Digitalisation has changed the way many industries do business, and the consultancy industry has not escaped the challenges these changes can bring. To stay competitive, companies need to explore new products and services, as well as maintain their established businesses. However, this can be difficult to do, especially if companies are not experienced in developing new products or services. Research on innovation processes in professional service firms is sparse, and most existing research focuses on the first stages of innovation. Therefore, this study examines the innovation process at a large consultancy firm, placing the focus on the later stages of innovation, particularly, the development and commercialisation phases. Our aim was to identify the challenges in these phases, and to present recommendations on how to address them.  The study was conducted at a large Swedish consultancy firm that had recently implemented an innovation programme. We identified several challenges. The financial structure led to challenges, a reluctance to take financial risks and allocate the needed financial resources towards innovation. This case company lacked funding of the business side of innovation, which led to challenges such as insufficient groundwork in the FEI and insufficient business support. The contextual ambidextrous structure included challenges for the employees to balance the core tasks and exploitative tasks. Other challenges were related to innovators lacking NPD competence, support and a dedicated team. Based on best-practices from literature, recommendations were provided regarding financing the business-side of innovation, front-loading the projects more, clarifying and communicating the process to team members, as well as implementing a decision board to better handle changes in the projects. / Digitaliseringen har ändrat hur många företag arbetar, och även konsultbranschen påverkas av detta. För att förbli konkurrenskraftiga måste företag arbeta med kärnverksamheten samtidigt som de utforskar möjligheter att skapa nya tjänster och produkter. Dock kan det vara utmanande för företag att utveckla och kommersialisera nya innovationer, speciellt för de företag som inte ägnar sig åt det i det vardagliga arbetet. Det finns bristande forskning kring innovation på professionella tjänsteföretag och mycket forskning fokuserar på de tidigare skedena av innovationsprocessen. Den här studien utvärderar innovationsprocessen på ett stort konsultbolag med fokus på de senare faserna i processen, mer specifikt utveckling och kommersialiserings faserna. Målet med studien var att identifiera utmaningar i dessa faser och att presentera rekommendationer hur de kan hanteras.  Studien har utförts på en stor svensk konsultfirma som nyligen implementerat ett innovationsprogram. Flera utmaningar kunde identifieras. Konsultverksamheten är ovana att ta stora risker och investera stora belopp i innovationsprojekt. Detta fallföretag hade otillräcklig finansiering av affärsdelen av innovation, vilket ledde till utmaningar relaterade till otillräckligt förarbete och bristande affärsstöd. Den kontextuella tvåhäntheten medförde utmaningar för arbetarna att balansera de vardagliga uppgifterna och innovationsprojekt. Andra utmaningar kunde kopplas till att innovatörerna saknade kunskap inom produktutveckling, stöd och team. Rekommendationer baserade på bästa praxis gavs angående att finansiera affärssidan av innovation, koncentrera mer arbete i projektets start, förtydliga och kommunicera innovationsprocessen till teamet, samt införa en styrgrupp för att enklare hantera ändringar i projekt.

There is a dual accountability accepted by top executives of large multi-business firms (MBFs) to both consistently deliver performance in the short term and cultivate scalable opportunities for future growth, which requires that they be able to implement both evolutionary and revolutionary change. Researchers have defined this capability as organizational ambidexterity (OA) and deemed it a crucial requirement for every organization. Literature in the field of organizational ambidexterity (OA) describes the need to simultaneously orchestrate attention and activities along two dimensions of ambidexterity: exploitation and exploration. This dissertation peels back the layers in MBFs to generate a deeper understanding of OA in the MBF, by answering three research questions, using a mixed method approach-qualitative study followed by quantitative study: (1) What is an appropriate specification of OA in an MBF? (2) Are there differences in exploration and exploitation across the three levels within the MBF? and (3) Is there a relationship between exploration and exploitation and MBF performance at each of the three levels within the MBF? Qualitative Study 1 was conducted in December 2017, to investigate and confirm the appropriateness of the three-level operationalization of OA in MBFs. The data comprised eleven semi-structured interviews with senior executives that serve or have served as independent board directors (IBDs), chief executive officers (CEOs) or business unit general managers (BUGMs). The executives were able to articulate the existence of and differences in exploitation and exploration roles and activities at each of the three levels. Study 2 was conducted during June 2018, designed to test five sets of hypotheses. The study used a qualified panel of senior executives to generate a representative sample of respondents in each of three roles: IBDs, CEOs, and BUGMs. Data was collected through an online survey instrument, distributed to the panelists by Qualtrics and Centiment. Completed surveys resulted in a sample of 256 MBFs. Two separate one-way ANOVAs and Tukey post hoc means comparison tests were conducted; the results find significant differences in exploration at the board, corporate and business unit levels. Likewise, findings support statistically significant differences in exploitation at the board, corporate and business unit levels. For the third research question, exploration and exploitation were individually regressed against two measures of MBF performance, using IBM SPSS 25 software. At each of the three levels (board, corporate and business unit), statistically significant relationships were found between at least one of the ambidexterity dimensions and MBF performance, providing partial support of the hypotheses.

