Antecedents of strategic ambidexterity in the context of internationalisation: a panel study of Taiwan Small and median-sized enterprises

This study seeks to investigate the antecedents of Small and median-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) ambidexterity strategy, and also to explore the association between ambidexterity strategy and SMEs’ performance with internationalisation as a moderator. Based on a longitudinal panel data set of 225 Taiwan SMEs, we testify the proposed hypotheses with STATA 10.0 by a series of panel data analysis. The empirical results show that both learning capability and top management team heterogeneity positively relate with SMEs’ ambidexterity strategy, while SMEs’ network capability cannot predict ambidexterity strategy. We also find that there is an ‘S’ shape relationship between ambidexterity strategy and SMEs’ performance, and this relationship is negatively moderated by the degree of internationalisation. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.