Author:
Kouropalatis Yiannis,Hughes Paul,Morgan Robert E.
Abstract
PurposeFirms face high velocity conditions today that render product market strategies increasingly temporal. Strategic flexibility is critical for enabling rapid adaptation to a changing environment. At the same time, managerial commitment to product‐market strategy signifies the extent to which a manager comprehends and supports the strategy and reflects a necessary sense of ownership for any chosen product‐market strategy. The purpose of this paper, then, is to examine strategically ambidextrous firms through the twin lenses of flexibility and commitment to determine whether performance benefits accrue from such characteristics.Design/methodology/approachWhile traditional research streams examine strategic flexibility and commitment to product‐market strategy as opposing ends of a continuum, this paper adopts a broader perspective and examines strategic flexibility and commitment to product‐market strategy as elements of strategically ambidextrous firms. Cluster analysis is used to identify groups of high and low strategically ambidextrous firms.FindingsStrategically ambidextrous firms exhibit commitment to product‐market strategy, which enables the effective realisation of selected strategies through focusing managerial attention and firm resources, and strategic flexibility, which enables adaptation of the planned product‐market strategy based on feedback received, or abandonment followed by new strategic choices and impetus. The paper reveals that firms with high strategic ambidexterity exhibit significantly greater levels of strategic resources, decentralisation, product‐market strategy process effectiveness, and implementation effectiveness compared with low ambidexterity firms. Thus, strategic ambidexterity is revealed to endow significant performance benefits.Originality/valueThis paper addresses the need to examine ambidexterity as “flexible commitment”.
Reference144 articles.
1. Aaker, D.A. and Mascarenhas, B. (1984), “The need for strategic flexibility”, Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 5, pp. 74‐82.
2. Aiken, M. and Hage, J. (1968), “Organizational independence and intra‐organizisational structure”, American Sociological Review, Vol. 33 No. 6, pp. 912‐30.
3. Ansoff, H.I. (1980), “Strategic issue management”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 131‐48.
4. Armstrong, J.S. and Overton, T.S. (1977), “Estimating non‐response bias in mail surveys”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 14, August, pp. 396‐403.
5. Atkinson, J. (1985), “Flexibility: planning for an uncertain future”, Manpower Policy and Practice, Vol. 1, Summer, pp. 26‐9.
Cited by
34 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献