To read this content please select one of the options below:

Ambidexterity strategic model-behavior logic and path choice

Zijie Li (University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China)
Qiuling Gao (Business School, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China)

Chinese Management Studies

ISSN: 1750-614X

Article publication date: 6 November 2017

441

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to offer an alternative framework and solution for balancing exploitation–exploration tensions and their management.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study method was adopted to uncover what underlies tensions and contradictions between exploitation–exploration that emerge for Chinese manufacturing companies due to the competitive global environment and their latecomer disadvantages when they source new technologies by cross-border mergers and acquisitions. The acquiring firm that acquires two companies is thus not a single but a cross-case study.

Findings

The authors present three contradictory points needing to be balanced and according to which three paradoxes emerge: exploitation from a similar knowledge base and innovation from a complementary knowledge base, efficiency and flexibility, as well as profit and breakthroughs. The authors theorize how paradoxical integration helps manage these interwoven tensions. Further, the assimilate-integration-apply (AIA) path suggests a new behavior logic and path choice for Chinese companies when they follow an ambidextrous strategy.

Research limitations/implications

This paper has implications for future research and for companies’ everyday practice on ambidexterity in Chinese society.

Originality/value

The authors combine ambidexterity perspective and AIA path with linkage-leverage-learning (LLL) to offer an alternative framework and solution for balancing exploitation–exploration paradoxes in EE firms’ internationalization to increase LLL’s explanatory power.

Keywords

Citation

Li, Z. and Gao, Q. (2017), "Ambidexterity strategic model-behavior logic and path choice", Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 751-777. https://doi.org/10.1108/CMS-06-2017-0151

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles