Mastering the dynamics of innovation: how companies can seize opportunities in the face of technological change
Evolutionary trajectories in petroleum firm R&D
Management Science
Localization of Knowledge and the Mobility of Engineers in Regional Networks
Management Science
The Co-Evolution of Strategic Alliances
Organization Science
The Coevolution of New Organizational Forms
Organization Science
Action and Possibility: Reconciling Dual Perspectives of Knowledge in Organizations
Organization Science
Recombinant Uncertainty in Technological Search
Management Science
Overcoming Local Search Through Alliances and Mobility
Management Science
Exploration vs. Exploitation: An Empirical Test of the Ambidexterity Hypothesis
Organization Science
Ambidexterity in Technology Sourcing: The Moderating Role of Absorptive Capacity
Organization Science
Modes of technological leapfrogging: Five case studies from China
Journal of Engineering and Technology Management
Organizational Learning: From Experience to Knowledge
Organization Science
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In this paper, exploration and exploitation are conceptualized in terms of a nonlocal-local search continuum in three-dimensional supply, demand, and geographic space. Using cross-sectional data from a wide range of manufacturing industries, we develop and validate an operational measure of the exploration-exploitation concept. In line with theory-based arguments, our analysis suggests that the value of supply-side, demand-side, and spatial exploration and exploitation is contingent on the environment. While boundary-spanning supply-side search is found to be positively associated with innovation in more-dynamic environments typical of the entrepreneurial regime phase of technology evolution, such exploration appears to hurt innovation in less-dynamic environments. In a reverse fashion, while boundary-spanning demand-side search is found to be favorably associated with innovation in less-dynamic environments, it appears to harm innovation in a more-dynamic context. Interestingly, spatial boundary-spanning search seems to contribute to innovation in more- as well as less-dynamic environments. With the caveat that the substantive findings of this study are based on cross-sectional data, we discuss the implications of our work and future research directions.