In the past few years, a number of well-known firms have failed; think of Blockbuster, Kodak, or RadioShack. When we read about their demise, it often seems inevitable—a natural part of "creative destruction." But closer examination reveals a disturbing truth: Companies large and small are shuttering more quickly than ever. What does it take to buck this trend? The simple answer is: ambidexterity. Firms must remain competitive in their core markets, while also winning in new domains. Innovation guru Clayton M. Christensen has been pessimistic about whether established companies can prevail in the face of disruption, but Charles A. O'Reilly III and Michael L. Tushman know they can! The authors explain how shrewd organizations have used an ambidextrous approach to solve their own innovator's dilemma. They contrast these luminaries with companies which—often trapped by their own successes—have been unable to adapt and grow. Drawing on a vast research program and over a decade of helping companies to innovate, the authors present a set of practices to guide firms as they adopt ambidexterity. Top-down and bottom-up leaders are key to this process—a fact too often overlooked in the heated debate about innovation. But not in this case. Readers will come away with a new understanding of how to improve their existing businesses through efficiency, control, and incremental change, while also seizing new markets where flexibility, autonomy, and experimentation rule the day.

Today’s companies in diverse industries perceive increasing competition and an accelerating pace of change. To cope with these challenges, they need to leverage their current competencies and exploit existing products and services, while simultaneously build new capabilities to develop innovative solutions. Therefore, instead of selecting and maintaining a focus on either efficiency or flexibility, these firms balance resource allocation and become so-called ambidextrous organizations. W. Henning Blarr analyzes this balancing act, requiring the ability to simultaneously pursue both incremental and discontinuous change. He shows that compared to organizations focusing on either exploitative or explorative activities, ambidextrous organizations significantly obtain higher levels of financial performance.

Elena Krause-Söhner explores how the dynamics of organizational ambidexterity can be managed in complex organizations. This is a relevant question as today’s organizations and the individuals within them face the challenge of focusing on short term improvements while simultaneously targeting long-term innovation in a dynamic environment. Drawing on a practice-based perspective and the view of organizations as socially constructed and constantly changing entities, organizational enacting and constructing change activities are investigated based on profound conceptual and empirical base in an industry and service context. This book derives implications for both the theoretical discourse and for practitioners.

Across the last 50 years, there have been increasing studies on Organizational Ambidexterity (OA). However, there has been a disproportionate focus on the theory underpinning OA with less recourse to the implementation of OA. The primary purpose of this book is to close gaps in the understanding of Organizational Ambidexterity Implementation (OAI) and its relationship with organizational performance. It identifies key components crucial for successful OAI, including dynamic capabilities, organizational culture, organizational design and market orientation. The scope encompasses both qualitative and quantitative analysis, investigating the factors that drive or obstruct OAI and assessing performance disparities among organizations. This book is intended for academics, researchers, and professionals interested in corporate strategy with focus on the management of organizational resources and capabilities within organizational structure and design for performance improvement. It serves as a valuable resource for those seeking to understand how organizational culture, dynamic capabilities, market orientation, and design impact the successful implementation of ambidexterity and, consequently, overall organizational performance. Additionally, business leaders and managers can gain insights to help their organizations evaluate and enhance their abilities in these critical areas, ultimately fostering a culture of innovation and efficiency.

In The Focused Organization Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez shows you how fewer, more effectively elected and managed projects are the key to strategic and long-term success. Using his own research and work experience he explains how and why those organizations that focus on just a few key initiatives can perform significantly better than unfocused organizations, not only financially but also in achieving their strategic objectives and motivating their staff. The author introduces a new way of looking at a company through two very different and often conflicting dimensions: running-the-business and changing-the-business. What you add to one dimension you have to subtract from the other one. Finding the right balance between these two dimensions represents one of the major challenges to successful strategy execution. Becoming a focused organization involves a radical change in the way companies are organized and the way they select and manage projects - the creation of a new culture. The Focused Organization discusses the characteristics that comprise a focused organization. It describes key areas where a focused organization builds its levels of maturity; provides examples of focused organizations that outperform the rest; and explains in practical steps how all enterprises can become focused. The book finishes with a unique and inspiring case study that transports us to the early days of the current business world. Through the main character, Benny White, we learn how a business was conducted and how management evolved over decades with the introduction of business theories, including project management.

The book explains strategic issues, trends, challenges, and future scenario of global economy in the light of Fourth Industrial Revolution. It consists of insightful scientific essays authored by scholars and practitioners from business, technology, and economics area. The book contributes to business education by means of research, critical and theoretical reviews of issues in Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Patrick Schulze investigates the performance effects and organizational antecedents of innovation strategies and, in particular, ambidexterity.