Research On The Cause And Evolution Of Ambidextrous Innovation Modes In Corporations

In order to be “built to last”an enterprise not only should take high profitability in the short term into account, but also should consider how to gain sustainable competitive advantage in the long run. In order to reach these two goals, firms should implement ambidextrous innovation, i.e. engaging in both exploratory innovation and exploitative innovation. Exploratory innovation relies on the knowledge and information which is quite different from the existing knowledge base. It satisfies the need of emerging customers or brand new market by introducing new products, services, and technologies that differ greatly with existing operation practices. In contrast exploitative innovation meets the need of current customers and market by strengthening existing products, services, and improving the efficiency of current operation processes. Firms should engage in exploitative innovation according to the need of current consumers so that they can make profit in the short term. However, if they would like to gain sustainable competitive advantage in the long run, they should explore new arena constantly, and that means they should engage in exploratory innovation based on the predictions of the tendency of consumers’ needs. Although there is a lot of literature on ambidextrous innovation, including both theoretical and empirical researches, and more and more companies in China have actually implemented ambidextrous innovation, the theoretical and empirical researches in mainland China are still in small quantities. This dissertation classifies ambidextrous innovation modes into four categories according to the difference of the extent to which firms implement exploratory and exploitative innovation:high-exploratory-high-exploitative,high-exploratory-low-exploitative,low-exploratory-high-exploitative,low-exploratory-low-exploitative.Then the dissertation probes into the reason why these different ambidextrous innovation modes come into being, and how do they evolve with the change of stages of corporate life cycle.The disseration chooses approximately 700 firms as samples, and does research on “the driving force and evolution of ambidextrous innovation modes in corporations”. It strives to reveal the answers to three questions stated as follows. First, “why” are ambidextrous innovation modes different in various firms? Second, “how”do ambidextrous innovation modes evolve with time goes by? Third, “how” can firms implement their ambidextrous innovation modes? The processes of solving the three problems constitute the three sub-studies in this dissertation.Study 1 redefines the concept of ambidextrous innovation and distinguishes four different types of ambidextrous innovation modes. It brings forward a conceptual model pertaining to the driving force of ambidextrous innovation modes and postulates some hypotheses so as to find the mechanism by which exploratory and exploitative innovations are formed. In the conceptual model organizational slack is the antecedent, market orientation is the mediator, and perceived market opportunity and transformational leadership are moderators. Then questionnaires are sent to 695 corporations to get first-hand data. The data is analyzed by SPSS and AMOS. Through SPSS reliability test and exploratory factor analysis are conducted while using AMOS confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis are conducted. The hypotheses pertaining to the cause of ambidextrous innovation modes in corporatios are tested by stuctural equation model and methods of statistics.Study 2 incorporates the dimension of time and dynamically research how ambidextrous innovation modes evolve with the change of corporate life cycle. The methodology used in this part is multi-case study. The author chooses four typical firms to study the evolution of ambidextrous innovation modes, and obtains some laws that have some kind of scientific value.Study 3 discusses the path of optimizing ambidextrous innovation modes in corporations based on the conclusions drawn in Study 1 and Study 2. This section solves three problems:1) how to implement exploratory innovation; 2) how to implement exploitative innovation; and 3) how to successfully balance and trade-off exploratory and exploitative innovations. The solutions of the above-mentioned three problems are provided from three perspectives: strategic orientation, organizational structure, and leadership.This dissertation draws the following conclusions based on the above research results.The relationship between unabsorbed slack and exploratory innovation is inverted U shaped. It means that only when unabsorbed slack is at a moderate level, exploratory innovation will be at its highest level. The inverted U shaped relationship is mediated by proactive market orienation. Unabsorbed slack could facilitate exploitative innovation, and the positive relationship between unabsorbed slack and exploitative innovation is mediated by responsive market orientation. There is a negative correlation between absorbed slack and exploratory innovation, which is mediated by proactive market orientation. Absorbed slack is positively correlated with exploitative innovation, and this positive correlation is mediated by responsive market orientation. Perceived market opportunity could positively moderate the positive relationship between unabsorbed slack and proactive market orientation, and it could negatively moderate the positive relationship between absorbed slack and responsive market orientation. Transformational leadership could positively moderate the positive relationship between proactive market orientation and exploratory innovation, and it could negatively moderate the positive relationship between responsive market orientation and exploitative innovation.The ambidextrous innovation modes of a firm evolve when the time goes by. The pattern of this evolution in the firms of mainland China is as follows. The firms in birth stage engage in marketing exploratory innovation and technological exploitative innovation. The firms in growth stage engage in marketing exploratory innovation, marketing exploitative innovation, technological exloratory innovation, and technological exploitative innovation. The firms in maturity stage engage in marketing exploitative innovation and technological exploitative innovation. The firms in revival/transformation stage engage in marketing exploratory innovation and technological exploratory innovation.As for the implementation of ambidextrous innovation modes, corporations could manage it from three aspects: strategic orientation, organizational structure, and leadership. Proactive market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation could facilitate exploratory innovation, while responsive market orientation could facilitate exploitative innovation. Proactive market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation and responsive market orientation could coexist in the same organization, but the organization needs to trade them off according to the actual situations. Ambidextrous strategic orientation is beneficial to the coexistence and trade-off of exploratory and exploitative innovation. Organic structure is good for exploratory innovation, while mechanic structure is beneficial for exploitative innovation. The temporal and spacial separations of organic and mechanic structures are named as sequential ambidexterity and structural ambidexterity respectively. Transformational leadership could facilitate exploratory innovation, while transactional leadership could facilitate exploitative innovation. The coexistence and trade-off of transformational and transactional leadership will be beneficial for the coexistence and trade-off of exploratory and exploitative innovation.To sum up, this research makes the following contributions.First, the author delved into the driving force of firms’ ambidextrous innovation modes. This kind of research will shed light on the mechanism by which ambidextrous innovation modes come into being and it explains the effect exerted by subjective and objective factors on ambidextrous innovation modes. This in-depth understanding will make it possible for firms to choose proper ambidextrous innovation modes or adjust current ones acccording to its specific condition.Second, this research integrated temporal dimension into the theoretical framework, and dynamically probe into the firms’ ambidextrous innovation modes. It revealed how ambidextrous inovation modes evolve with time goes by. So the research will facilitate the firms to choose proper ambidextrous innovation modes or adjust current ones in a scientific way according to the life cycle stage they are in.Third, this research proposed the approaches by which firms can implement their ambidextrous innovation modes base on relevant theory and the data obtained by field research. It provided valuable suggestions in terms of how the firms can implement exploratory and exploitative innovation and make these two kinds of innovation coexist and well balanced from three perspectives: strategic orientation, organizational structure and leadership.