High globalization of economy has led companies into a business environment in which the changes are increasingly complex and faster. In order to survive even succeed over the long term, the modern enterprises must confront reality in real time and predict possibility. In the 1990s, the theory of dynamic capability arose for responding the rapid changes in market conditions. Many scholars¡¦ researches found that the learning of organization, management models and organizational ambidexterity are the factors to affect the dynamic capability of enterprise. And the organizational ambidexterity can enhance organizational strength of controlling new knowledge and informational diversity. The purpose of this research is to explore the relationships among self-directed learning, organizational ambidexterity and dynamic capability of enterprise. Research is conducted using survey data collection. Samples are from engineers, administrators, specialists, first-line and midlevel managers in enterprises. Via electronic and paper questionnaires, the numbers of distributed questionnaire is 557, effective questionnaire is 230, and the rate of effective questionnaire is 41.3%. The analysis results show that there are significantly parallel relationships among self-directed learning, organizational ambidexterity and dynamic capability of enterprise. For enterprise management, strengthening employees¡¦ self-directed learning and building up a high organizational ambidexterity are useful to enhance the dynamic capability of enterprise.

Background: An organization cannot only rely on how they have been accustomed to doing things in the past, rather they have to be willing to change and adapt in order to be successful in the present as well as the future by achieving and sustaining a competitive advantage. The ability to have a successful core business, be profitable today and also be able to predict future possibilities is a key for organizations that aim at being successful in the long term. Ambidexterity deals with these issues. An ambidextrous organization aims to balance the capability to exploit the present and exploring the future simultaneously. Therefore, it is an essential factor for the long term survival of firms. Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to study ambidexterity with regard to SMEs in the service sector. Completion: This study is based on a qualitative research which is conducted as a single case study on Mediakonsulterna as a firm. Conclusions: The study shows that ambidexterity can be applied in a SME in the service sector. Furthermore, there are different approaches as to how ambidexterity can be applied as discussed in this study. More specifically, the study concludes that a contextual approach to ambidexterity is viable when firms lack the resources and size for implementing ambidexterity through structural measures. This means that a SME in the service sector can conduct ambidexterity on an individual level throughout the company rather than relying on a structural division of separate units. In order to apply ambidexterity, SMEs rely to a large amount on individuals to balance the different activities such as exploitation and exploration

Organizational ambidexterity is a widely researched and known phenomenon amongst academics; however there are still research gaps. Most of the studies are in private sector; however, lately researchers have called for more studies in the public sector. The purpose of this dissertation is to explain casual relationships between different leadership styles and their influence on organizational ambidexterity in public sector organization. The dissertation use a positivistic philosophy and a deductive approach; hence, a cross sectional design is used. The quantitative method chosen was a web based survey, distributed by e-mail to 171 managers operating in waste management and water and sewerage industries in the Swedish public sector. The findings of the study are that are that it is not possible to differentiate a higher level of organizational ambidexterity in any public organizational form. Another finding is that organizational ambidexterity can be positively influenced by managerial leadership in the local government administration The limitations of this dissertation are that only two industries are included and that the results cannot be generalized for other populations due to a small sample. The implications of this study are that organizational ambidexterity is a concept that is present in the public sector and can be influenced by managerial leadership under certain circumstances

Thesis advisor: Mary Ann Glynn / This dissertation examines the decline and re-emergence of the Swiss mechanical watch industry from 1970-2008, exploring how, when, and why market demand for legacy technologies resurrect and reshape a mature field. Extending existing research on technology emergence and death, I reveal the dynamics of technology and field re-emergence. I focus on the mechanisms of identity and institutional change associated with re-emergence, as well as how institutional leaders and guardians serve as agents of change who simultaneously preserve and reframe the values and product conceptions associated with a legacy technology. Additionally, I advance the notion of identity ambidexterity by examining how organizations explore and exploit multiple elements of their identity simultaneously during such periods of instability. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, I analyze a wide range of interview, archival, historical, and observational data at the levels of the industry and the organization. More broadly, I seek to demonstrate how the reclamation of legacy identities reshapes the institutional environment of a mature field, and how incumbent firms re-define their organizational identities after a technological innovation threatens to destroy their dominant market position. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.

This dissertation seeks to relieve theoretical tension between organizational ambidexterity and network perspectives by developing a contingent model of firm-level exploration and exploitation. The central proposition of this model is firms need to both effectively explore and exploit to succeed but that inter-organizational network features supporting one of these activities are detrimental to the other. This model indicates firms can resolve this apparent paradox by configuring their networks contingent on the particular goals of these networks. In the context of technology commercialization, I hypothesize firms should benefit by configuring their inter-organizational networks to gather novel information when seeking to discover new technologies but gather redundant information when seeking to bring these new discoveries to market. I test these hypotheses with a unique panel data set of firms active in publishing, patenting, and commercializing technologies in the field of green chemistry. My empirical results largely support these hypothesized relationships.

To align firm strategy with the changing environment has always been a challenge for executives. The business literature consists of different perspectives on how to solve the problem and whether to resist change, adapt or do both at the same time. Each got their own implications, inertia could lead to rigidness, adaptability might negatively influence reliability and ambidexterity is seen as a combination of both. The core is exploiting present capabilities meanwhile exploring future opportunities. To study these notions we have conducted a cross-sectional study including four Swedish service-firms which operates in either a stable or dynamic environment. Executives were interviewed and asked to elaborate on their strategies. By doing this we were able to construct a model who suggests when to adapt, when to resist change depending on environmental stability. We also observed that capital- and knowledge-intensity has been somewhat neglected in previous research and could be studied further.

