Ambidexterity in Technological Innovation within a Large Firm: Case study of CMOS image sensor development in Sony

Abstract

The literature on innovator's dilemma suggests that the exploration activity needs to be removed from an existing organization. The theory of ambidextrous organization emphasizes the importance of exploiting existing resources with the strong support of top management. The case analysis of a large enterprise's successful innovation in the face of innovator's dilemma identifies three practices of exploiting existing resources within exploration. First, some existing capabilities can be readily combined. Second, once some existing capabilities are incorporated, exploration is curved out as an independent activity. Third, the existing capabilities are deconstructed and recast in the new value network. While prior studies have emphasized the top management's leadership in creating the interface for exploiting existing capabilities, this study additionally shows the importance of local leadership on the ground to identify and flexibly deal with varied natures of existing resources and capabilities. The top-down and the bottom-up leaderships mutually condition each other to achieve organizational ambidexterity.