This study is motivated by the growing influence in organisational research on the perspective of culture as a toolkit of resources from which individuals can draw on to develop strategies of action. Research has established that ambidextrous organisations succeed both in incremental and discontinuous innovation. However, there remains a scarcity of study on how managers orchestrate ambidexterity. This thesis extends the ambidexterity research by investigating how managers orchestrate ambidextrous strategies and how these strategies are shaped by elements of the organisational culture in high technology firms. An interpretive case study approach was used to achieve the aims of the study. Focusing on two engineering projects, 55 interviews were conducted alongside documentary reviews and participant observation for 6 months at Brush Electrical Machines Ltd, UK. Analysis of the findings is conducted using thematic analysis to identify common themes and NVivo was used to draw out patterns until relationships among the emerging themes became clearer. The thesis makes important contributions to the organisational ambidexterity literature by providing useful empirically-driven insights and deconstructing the roles of middle managers in facilitating ambidexterity. The findings of the research indicate that most of the middle managers demonstrated ambidextrous behaviours. These middle level managers enabled their behaviours through diverse cultural resources selected from the organisation s cultural toolkit. Thus, important contributions are made to the literature on organisational culture, specifically on the toolkit perspectives. The thesis takes the perspective that organisational culture should be viewed as heterogeneous and not homogeneous. The study concludes by suggesting that middle management ambidextrous behaviours shaped by cultural resources may be vital for the realisation of improved or sustained competitiveness in organisations.

Employability is a field of research and a concept that has developed considerably over the past century. Today, employability contributes to discussions in higher education, psychology and even labour market politics. What influences employability is thus of great importance to a number of stakeholders. Since employability consists of assets that make an individual employable, the employer’s perception of employability is essential. An area within organisational strategy called ambidexterity discusses the competitive advantage that can be obtained by hiring staff with certain characteristics, indicating that there could be a relation between ambidexterity and employability.   The purpose of this study is to explain how organisational ambidexterity influences employers’ preference in regards of employability. To do so, a conceptual model was developed from theoretical research. The model included: education, experience and personal characteristics. A questionnaire was used to collect data in order to explain the relation between ambidexterity and employability.   The findings of the study did not show that organisational ambidexterity influences employer preferences regarding employability considerably even though indications that a relation exists were found. Moreover, the study findings indicated that other factors such as gender and age of recruiter might have an influence on employer preferences instead.

Municipally Owned Corporations (MOCs) have several interest groups because they are established to serve the public interest. These stakeholders including citizens expect MOCs to deliver high-quality service. MOCs, on the other hand, need to attract and retain the best talents to pursue their mandate. Based on these, service quality and Human Resource performance were conceptualised as key performance indicators for MOCs. This adds to the various performance measures used by other scholars in measuring performance in public sector organisations. In recent times, organisational ambidexterity has become topical in public sector organisations including MOCs as scholars have found it to have an impact on firm performance.  Recognising the role of management in organisational success, this study investigated how two concepts (i.e. Managerial autonomy and Relationship) influence Service Quality and Human Resource Performance and how the relationships are mediated by organisational ambidexterity. A quantitative approach was adopted where 128 CEOs of MOCs in Sweden participated in a survey. The results indicate that managerial relationship and autonomy significantly influences ambidexterity. Ambidexterity was also found to significantly predict service quality and Human Resource performance. While evidence was found for ambidexterity’s mediation affection between autonomy/relationship and service quality, no mediation was found for autonomy and Human Resource Performance. The mediation of ambidexterity between the managerial relationship and Human Resource performance was however partial.  Aside from testing rarely used performance measures (i.e. service quality and Human Resource performance), the study builds on the Leader-Member Exchange theory by finding support for relationship between managerial relationship and service quality, mediated by ambidexterity. The implication is that leaders of MOCs should prioritize building mutually beneficial relationships with their employees to enhance quality service delivery and Human Resource performance.

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.

