The corporate challenge of ambidexterity; A case study of a large Swedish media organisation and their work on balancing exploitative and exploratory innovation

Abstract: Purpose: In the setting of a large Swedish media organisation, the purpose of this study is to create an understanding of how internal factors (strategy, organisational structure and culture) affect the organisation's ability to handle ambidexterity and how the factors interrelate. Methodology: A qualitative single case study was conducted, from multiple levels within a large Swedish media organisation. The study adopted a hermeneutic view, with an abductive research approach. Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect empirical data. The data were analysed using thematic analysis, a data analysis method for qualitative studies. Theoretical perspectives: A common assumption in previous literature is that companies need to balance exploitative and exploratory innovation to achieve ambidexterity. However, due to the paradoxical nature of exploratory and exploitative innovation, there is no consensus on how to achieve ambidexterity. Prior studies suggest that the three internal factors strategy, organisational structure and culture, affect an organisation's ability to achieve ambidexterity. Although, previous literature lacks an understanding of how the factors interrelate and affect large organisations ability to achieve ambidexterity. Empirical foundation: The results indicated that the case organisation was not ambidextrous. The overall strategy had an exploitative focus, that hindered the centralised innovation program to develop exploratory innovation. The organisational structure made it difficult to implement exploitative innovations and resulted in the “not invented here syndrome”. Conclusion: Theoretical implications are further understanding of the interrelationship between strategy, organisational structure and culture. A further contribution is the role of strategy alignment, strategy formulation, financial return and resource allocation to the ambidexterity literature. Practical implications are that the overall strategy must balance exploitative and exploratory innovation. A centralised structure for innovation is a hindering factor in achieving ambidexterity. To achieve ambidexterity, large organisations should therefore, integrate exploitative and exploratory innovation at the firm level, and separate on the business unit level.