Managing the paradox of exploitation and exploration symbolises the simultaneous pursuit devoting enough resources to exploitation to ensure short-term profits and, at the same time, enough resources to exploration to ensure future organisational viability. Previous research advocates that sustained organisational performance and success highly depends on the interaction of exploitation and exploration or in other words, the balancing act between change and continuity. To strategically balance these contradictory requirements is a challenging task for most organisations since exploitation and exploration require fundamentally different organisational structures, processes, strategies and capabilities. Organisations that possess the ability to balance these contradictory requirements are referred to as ambidextrous organisations, what is evident is however that different ambidextrous strategies bring several distinctive challenges that organisations explicitly must deal with. Past literature advocates that management constitute an important part in creating organisational ambidexterity, but has nevertheless due to differentiations in organisational contexts resulted in ambiguous guidance in how to practically solve the tensions between exploitation and exploration.  Scania the initiator of this thesis project, one of the world´s leading manufacturers within trucks and buses for heavy transport applications is sensing uncertainty in what undoubtedly used to be a relatively stable environment. Continues improvements has been a fundamental strategy in R&D for decades but in the face of a potentially disruptive technological shift, Scania senses urgency to leverage the innovation capability they possess, to reclaim the exploration space in order to act and seize upon these uncertainties. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how management can support and sustain the exploration space in a mature R&D department.  This study builds upon a qualitative case study limited to a specific R&D department, Truck Chassis Development. To draw parallels and provide a deepened understanding of how the specific context of the organisation affect section managers at Truck Chassis Development in supporting and enabling exploration, interview data from several departments at R&D and sales & marketing is analysed.  Results from this research show that there is an overall pressure for exploitation in R&D in general, and that section management encounter several challenges in supporting and sustaining the exploration space. An overall pressure for delivery precision crowds out time for exploration and present performance measurements are found to further add to this challenge since they are, to a large extent designed to measure and follow-up the relatively more certain and superior benefits from exploitation, implying that they tend to induce and support exploitative activities. The research findings provide managerial implications in terms of directing attention towards exploration through measurements of exploration. / Att balansera innovationsparadoxen syftar till den organisatoriska förmågan att tillägna tillräckliga resurser för exekvering för att säkerställa kortsiktig vinst, och samtidigt, tillägna tillräckliga resurser till utforskande för att säkra ett strategiskt framtida läge. Tidigare forskning visar att organisationers långsiktiga överlevnad är beroende av dessa avvägningar, att leverera produkter med högt kundvärde är viktigt för dagens affär men får inte göras på bekostnad av att utforska möjligheter som kan resultera i framtida innovationer. Att strategiskt balansera dessa  två perspektiv utgör en stor utmaning för alla organisationer eftersom att exekvering och utforskande aktiviteter kräver helt olika förutsättningar när det kommer till strukturer, processer och strategier. Företag som besitter förmågan att balansera dessa två helt olika perspektiv brukar refereras som tvehänta. Tvehänta organisationer har visat sig balansera dessa två perspektiv på olika sätt, vilka alla medför utmaningar, dock av olika slag. Tidigare forskning har betonat ledarskap och chefskap som viktiga faktorer i skapandet av tvehänta organisationer men har på grund av organisatoriska differentieringar och olikheter resulterat i vaga riktlinjer angående hur man praktiskt löser de utmaningar som uppstår mellan exekverande och utforskande aktiviteter.  Scania, initiativtagare till detta arbete är ett av världens ledande tillverkare inom lastbil och buss för tunga transporter. Scania känner osäkerhet i vad som brukade vara en således stabil bransch. Ständiga förbättringar har varit en betydelsefull strategi i decennier för forskning och utveckling, FoU, men inför ett eventuellt teknikskifte inser man att en betydligt större del av arbetet måste syfta till utforskande aktiviteter.  Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka hur management kan möjliggöra och främja utforskande aktiviteter i en mogen FoU-avdelning. Den utförda forskningen grundar sig i en kvalitativ fallstudie som är avgränsad till en specifik FoU-avdelning, chassiutveckling för lastbil. För att få en djupare förståelse för ledarskap och det ledarskapsansvar som finns i att främja och stödja utforskande aktiviteter kräver vissa organisatoriska förutsättningar har ett flertal avdelningar inom FoU-organisationen samt sälj & marknad inkluderats i studien. Den utförda forskningen visar att chefer på den undersökta avdelningen möter av ett flertal utmaningar när de försöker möjliggöra och främja utforskande aktiviteter. Det grundar sig främst i ett högt focus på leveransprecision som  begränsar chefer i sin roll att stödja och främja utforskande aktiviteter, följden av detta resulterar i  begränsat med tid för utforskande eftersom dessa aktiviteter inte  prioriteras. Nuvarande prestationsmätning visar indikationer på att ytterligare bidra till dessa utmaningar eftersom de avser att mäta till den största grad, leveransprecision, kvalité och kostnad och där utforskande aktiviteter saknar prestationsmätning. Resultatet av denna studie bidrar med praktiska implikationer för den studerade avdelningen. Eftersom att uppmärksamhet är den mest begränsade resursen har mätvärden för utforskande aktiviteter föreslagits då mätning och styrning av utforskande aktiviteter kan bidra till att dessa aktiviteter uppmärksammas samtidigt som de kan utgöra ett stöd för sektionscheferna i deras roll att främja och stödja utforskande aktiviteter.

Managing the paradox of exploitation and exploration symbolises the simultaneous pursuit devoting enough resources to exploitation to ensure short-term profits and, at the same time, enough resources to exploration to ensure future organisational viability. Previous researchadvocates that sustained organisational performance and success highly depends on the interaction of exploitation and exploration or in other words, the balancing act between change and continuity. To strategically balance these contradictory requirements is a challenging task for most organisations since exploitation and exploration require fundamentally different organisational structures, processes, strategies and capabilities. Organisations that possess the ability to balance these contradictory requirements are referred to as ambidextrous organisations, what is evident is however that different ambidextrous strategies bring several distinctive challenges that organisations explicitly must deal with. Past literature advocates that management constitute an important part in creating organisational ambidexterity, but has nevertheless due to differentiations in organisational contexts resulted in ambiguous guidance in how to practically solve the tensions between exploitation and exploration. Scania the initiator of this thesis project, one of the world´s leading manufacturers within trucksand buses for heavy transport applications is sensing uncertainty in what undoubtedly used to be a relatively stable environment. Continues improvements has been a fundamental strategy in R&D for decades but in the face of a potentially disruptive technological shift, Scania senses urgency to leverage the innovation capability they possess, to reclaim the exploration space in order to act and seize upon these uncertainties. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how management can support and sustain the exploration space in a mature R&D department. This study builds upon a qualitative case study limited to a specific R&D department, Truck Chassis Development. To draw parallels and provide a deepened understanding of how the specific context of the organisation affect section managers at Truck Chassis Development in supporting and enabling exploration, interview data from several departments at R&D and sales & marketing is analysed. Results from this research show that there is an overall pressure for exploitation in R&D in general, and that section management encounter several challenges in supporting and sustaining the exploration space. An overall pressure for delivery precision crowds out time for exploration and present performance measurements are found to further add to this challenge since they are, to a large extent designed to measure and follow-up the relatively more certain and superior benefits from exploitation, implying that they tend to induce and support exploitative activities. The research findings provide managerial implications in terms of directing attention towards exploration through measurements of exploration. / Att balansera innovationsparadoxen syftar till den organisatoriska förmågan att tillägna tillräckliga resurser för exekvering för att säkerställa kortsiktig vinst, och samtidigt, tillägna tillräckliga resurser till utforskande för att säkra ett strategiskt framtida läge. Tidigare forskning visar att organisationers långsiktiga överlevnad är beroende av dessa avvägningar, att leverera produkter med högt kundvärde är viktigt för dagens affär men får inte göras på bekostnad av att utforska möjligheter som kan resultera i framtida innovationer. Att strategiskt balansera dessa två perspektiv utgör en stor utmaning för alla organisationer eftersom att exekvering och utforskande aktiviteter kräver helt olika förutsättningar när det kommer till strukturer, processer och strategier. Företag som besitter förmågan att balansera dessa två helt olika perspektiv brukar refereras som tvehänta. Tvehänta organisationer har visat sig balansera dessa två perspektiv på olika sätt, vilka alla medför utmaningar, dock av olika slag. Tidigare forskning har betonat ledarskap och chefskap som viktiga faktorer i skapandet av tvehänta organisationer men har på grund av organisatoriska differentieringar och olikheter resulterat i vaga riktlinjer angående hur man praktiskt löser de utmaningar som uppstår mellan exekverande och utforskande aktiviteter. Scania, initiativtagare till detta arbete är ett av världens ledande tillverkare inom lastbil och buss för tunga transporter. Scania känner osäkerhet i vad som brukade vara en således stabil bransch. Ständiga förbättringar har varit en betydelsefull strategi i decennier för forskning och utveckling, FoU, men inför ett eventuellt teknikskifte inser man att en betydligt större del av arbetet måste syfta till utforskande aktiviteter. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka hur management kan möjliggöra och främja utforskande aktiviteter i en mogen FoU-avdelning. Den utförda forskningen grundar sig i en kvalitativ fallstudie som är avgränsad till en specifik FoUavdelning, chassiutveckling för lastbil. För att få en djupare förståelse för ledarskap och det ledarskapsansvar som finns i att främja och stödja utforskande aktiviteter kräver vissa organisatoriska förutsättningar har ett flertal avdelningar inom FoU-organisationen samt sälj & marknad inkluderats i studien. Den utförda forskningen visar att chefer på den undersökta avdelningen möter av ett flertal utmaningar när de försöker möjliggöra och främja utforskande aktiviteter. Det grundar sig främst i ett högt focus på leveransprecision som begränsar chefer i sin roll att stödja och främja utforskande aktiviteter, följden av detta resulterar i begränsat med tid för utforskande eftersom dessa aktiviteter inte prioriteras. Nuvarande prestationsmätning visar indikationer på att ytterligare bidra till dessa utmaningar eftersom de avser att mäta till den största grad, leveransprecision, kvalité och kostnad och där utforskande aktiviteter saknar prestationsmätning. Resultatet av denna studie bidrar med praktiska implikationer för den studerade avdelningen. Eftersom att uppmärksamhet är den mest begränsade resursen har mätvärden för utforskande aktiviteter föreslagits då mätning och styrning av utforskande aktiviteter kan bidra till att dessa aktiviteter uppmärksammas samtidigt som de kan utgöra ett stöd för sektionscheferna i deras roll att främja och stödja utforskande aktiviteter.

The  real  estate  market  is  constantly  changing  due  to  shifts  in  demand  and  the  rise  of  new technologies. Innovations emerge at a relentless pace, and the timeframe for exploiting already established  value  is  reduced.  Commercial  real  estate  firms  must  therefore  be  able  to  exploit established  products  while,  at  the  same  time,  exploring  innovations.  The  ability  to  manage these opposing forces is called ambidexterity. Organisational ambidexterity is a well-explored area  in  the  academic  literature,  withnumerous  theories  regarding  how  to  achieve  it  most suitably. Wofford, Wyman and Starr (2020) present the paradox map that allegedly provides a practical visual focus for teams considering the short and long-term targets and change for the business. This paradox map has not been tested empirically. Thus, this master’s thesis explores the paradox management approach and thereby contributes to the gap in the academic literature. The  study  has  been  conducted  with  a  qualitative  research  approach.  The  collected  data consisted  of  semi-structured  interviews  and a document  analysis. Theinterviews  were  held with  respondents  from  five  different  commercial  real  estate  owners  and  a  total  of  nine interviews  were  conducted.  The  document  analysis  was  performed  by  studying  all firms’annual  reports  and  one  firm's  website  to  complement  the  respondent's  answers.The  results from the empirical study were analysed thematically with a deductive approach based on the theoretical framework on the paradox map. The  study concludes  that  the  six  sub-paradoxes  in  the  paradox  map  are  most  relevant  when organisations make decisions since they evidently influence decisions regarding innovations. It is also concluded that the commercial real estate owners are ambidextrous according to the innovation   paradox   of   exploit   and   explore.   Thus,   since   the   allegedly   ambidextrous organisations  proved  to  be  ambidextrous  according  to  the  innovation  paradox,  it  is  also concluded that the framework is applicable in practice.

