The Effects Of Alliance Portfolio Diversity On Organization Ambidexterity

The fast development of emerging markets and dynamic market changes have brought new challenges for Chinese firms.In order to pursue both the short-term profits and long-term prosperity,it's imperative for firms to be ambidextrous through simultaneously conducting exploration and exploitation activities.Thus,ambidexterity helps firms to achieve adaptability and sustainable competitive advantage.The concept of ambidexterity involves two dimensions:the Balanced Dimension of Ambidexterity(BD)and the Combined Dimension of Ambidexterity(CD).BD refers to the relative balance between exploration and exploitation,and CD refers to simultaneously pursue high level of exploration and exploitation.Due to the increasingly importance of alliance portfolio for firms' innovation and survival,this study focuses on how functional diversity of alliance portfolio help firms achieve BD and CD.Based on the survey research on 209 Chinese manufacturing firms,the findings show that alliance portfolio diversity has a positive relationship with BD,and also has a positive relationship with CD.Proactiveness weakens the positive effect of alliance portfolio diversity on BD.Organization slack strengthens the positive effect of alliance portfolio diversity on CD.The findings of this study will be helpful for firms regarding how to achieve ambidexterity through managing alliance portfolio,in order to simultaneously sustain current competitive advantages and create new advantages in such unpredictable and dynamic market environments.