SUMMARY SEOR
2020
,Week 1
Lecture 1
3 conditions to enable innovation:
• Structure & Systems
• People & Culture
• Strategy & Leadership
"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most
responsive to change" - Darwin.
Being big and having money doesn’t matter.
Fluid phase:
- Organizational structure → adaptability (high environment uncertainty)
Transitional Phase
- Key organizational changes
o Structure: from informal to formal
o Organizational behaviour: flexible and responsive to rigid and predictable
o Power: from entrepreneurs to managers
o Orientation: from external to internal
Specific Phase
- Organizational structure → predictability (low environment uncertainty)
Innovation Discontinuities:
- Competence enhancing
- Competence destroying
,How can firms respond:
Innovation process:
- Improvement/Incremental
o Brings money on short term
o No guarantee for long term
- Renewal/Radical
o Costs money on short term
o Essential for continuity on long term
3 Organizational Barriers:
- Economic: sunk costs
o No motivation
- Cognitive: no understanding
o No ability
- Social/psychological: complacency, fear
o No courage
Gibson, Birkinshaw (2004). The Antecedents, Consequences, and Mediating Role of
Organizational Ambidexterity
Contextual Organizational Ambidexterity --> Defined as: The capacity to simultaneously achieve
alignment and adaptability at a business-unit level. Facilitated by a context characterized by a
combination of:
- Stretch: induces members to voluntarily strive for more rather than less ambitious
objectives.
- Discipline: induces members to voluntarily strive to meet all expectations (clear standards,
feedback systems)
, - Support: induces members to lend assistance and countenance to others (freedom of
initiative at lower levels, support)
- Trust: induces members to rely on the commitment of each other (involvement of
individuals in decisions)
foster discipline & stretch and provide support & trust, too much of one results in burnout, too much
of the other results in a country club
Structural ambidexterity --> certain business units - or groups within business units - focus on
alignment while others focus on adaption.
Other types:
- Task separation
- Temporal (time) separation
Contextual ambidexterity:
- More sustainable (as it facilitates an entire business unit instead of one function.
- Avoids coordination problems between subunits
- Manifests itself in the specific actions of individuals throughout the organization
Allows individuals to use their own judgment as to how they divide their time between alignment-
oriented and adaption oriented activities.
Hypothesis 1: The higher the level of ambidexterity in a business unit, the higher the level of
performance. --> confirmed
Hypothesis 2: The more that a business-unit context is characterized by an interaction of stretch,
discipline, support and trust, the higher the level of ambidexterity. --> confirmed
Hypothesis 3: Ambidexterity mediates the relationship between context - as captured by the
interaction of discipline, stretch, support and trust - and business unit performance. --> confirmed
O’Conner (2008). Major Innovation as a Dynamic Capability: A Systems Approach
Major Innovation (MI) is composed of both radical and really new innovation.
Both radical and really new innovations are treated as major innovations (MIs)
Dynamic capability theory states that firms can evolve processes that enable them to develop,
change and rejuvenate themselves.
Framework for building an MI dynamic capability, composed of 7 elements that together form a
management system rather than a process-based approach to nurturing radical innovation.
These system elements are:
1. An identifiable organization structure
a. An MI dynamic capability requires an identifiable organizational group responsible
for the firm's major innovation efforts.
2020
,Week 1
Lecture 1
3 conditions to enable innovation:
• Structure & Systems
• People & Culture
• Strategy & Leadership
"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most
responsive to change" - Darwin.
Being big and having money doesn’t matter.
Fluid phase:
- Organizational structure → adaptability (high environment uncertainty)
Transitional Phase
- Key organizational changes
o Structure: from informal to formal
o Organizational behaviour: flexible and responsive to rigid and predictable
o Power: from entrepreneurs to managers
o Orientation: from external to internal
Specific Phase
- Organizational structure → predictability (low environment uncertainty)
Innovation Discontinuities:
- Competence enhancing
- Competence destroying
,How can firms respond:
Innovation process:
- Improvement/Incremental
o Brings money on short term
o No guarantee for long term
- Renewal/Radical
o Costs money on short term
o Essential for continuity on long term
3 Organizational Barriers:
- Economic: sunk costs
o No motivation
- Cognitive: no understanding
o No ability
- Social/psychological: complacency, fear
o No courage
Gibson, Birkinshaw (2004). The Antecedents, Consequences, and Mediating Role of
Organizational Ambidexterity
Contextual Organizational Ambidexterity --> Defined as: The capacity to simultaneously achieve
alignment and adaptability at a business-unit level. Facilitated by a context characterized by a
combination of:
- Stretch: induces members to voluntarily strive for more rather than less ambitious
objectives.
- Discipline: induces members to voluntarily strive to meet all expectations (clear standards,
feedback systems)
, - Support: induces members to lend assistance and countenance to others (freedom of
initiative at lower levels, support)
- Trust: induces members to rely on the commitment of each other (involvement of
individuals in decisions)
foster discipline & stretch and provide support & trust, too much of one results in burnout, too much
of the other results in a country club
Structural ambidexterity --> certain business units - or groups within business units - focus on
alignment while others focus on adaption.
Other types:
- Task separation
- Temporal (time) separation
Contextual ambidexterity:
- More sustainable (as it facilitates an entire business unit instead of one function.
- Avoids coordination problems between subunits
- Manifests itself in the specific actions of individuals throughout the organization
Allows individuals to use their own judgment as to how they divide their time between alignment-
oriented and adaption oriented activities.
Hypothesis 1: The higher the level of ambidexterity in a business unit, the higher the level of
performance. --> confirmed
Hypothesis 2: The more that a business-unit context is characterized by an interaction of stretch,
discipline, support and trust, the higher the level of ambidexterity. --> confirmed
Hypothesis 3: Ambidexterity mediates the relationship between context - as captured by the
interaction of discipline, stretch, support and trust - and business unit performance. --> confirmed
O’Conner (2008). Major Innovation as a Dynamic Capability: A Systems Approach
Major Innovation (MI) is composed of both radical and really new innovation.
Both radical and really new innovations are treated as major innovations (MIs)
Dynamic capability theory states that firms can evolve processes that enable them to develop,
change and rejuvenate themselves.
Framework for building an MI dynamic capability, composed of 7 elements that together form a
management system rather than a process-based approach to nurturing radical innovation.
These system elements are:
1. An identifiable organization structure
a. An MI dynamic capability requires an identifiable organizational group responsible
for the firm's major innovation efforts.