Yes / This paper utilizes insights from the knowledge-based view and ambidexterity literature to examine the effects of knowledge integration (KI) on innovation via contextual ambidexterity (CA). The paper also investigates the potential moderating role of human resource (HR) slack on the relationship between KI and CA. Using survey data collected from 245 entrepreneurial firms operating in Ghana, the findings show that KI positively relates to CA, and this relationship is moderated by HR slack. In addition, we observed that CA mediates KI and innovation. The broader theoretical and practical implications of the study are outlined.

How do firms tend to their current viability while remaining competitive in the long-term? This question lays out the basis for this thesis by highlighting their conflicting logics through the concept of organizational ambidexterity. Literature makes a distinction between competing in mature markets and existing technologies (exploitation) versus new markets and new technologies (exploration). The preponderance of studies shows that, as firms grow larger, they tend to form core rigidities in their culture, structure and processes that hamper their efforts to adapt to the changing environment. By overemphasizing exploitative activities, future challenges or opportunities remain unexplored which can have a devastating effect in the event of radical, external changes. The cases of Nokia and Kodak should serve as cautionary tales in this regard. The automotive industry is currently undergoing a transition to electric cars. We conduct a case study at Volvo Cars from a senior leadership perspective, to illustrate the importance of exploration and how it can be legitimized during an industry transformation. Our work points to three major findings. First, communicating the importance of the transformation with the rest of the organization is imperative to creating goal alignment. Secondly, interorganizational collaboration in R&D helps Volvo to tap into knowledge that resides outside the organization and thereby increasing the chances of a successful transition to electric cars. Thirdly, agile management contributes to knowledge diffusion and is a powerful tool to counter organizational inertia by adding to firms’ speed and responsiveness, making them act more similarly to smaller, entrepreneurial firms.

Why do some large organizations succeed during transformations and others do not? This thesis aims to contribute and expand the discussion of how product development capabilities could enable success during transformations. To investigate the problem, a qualitative case study was performed at a large transport and truck incumbent, Scania CV AB. The transport and truck industry is currently pressured to transform, both from a competitive and sustainability perspective. In order to become more adaptable to change, the thesis identified the importance of clearly applying ambidexterity as a strategy to cope with challenges that the transformation implies. However, when applying ambidexterity, interface challenges between exploitation and exploration occur. Success during transformations is mainly dependent on the management to handle those interface challenges properly. This thesis identified two main managerial practices that could benefit incumbents in the transport and truck industry to become more adaptable during a transformation phase. Firstly, a clear strategy of how to manage innovations over time could support large incumbents to leverage innovations for optimal experimentation, scalability, and later profit. Secondly, clear organizational alignment between functions to enhance communication and prioritization especially between exploitative and explorative business activities could support large incumbents to leverage radical innovations within the organization. This thesis argues that implementing structural ambidexterity combined with a clear and streamlined innovation transfer process in three distinct horizons for mature, growth, and future businesses will increase adaptability during transformation pressure. As the main area of future research, this thesis proposes to further investigate the opportunities of an open innovation strategy that leverages partnerships for co-creation in an increasingly interconnected transport ecosystem. / Hur kommer det sig att vissa företag lyckas under industriell förändring och andra inte? Syftet med denna uppsats är att bidra till, och utvidga, diskussionen om hur kapabiliteter inom produktutveckling kan främja en lyckad transformation. För att undersöka problemet genomfördes en kvalitativ fallstudie på ett etablerat företag inom transport och lastbilsindustrin, Scania CV AB. Transportindustrin är för närvarande under stor press, både från ett konkurrens- och hållbarhetsperspektiv. Denna studie visar att, för att bli mer adaptiv och hantera förändring, är det av yttersta vikt att implementera en tydlig strategi för en tvehänt (ambidextrous) organisation. En av de största utmaningarna vid en sådan implementation är dock de starka spänningar som uppstår i gränssnitten mellan det operationella och det utforskande inom organisationen. Hur de hanterar dessa utmaningar från ett ledarskapsperspektiv, kommer därav vara en av de främsta faktorerna till om företaget lyckas anpassa sig till förändring. I studien har två grundläggande principer för ledarskap identifierats, vilka kan hjälpa etablerade företag inom transport- och lastbilsindustrin att bli mer adaptiva under förändring. För det första, en tydlig strategi för att hantera innovation över tid, kan stötta ett etablerat företag att optimera innovation, skalbarhet och vinst. För det andra, en tydlig organisations- och ledarskapsinriktning som lyfter kommunikation och underlättar prioritering mellan förvaltande och utforskande aktiviteter och avdelningar. Denna studie argumenterar för strukturell separering av organisationen, kombinerat med en process för att överföra innovationer. Detta kan åstadkommas genom en uppdelning på tre horisonter; mognad, tillväxt och framtid, vilket kommer att öka företagets anpassningsförmåga under förändring. Denna studie har avgränsats till att inte närmare undersöka hur partnerskap kan hanteras i det allt mer sammankopplade transportsystemet. Detta är dock identifierat som ett möjligt behov av att närmare undersöka hur strategier för open innovation kan främja partnerskap och samproduktion inom området.

Innovation requires an ambidextrous knowledge creation strategy, which is defined as the simultaneous pursuit of both exploration and exploitation. A temporal ambidexterity strategy is one in which an organizational unit dynamically balances its investments in exploration and exploitation over time. This thesis provides new insights on various factors which should be considered when developing and executing a temporal ambidexterity strategy. In the Essay 1, I empirically examine the impact of exploration, exploitation and learning from cumulative innovation experience on the likelihood of successfully versus unsuccessfully generating a breakthrough innovation. The data sample, based on patents in the biomedical device industry, is drawn from the National Bureau of Economic Research patents database. I demonstrate three important tenets for developing a theory of temporal ambidexterity. First, I confirm, as conceptually expected, that when pursued independently, exploration and exploitation have opposing variance-generating versus variance-reducing impacts on innovation performance, respectively. Second, I find that when pursued jointly exploration and exploitation have a negative interaction effect on innovation performance. Third, I show that the benefits of ambidexterity accrue in the long-term, as a result of learning from prior failure experience. However, I demonstrate that prior failure experience and exploitation are jointly necessary, but not independently sufficient, for learning from failure to occur. In Essay 2, I introduce a dynamic optimization model of temporal ambidexterity. I examine the optimal sequencing of exploration and exploitation knowledge creation activities throughout the innovation process. I consider how an innovation manager’s optimal dynamic investments in exploration and exploitation are driven by the innovation team’s knowledge creation capabilities and prior innovation experience, and by the manager’s short-term and long-term innovation risk objectives. The results demonstrate the conditions under which various temporal ambidexterity strategies endogenously arise. Finally, in Essay 3, I extend the single firm model introduced in Essay 2, to develop a model of temporal ambidexterity for two firms jointly pursuing knowledge creation and knowledge-sharing under co-opetition. Here, I consider how co-opetition, that is, cooperative knowledge-sharing with a competitor, impacts a firm’s optimal ambidextrous knowledge creation strategy. I consider two-way knowledge sharing, and I assume that each firm freely reveals its knowledge to its competitor, without receiving compensation. The dynamic analytical results contribute to the open questions regarding optimal knowledge-sharing strategies under co-opetition, by demonstrating under what conditions knowledge-sharing with a co-opetitive partner is beneficial. Importantly, I also analytically examine the factors which drive empirically observed alliance dysfunctions, wherein organizations delay knowledge-sharing and withhold information from their alliance partners.

Background The growth of global e-commerce along with technology and information adoption has driven the international expansions of retail firms. Even though e-commerce companies (ECCs) are changing the way businesses operate and generally have fewer physical barriers to new markets, they still face numerous challenges while internationalizing. Dynamic capabilities are found to have an impact on the internationalization process of ECCs, where exploitative and explorative dynamic capabilities will be the focus of this study. This topic is particularly relevant for the fashion industry since the industry has the characteristics of being highly dynamic, global and complex. Therefore, this paper will focus on the internationalization process of ECCs in the fashion industry. Purpose Due to limited research regarding the internationalization process of ECCs, the purpose of this study is to seek a deeper understanding concerning the internationalization process of fashion ECCs. In particular, in what way exploitative and explorative dynamic capabilities affect the internationalization process of fashion ECCs and how they use these capabilities. Method This is a qualitative study with an abductive research approach. Furthermore, the empirical data was collected from semi-structured in-depth interviews with six international fashion ECCs. Conclusion One main conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that all the ECCs use both exploitative and explorative dynamic capabilities in their internationalization, and hence, ambidexterity is achieved. Moreover, language, logistics and payment method are three major factors used in both activities and could be an explanation for how fashion ECCs use their exploitative and explorative dynamic capabilities when internationalizing.