of CEOs and investing in exploration and exploitation are linked. Finally, relationships between cognitive and structural factors and how they affect the evolution of exploration and exploitation within a firm are explored in a longitudinal study.

8 citations

Additional excerpts

  • ...However, organizations encounter various challenges in balancing these activities (Lavie and Rosenkopf, 2006; Levinthal and March, 1993; 3 Siggelkow and Rivkin,  2006;;  Tushman  and  O’Reilly,  1996)  as  they  entail  inherent  contradictions   that  need  to  be  managed  (Tushman  and  O’Reilly,  1996)....

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  • ...Existing research on organizational ambidexterity has provided valuable insights into how structural characteristics of firms or business units influence the ability to combine explorative and exploitative activities (e.g. Duncan, 1976; Tushman and O’Reilly,  1996;;  Jansen  et  al.,  2009; Jansen et al., 2005; Tushman and O’Reilly,   1996;;   Benner   and   Tushman,   2003)....

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  • ...Previous studies have emphasized the complexity of balancing exploration and exploitation levels (e.g. Sorensen, 2002; Voss et al., 2008; Benner, 2007) and have provided insights into structural and individual factors that influence them (e.g. Nohria and Gulati, 1996; Burns and Stalker,   1961;;   Benner   and   Tushman,   2003;;   Tushman   and   O’Reilly,   1996;;   Scott   and   Bruce,   9 1994)....

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  • ...Previous studies have provided valuable insights into how environmental and organizational factors may influence levels of explorative and exploitative innovation in firms (e.g. Duncan, 1976;;   Tushman   and   O’Reilly,   1996;;   Jansen   et   al.,   2009;;   Jansen   et   al.,   2005;;   Tushman   and   O’Reilly,  1996;;  Benner  and  Tushman,  2003)....

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  • ...The period of time a CEO is active in the firm might impact his or her orientation toward exploration  and  exploitation  (Tushman  and  O’Reilly,  1996)....

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References
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Journal Article•DOI•
The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations.

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Reuben M. Baron, David A. Kenny
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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.

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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.

46,648 citations

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

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

    [...]

  • ...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•
Absorptive capacity: a new perspective on learning and innovation

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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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