Anna Nosella

The intellectual structure of organizational ambidexterity: A bibliographic investigation into the state of the art

The recent development of the ambidexterity theme stems from the recognition that firms today increasingly have to deal with contrasting and conflicting goals such as incremental vs. radical innovation, exploration vs. exploitation (March, 1991), alignment vs. adaptability (Gibson and Birkinshaw, 2004), and many others. Understanding and managing tensions as well as succeeding in simultaneously accomplishing high levels of both the poles causing such tensions are essential to firms’ competitiveness and survival (O’Reilly and Tushman, 2004, 2008). Organizations able to do so possess the ambidexterity capability, namely the capability of a complex and adaptive system to achieve and manage conflicting activities, by realizing high levels of both in a simultaneous way. Although ambidexterity capability is a relatively young theme in literature, today it has become a central concept in management research, receiving many contributions from various research streams. Since the pioneering work of Tushman and O’Reilly (1996), the ambidexterity construct has been used in many managerial and academic papers. If we examine these papers, we can see that almost all agree that ambidexterity is an organizational capability that makes it possible to resolve different tensions that arise within an organization. Several types of tensions (e.g., alignment vs. adaptability, comfort of the past vs. uncertainty of the future, exploration vs. exploitation of business, exploitation vs. exploration of knowledge) are taken into consideration by these papers thus making the ambidexterity literature seem quite fragmented. This discrepancy in the types of tensions considered is largely due to the fact that the concept of ambidexterity has been used in many fields, and each time assumes a different theoretical literature stream as reference (see Raisch and Birkinshaw [2008] for a detailed description of these literature fields). In such a scenario, characterized by seemingly disordered development across different areas of research, a number of interesting questions arise:

External technology sourcing: evidence from design‐driven innovation

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to analyse the changing of governance modes for the acquisition of external technology in the context of design driven innovation.Design/methodology/approach – This is an explorative study drawing on cases of new product development (NPD) by six design‐oriented Italian firms. In analyzing the cases a longitudinal approach is taken.Findings – The analysis of the cases shows a similar pattern for technology sourcing during the NPD process, starting with informal networks and ending with hierarchical structures. In the early stages of NPD, when market uncertainty and technological uncertainty are very high, these companies choose an informal network. However, once the product concept is defined and the companies need to become familiar with a technology, they move to strategic alliances with partners. In the final stages of NPD, more hierarchical structures seem to prevail.Research limitations/implications – There are two main limitations of the study. The paper investig...

University-level mechanisms supporting the creation of new companies: an analysis of Italian academic spin-offs

In this paper we address the role of university policies in the creation of academic spin-offs. We focus on university technology transfer units (UTTUs) in Italy and on the mechanisms they have implemented to support academic entrepreneurship. We gathered data relating to their strategies for technology transfer and to the mechanisms they had implemented to support new venture creation. Results show that the number of people dedicated to technology transfer activities, strong relationships that UTTUs have with external organisations involved in technology transfer activities, and finally support services provided by universities and UTTUs have a significant influence in fostering the generation of new ventures.

A Multi‐Level Model for Organizational Ambidexterity in the Search Phase of the Innovation Process

Innovation is one of the most critical means in supporting and improving the competitive position of the firm, in particular, and a firms survival and growth depend greatly on its ability to balance the exploitation of existing knowledge with the exploration of new possibilities, by building ambidexterity capability. While different alternatives to realize the simultaneous reconciliation of exploration and exploitation at an operational level have been proposed, how organizations build ambidexterity capability is not fully understood. The aim of this paper is thus to explore how exploration and exploitation balancing can be achieved in practice. We decided to focus on the early phase of the process where firms search for new ideas with which to renew themselves. To this end, we analysed the search phase of a highly innovative technology‐based company by investigating structural design choices combined with the presence of specific roles and searching practices. The results show how the exploration and exploitation balancing act can actually be achieved and maintained through a multi‐level approach that integrates both the operational and the strategic levels. Our findings thus contribute to the organizational ambidexterity literature, by proposing a first interpretative model for dealing with ambidexterity in the search phase of the innovation process.

