Purpose – The aim of the study is to investigate how management in small and medium size enterprises (SME) relate to organisational ambidexterity (OA) and what consequences it entails as well as possible conditions for innovation capacity. To achieve the aim, three questions have been formulated: What is management view on organizational ambidexterity? What opportunities and challenges do business management experience with organizational ambidexterity? What consequences on OA and possible conditions for the company's innovation capacity are there depending on how the top-management is related to OA? Method – To answer the research questions, a profound qualitative study was conducted with an abductive approach where theory and empirical analysis have been analysed continuously and knowledge has emerged successively. Data was collected from five different top management teams through focus groups. Data was encoded in categories to answer the research questions which contribute to the purpose. The first two research questions gave rise to the third question that was also theoretically analysed. Findings – The study shows that top management in manufacturing SME has a significant impact on the company's innovative capacity and for reaching OA. The most important thing that emerges in the study is that top management is responsible for the knowledge of employees and to create structural forms for participation, thus creating a balance between daily work and innovation through improvement work. Create strategies and prioritize market needs while taking a bigger step towards development. Implications – There is not a lot of research on OA in SME, which means that a gap is identified that this study helps to cover. The theoretical implication of the study has been to highlight a new aspect of an already existing theory in which the relationship between management and innovation capacity has been the focus of the analysis. The analysis of the manager's relationship with OA has contributed to an increased understanding of the impact on the organization and the prerequisites for the entire enterprise's innovation capacity. Limitations – The study is a case study that include five different top management groups that are analysed with the theoretical framework, which generates a wide range of empirical evidence, which contributes to a generalizable result. Other companies with the same limitations can therefore apply the study to their organisation. Keywords – Ambidexterity, Innovation capacity, Management, SME, Innovation
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hj-41600 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Timmas, Julia |
| Publisher | Tekniska Högskolan, Högskolan i Jönköping, JTH, Industriell organisation och produktion |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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