Dynamic ambidexterity: How innovators manage exploration and exploitation

Firms must excel at both exploration and exploitation to ensure long-term survival and prosperity. However, firms often have difficulties in doing so because they have to accommodate the contradictory logics of exploration and exploitation. This article examines the logics of exploration and exploitation, evaluates the difficulties of accommodating both logics, and identifies dynamic ambidexterity as a new way to overcome these difficulties. To achieve dynamic ambidexterity, firms need to support structural ambidexterity at the corporate level, contextual ambidexterity at the business-unit level, and sequential ambidexterity at the project level. I believe that the notion of dynamic ambidexterity and its managerial practices can help firms manage exploration and exploitation and ensure long-term survival and prosperity.     

Predictive and effectual decision-making in high-tech international new ventures – A matter of sequential ambidexterity

This study investigates the international opportunity exploration and exploitation processes of high technology international new ventures (INVs) operating in the global medical devices sector. Drawing upon the effectuation and causation perspectives, we contribute to the micro-foundations of international entrepreneurship research in the early innovation development space by focusing on decision-making logics of techno-entrepreneurs of INVs. Specific focus is afforded to the phases of their exploration and exploitation of international opportunities leading to international new venture creation. In the pre-start-up and start-up stages of international new ventures, we find that sequential ambidexterity applies to how the subject firms manage the exploration and exploitation of opportunities in the delivery of their innovations to global markets.This research advances prior international entrepreneurship studies by focusing on the opportunity and innovation processes on the individual level. We identify different decision-making logics in the different phases and contrary to earlier findings in the international entrepreneurship (IE) area, we found causation logic to dominate the initial stages of exploration and effectuation logic, in the latter stages. Prior commercial experience presented itself as a key determining factor in the decision-making path chosen by international techno-entrepreneurs. Our study further extends the view of organizational ambidexterity by offering empirical insights into the relevance of sequential ambidexterity for understanding the processes of innovation exploration and exploitation in high-tech INVs and the decision-making logics driving these processes.     

Micro-foundational ambidexterity and multinational enterprises: A systematic review and a conceptual framework

During the past decade, ambidexterity research has broadened from its traditional macro-level focus to examine the micro-level perspectives of ambidexterity on various settings. The authors systematically review and critically appraise the literature of ambidexterity from a micro-foundational perspective, within the context of Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). By synthesizing the review findings, the authors develop a comprehensive framework that maps extant literature within and across various disciplines and multiple levels of analysis. As part of their review, the authors also identify and discuss important emerging themes and fruitful areas for future research and present the implications to both research and management practice.     

Organizational and competitive influences of exploration and exploitation activities in small firms

This study explores organizational and competitive factors affecting exploration/exploitation activities in SMEs by examining the role of entrepreneurial orientation (EO), market orientation (MO) and perceived competitive intensity. We test the relationships among these variables using data collected from 55 manufacturing SMEs operating in the southern part of U. S. The findings provide a strong support for a positive association between EO, MO and exploration/exploitation activities. Perceived competitive intensity was only a significant moderator for the relationship between MO and the degree of exploratory activities. Our findings, hence, suggest the significant role organizational predictors play in enhancing exploration/exploitation activities in SMEs. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

盈余持续性研究综述

对国内外盈余持续性研究的文献进行回顾,说明了盈余持续性研究的状况。目前我国关于盈余持续性的研究不多,在模型选择和方法上也对国外的研究跟踪不足。     

Corporate Psychological Defences: An Oil Spill Case

Organisational psychological defences protect the self-esteem and moral integrity of the organisational personality even at the expense of sacrificing the morality of actions. This paper analyses the spectrum of defences used by an oil refinery and its parent company during an oil spill incident. A hypothetical model of defences built on Swajkowski’s four responses to accusations of organisational misconduct – refusals, excuses, justifications and concessions – is tested through this case. On the basis of empirical findings it is obvious that defences delay, impede and interrupt the mitigation and recovery actions of incidents. It is not possible to break the defence behaviour of individuals because it is a built-in psychological mechanism in all humans serving a valuable purpose of dosing the pain of injury. However, it is possible to separate individual and organisational behaviour so that automatic organisational procedures mitigate, recover and, ultimately, prevent incidents. The organisational psychological task of crisis management is to mitigate the organisation’s ego defences, recover from its emotional turmoil and prevent further traumas by making its ego stronger and more flexible. The argument of this paper is that in practice organisational defences act as bumpers against becoming too conscious of the gap between the corporate rhetoric and reality, as subconscious breaks against too fast change demands, and as batteries in their preconscious effort to prepare for the change. Organisational refusals act as bumpers, excuses as breaks and justifications as batteries, while concessions imply that a change towards a more responsible corporation is taking place. Tarja Ketola is Adjunct Professor of Environmental Management at the Department of Management, Turku School of Economics, Finland. She took her Ph. D. at Imperial College, University of London, and worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Management Studies at Brunel University before returning to Finland. Her research interests include eco-psychological leadership, strategic environmental management and corporate responsibility. She has written books and published articles in many journals, including Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Business Strategy and the Environment, Sustainable Development and Long Range Planning.     