Addressing R&D investment decisions: a cross analysis of R&D project selection methods

Purpose – A large number of methodologies for R&D project selection have been developed and reported in the literature over the last few decades, and it has become a very popular research topic since the 1960s. The aim of this paper is to classify and characterize the determining aspects behind the research and development project selection process.Design/methodology/approach – After carefully reviewing the literature and analysing the latest contributions the paper identifies the key issues for the comparison of the existing techniques used to evaluate alternative projects and portfolios of R&D projects. In the second phase the main selection methods (including the latest project portfolio optimisation approaches) are reviewed and critically compared.Findings – The strengths, weaknesses, limitations and practicality of the methods analysed allow managers to choose the project selection model appropriate for their specific problems. Some integrated models (hybrid approach) and the latest solutions could f...

Does patenting influence SME sales performance? A quantity and quality analysis of patents in Northern Italy

Purpose – In today’s economy, intangibles have become more important than physical assets for firm success. In particular, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) registered an increasing trend in patenting, exceeding large firms in the number of patent registrations. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between patents and SME sales performance, taking into consideration also patent quality. Design/methodology/approach – The approach uses panel regression model to investigate the relationship between patenting and sales, controlling for firm size and firm age. The authors adopt a purposive sampling technique focusing on a sample of Italian SMEs in the mechanical industry. Findings – The results show that the count of patents do not have any effect on sales performance, while the number of jurisdictions where the protection is extended produces a positive and significant result. Practical implications – The main implication for SME entrepreneurs and managers is that rel...

Brand‐Building Efforts and Their Association with SME Sales Performance

The objective of this paper was to investigate the association between branding, captured by the combined use of the number of corporate and product trademarks and marketing expenses, and small‐ to medium‐sized enterprise () sales performance in the fashion industry. The results of the panel regression model indicate that corporate trademarks and marketing expenses do have a positive association with s sales performance, and in particular, marketing expenses show the highest estimates. These results suggest that branding may also play a relevant also in the context, thus opening new paths for research within this field.

Linking human resource management practices and customer satisfaction on product quality

Although research has addressed relationships between human resource management (HRM) practices and several firm performances, it remains rare for studies to assess the processes that may underlie such relationships. This study aims to investigate the relationships between HRM practices and product quality by hypothesizing a mediating role of organizational commitment. We design a conceptual model and construct hypotheses that are tested using structural equation modeling on data collected from an international sample. The study contributes to the theoretical and empirical development of a model to explain and open the black box between skill-developing HR practices and quality performance.

The impact of formal and informal appropriability regimes on SME profitability in medium high-tech industries

Innovation is assuming increasing relevance in current economies, but being able to complete the innovation process is not enough for firms if they could not appropriate the value of their investments. Within this context, the aim of this paper is to understand whether SMEs may reap higher economic benefits while relying on formal regimes, in terms of patents, or informal ones in order to protect their innovations, which represents an under-investigated issue. On the basis of a panel regression and a cluster analysis on Italian SMEs, results suggest that firms relying more on informal mechanisms, in particular time-to-market and unique skills of employees, over patents, register superior performance.

Interorganizational Relationships in Marketing: A Critical Review and Research Agenda

Over recent decades, the area of marketing interorganizational relationships (IORs) has received increasing attention from both academics and practitioners, even if a comprehensive portrayal of past research is still lacking. Hence, the aim of the present paper is to review the literature on marketing IORs in order to develop a framework meant to organize the different contributions in this area and suggest new paths for future research. The analysis suggests that three main streams of research can be identified with regard to the type of relationship between variables investigated by each article. Moreover, taking into account the purpose of the IOR, common patterns within each stream may be identified. A critical analysis of articles grounded on both the streams and the purpose of marketing IORs suggests there are still substantial gaps in knowledge, which open new paths for future research regarding both methodological issues and hot topics.