In the U.S., clean energy goals and the move towards a clean energy economy are causing the electric power sector to add emerging and innovative renewable energy resources into their generation mix. Electric utilities (EU) face a monumental challenge to create, deliver, and capture value from emerging and disruptive technologies. This study seeks to address the impact of solar photovoltaics on the EU market by investigating the role of business model changes within the domain of urban and rural U.S. electric utility organizations. By integrating the evolving EU business model with the Competing Values Framework (CVF), a new lens is created to assess the changing and evolving business behavior within the EU industry. Furthermore, a predictive and prescriptive tool emerges associated with organizational ambidexterity (OA). Finally, four lessons are presented that will help EU leaders become more anticipatory, adaptable, and responsive in this changing renewable environment.

Background: The idea of MCSs operating together in a package is not a new concept. However, not many empirical studies have been made where MCSs have been studied as a package despite studies showing the importance in doing so. The assessment of the performance implications of MCSPs has traditionally been limited to financial measures. Theory suggests that the performance of a MCSP ought to be assessed on a broader scale than conventional output measures. Organizational ambidexterity has been positively associated with a broad variety of performance measures and thus it is used as an assessment tool in this study in response to the need for performance measurement on a broader scale than financial output. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the MCSP in two different phases in the case organization and assess how the MCSP in these two phases promotes the organization’s ability to achieve organizational ambidexterity. Methodology: This study uses a qualitative research strategy and is limited to a single case study in a R&D organization within a Swedish medical technology company. Semistructured qualitative interviews have been used to collect empirical data. Conclusion: The MCSP in the two phases is composed of different MCSs that were found to be used differently. Within the MCSP in both phases, several linkages were revealed between control elements and that some MCSs function to achieve the purposes of other MCSs. This study further concludes that the MCSP of the current phase was found to promote organizational ambidexterity better than the MCSP in the previous phase due to it promoting a better balance between exploitation and exploration.

Organizações desenvolvedoras de software enfrentam hoje em dia o desafio de atuar concomitantemente em projetos que exigem tanto a prática de Metodologias Tradicionais quanto a de Metodologias Ágeis, metodologias de desenvolvimento de software com características opostas e conflitantes. Para atender a essa demanda as empresas têm adotado a Ambidestria Organizacional no desenvolvimento de softwares, criando estruturas organizacionais, processos e equipes capacitadas para atuar com ambas as metodologias de forma simultânea. Vários modelos podem ser adotados para a criação da Ambidestria Organizacional, mas pouco se sabe sobre como cada um deles surge e se desenvolve nas empresas. Nesta pesquisa objetivou-se conhecer um dos aspectos que podem influenciar a seleção do modelo de Ambidestria: as barreiras que uma organização pode enfrentar ao introduzir uma Metodologia Ágil em ambiente que já pratica alguma modalidade de Metodologia Tradicional. Através de dados secundários e do método de Estudo de Casos foi possível evidenciar a influência de algumas dessas barreiras no tipo de ambidestria escolhido pelas empresas, concluindo ainda que os impactos das barreiras de introdução de uma metodologia ágil podem ser muito diferentes quando comparamos sua ocorrência entre empresas desenvolvedoras de software para uso próprio e empresas desenvolvedoras de software sob encomenda, influenciando-as de modo diferente na escolha do modelo para a criação da Ambidestria Organizacional. Os resultados obtidos e as conclusões presentes neste estudo estabelecem, portanto, importante contribuição para pesquisas futuras, evidenciando que estudos sobre a Ambidestria Organizacional no campo do desenvolvimento de software devem ser realizados levando-se em consideração os diferentes perfis de empresa e as relações dessas empresas com seus clientes de projeto. / Software development organizations face nowadays challenges in conducting simultaneous projects, applying at the same time both Traditional and Agile Methodologies, software development processes with opposite and conflicting characteristics. In order respond to this challenges this companies adopt Organizational Ambidexterity in software development, creating organizational structures, processes and teams able to deal with both practices simultaneously. Different models exist for creating Organizational Ambidexterity, but there is a lack of knowledge about how each of these models emerge and grow at the companies. In this research we focused in understanding just one of the topics that influences the selection of the ambidexterity model: the barriers companies faces adopting Agile Methodologies on an environment where Traditional Methodologies are in use. Through secondary data analysis and Case Study methodology it was possible to reveal evidences of the influences that some of these barriers puts over the ambidexterity model selection, also concluding that barriers in agile methodologies introduction may be different when comparing their effects over on-demand software development companies and companies which develop software for their own use, influencing both their choices of ambidexterity model in different ways. The results and conclusions we present in this work, bring important contributions for future research, showing that future Organizational Ambidexterity in software development needs to attempt to different companies profile and their relationship with the projects customer.

Background: Responding to fast technological and environmental changes brings about challenges and paradoxes for companies that should be resolved in order to survive long-term and to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Ambidexterity is considered a solution to organizational paradoxes. Aim: The purpose of this research is to explore how firms can achieve ambidexterity to handle organizational paradoxes in different market conditions using their dynamic capabilities. Definitions: Ambidexterity: The ability of organizations to handle adaptability and alignment, exploration and exploitation at the same time Dynamic capabilities: The firm’s ability to integrate, build and reconfigure internal and external competencies to address rapidly changing environments Exploration: Activities such as innovation, discovering new opportunities, variation Exploitation: Activities that concern efficiency, implementation and execution Results: There are possible options that companies can follow to achieveambidexterity. These sets of options are distinguished as external vs.internal, sequential vs. parallel, structural vs. contextual and the role ofsenior management behaviour. Depending on market dynamism andenvironmental conditions, a different set of options could be suitable fordifferent companies. In addition, companies can enhance the likelihoodof achieving ambidexterity using their dynamic capabilities.