产业国际竞争力文献综述

世界经济全球化,一体化的特征在当今的世界环境中表现显著,产业国际竞争成为世界范围内的一项重要的课题,国内外的专家学者和相关的研究机构都做了大量的理论或实证性研究,但对于各国的主要或特色产业竞争力之间缺乏系统全面的思考。学术界对于产业国际竞争力中的产业研究范围很广,诸如医药卫生、教育、文化产业等一系列产业学术界都有所涉猎,但是这些研究之间都没有形成自己的体系,仅仅对产业的国际竞争力进行了简单的分析,还存在较多的问题和可以探究的地方值得我们去学习。通过借鉴和总结各国产业国际竞争力的研究内容,进行综述,从中找出研究成果的特点,从而为今后的进一步研究打下坚实的基础。     

货币主义现代汇率理论评述

货币主义汇率理论是汇率理论的主要学派。多恩布什(Dornbusch)是货币主义现代汇率理论的代表人物。但是多恩布什的粘性价格货币模型在实证检验中很不理想而受到广泛质疑。文章对以多恩布什为代表的货币主义现代汇率理论进行了评述，并介绍了奥布斯特菲尔德和罗高夫(Obsfield，M．and K．Rogoff)建立的汇率动态模型。最后，文章介绍了货币主义现代汇率理论发展的方向。     

国内外关于农机需求的理论与实证研究综述

本文从理论和实证研究两个角度回顾了国内外关于农机需求研究的重点文献,归纳了宏观和微观农机需求研究的共同理论基础,探讨了国内外对农机需求研究的进展,最后指出：农机需求的微观研究是目前国内农机需求研究的空白领域和值得进一步研究的、具有理论创新意义的发展方向。     

中国流通问题研究的宏观与微观视角:当前研究现状与评介

建国以来,伴随流通产业快速发展,流通理论研究成果丰硕。"扩大内需"是国家"十二五规划"提出的明确目标,流通产业快速发展迫切需要理论支撑,对已有成果的系统回顾有利于未来研究的深化。本文从宏观和微观两大视角对现有研究进行梳理,发现流通问题研究偏重于宏观层面,对微观组织层面关注不够,宏观视角研究成果在微观层面应用中找不到很好的切入点,未来流通问题研究需要对这些问题加以重视。     

What makes a good citizen in service settings?

As service firms face intense pressure to improve service quality, contact employees have been asked to do more with less. It is important that managers understand the concept of organisational citizenship behaviours and attempt to motivate employees to exhibit such behaviours. This study developed and tested a model of how employees' perception of organisational support affects affective commitment (AC), which contributes to their citizenship behaviours in service settings. Questionnaire data from matched pairs of 318 contact employees and their supervisors demonstrated that both perceived organisational support (POS) and AC play strong, central roles in determining contact employees' exhibition of citizenship behaviours. In addition, AC was found to be an effective mediator linking contact employees' perception of organisational support to their citizenship behaviours.     

Managing digital business platforms: A continued exercise in balancing renewal and refinement

Central to the evolution of a digital business platform is the organization’s ability to balance exploration (renewal) and exploitation (refinement) simultaneously. Drawing on prior research—including digital platforms, contradictory tensions, and organizational ambidexterity—and our own experience investigating digital business platforms in organizations, this article provides insights into how executives can manage this evolution successfully. More specifically, we present a framework recognizing three pairs of organizational capabilities (i.e., identifying-nourishing, expanding-legitimating, and augmenting-embedding) that enable balancing renewal and refinement of the platform over time. We close by providing critical managerial practices that executives can use in anticipating, adjusting, and evaluating the evolution of a digital business platform over time, including its initiation, development, and growth.     

国外物流成本研究前沿及进展——一个文献综述

国外物流成本研究主要关注微观企业物流层面的实证研究。相关研究主要集中于供应商选择策略、企业物流/配送系统设计、库存/仓储订货及优化策略、运输策略/路径选择、物流设施规划/选址、逆向/回收物流规划等专门领域,充分反映出国外物流成本研究的实用性倾向。研究表明,国外现有研究成果散落于各个学科和问题领域,建立一个系统性的理论研究框架具有重要意义。     

国内服务创新研究现状及其评述

本文通过对中国期刊网和维普全文数据库上的服务创新文献的检索,分析和评述了国内有关服务创新的研究成果。从目前文献看来,近些年,国内学者越来越多地开始关注服务创新领域的研究,其研究内容大体集中在服务创新策略、顾客与服务创新、服务创新特性、服务创新过程、服务创新类型、科技对服务创新的影响、服务创新与人力资源等方面。论文在综述的基础上提出了值得进一步研究的一些问题。     

产业集群研究进展

产业集群对促进区域经济增长、提高区域经济在全球经济发展中的战略地位有着重要作用,现已经发展为一种重要的世界经济现象。产业集群理论也因此成为近年来国内外经济学界研究的热点。本文对近年来国内外产业集群的研究文献进行了一次梳理,其内容主要集中在产业集群的形成机理、类型以及产业集群与区域经济创新与经济增长的关系等方面。     

会计稳健性经济后果的文献综述

基于投、融资角度对国内外会计稳健性经济后果相关文献的研究可知,会计稳健性与融资成本负相关,为采用较低的融资成本,企业应选择更为谨慎、稳健的会计政策来提高融资效率;对于会计稳健性与投资效率的相关性,现有文献并未达成一致结论。学者们在探究会计稳健性对融资成本影响的过程中,更侧重研究其对债务成本的影响,而对与股权成本相关性的研究则较少;目前众多会计稳健性经济后果的研究并无统一结论,在今后应对其加大研究力度,这对上市公司提高会计信息质量具有良好的启示作用。