Research studies on innovation tend to focus more on Process and Product Innovations (PPIs), while both Organisational and Marketing Innovations (OMIs) have been under-researched. The lack of prior research on these non-technological innovations has been attributed to poor data availability. Theoretical opinions show that OMIs could be necessary prerequisites needed to optimally utilise and deploy these PPIs. Organisational Ambidexterity (OA) has emerged to be crucial in achieving long-term organisational success. Ambidexterity in an organisational context refers to the ability to concurrently exploit current competitive advantage and explore new opportunities with equal dexterity. For firms to remain competitive and adaptive to continuous change in the business environment, OA has been noted as a necessary attribute, but research on ambidexterity at the individual level of analysis is limited. There is a lack of understanding of how individual ambidexterity at the lower-levels of the organisation affects the overall ambidexterity of the organisation. This research explores organisational context antecedents of OMIs capabilities; Organisational and Employee Ambidexterity, and identifies how individual employees in Small and Medium-sized Manufacturing and Service Organisations could contribute to the capability of their organisation to concurrently exploit present market opportunities and explore new opportunities, towards sustaining their competitive advantage. This study involves a two-phase sequential mixed methods design beginning with a qualitative exploratory research involving 15 in-depth Nigerian-based interviews. The first phase facilitated preliminary assessment of organisational context, measured by the Cameron and Quinn's Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument. This phase also aided the understanding of factors that promote OMIs capabilities and the development of themes used to design the survey instrument for the second phase. The second phase involved a quantitative study of 398 shop-floor and 202 managerial staff from Small and Medium-sized Nigerian Manufacturing and Service Organisations. This phase was characterised by descriptive and inferential statistics through Structural Equation Modelling. This aided identifying the organisational context that promotes Employee Ambidexterity (EA) and the relationships between EA; OA; and OMIs' capabilities. vi Drawing upon information-rich evidence, this study identified enablers that could promote EA; OA; OMIs; effective innovations; and sustainable organisational growth. Statistical evidence from the research findings shows that Organic Structure and Knowledge Sharing, plus a Flexible and Family-like Organisational Culture: 1. enhances Employee Ambidexterity and Level of Engagement; 2. improves employees' contributions to OA, OMIs and SMEs' growth; 3. optimises the internal capabilities of SMEs in order to promote their sustainable growth; 4. enables SMEs to search for new market opportunities and strengthen current market positions concurrently; and 5. promotes viable Manufacturing and Service SMEs that are needed to offset the prevalent public sector job losses. A framework that relates: Individual and Organisational Ambidexterity; Organisational and Marketing Innovations capabilities; and Organisational Performance, has been identified in this study. While Marketing Innovation capability and Exploitative Orientation of Ambidexterity target the short term organisational benefits, Organisational Innovation capability and Explorative Orientation of Ambidexterity address the long term competitive advantage of the organisations. Besides advancing literature on the study of Organisational Ambidexterity by combining the individual level of analysis with the organisational level of analysis, this study identifies frameworks that promote effective innovation and sustainable organisational performance through shop floor employees' contributions to Organisational Ambidexterity and OMIs in SMEs. Outcomes of this research have been eye-openers for the case organisations on how to optimally utilise their resources (people, materials, knowledge, technology and other assets) to achieve sustainable growth and long term success.

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Business model innovation has in recent year become more important for firms looking to gain competitive advantage on dynamic markets. Additionally, incorporating data into a firm’s business model has been shown to lead to improved performance. This development has led to interest in the connection between data utilisation and business model innovation. This thesis provides an in-depth case study of a Swedish space firm active within the satellite industry. The firm operates within an increasingly dynamic market, and ongoing disruptions in the form of new market entrants and rapid technological advancements has led to a search for new business opportunities. As a result, novel ways of utilising the increased amounts of data from space are of significant importance. While the firm is still realising profits utilising their incumbent business model, the firm must simultaneously explore new business opportunities to avoid extinction. The findings show that novel data utilisation, in the form of data processing, leads to business model innovation. Furthermore, the degree of business model transformation is dependent on how many of the business model's underlying elements are affected by data utilisation. Furthermore, the study concludes that a lack of trial-and-error learning impedes radical innovation efforts and hinders the development of ambidextrous capabilities within the firm. Lastly, the study finds a novel connection between the introduction of large-scale projects and improved ambidextrous capabilities. / Innovation av affärsmodeller har under senare år blivit alltmer viktigt för företag som vill uppnå ökad konkurrenskraft på dynamiska marknader. Vidare har det visat sig att företag som använder data för att förändra sin affärsmodell når bättre resultat än sina konkurrenter. Detta har lett till ett intresse för kopplingen mellan datautnyttjande och innovation av affärsmodeller. Detta examensarbete består av en fallstudie av ett svenskt rymdföretag, som har del av sin verksamhet inom satellitbranschen. Företaget verkar på en alltmer dynamisk marknad, och pågående störningar i form av nya marknadsaktörer och tekniska framsteg har lett till att företaget nu måste söka efter nya affärsmöjligheter. Som ett resultat av detta blir nya sätt att använda de ökade mängderna data från rymden av stor betydelse. Fastän företaget fortfarande framgångsrikt nyttjar sin befintliga affärsmodell, måste företaget samtidigt undersöka nya affärsmöjligheter för att undvika att hamna efter marknadsutvecklingen. Studiens resultat visar att nya sätt att använda data, i form av databehandling, leder till innovation av företagets affärsmodell. Dessutom beror graden av innovation på hur många av affärsmodellens underliggande byggstenar som påverkas av införandet av data. Studien drar vidare slutsatsen att en brist på lärande genom ’trial-and-error’ inom företaget hindrar radikala innovationsinsatser och leder till begränsade förutsättningar för att hantera organisatorisk ambidexteritet. Slutligen finner studien att storskaliga innovationsprojekt kan förbättra förutsättningarna för organisatorisk ambidexteritet.