The Interplay Between Exploration and Exploitation

2006/08/01 by Anil K. Gupta, Ken G. Smith, Christina E. Shalley · 56 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · #Innovation and Knowledge Management #Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies #Innovation and Socioeconomic Development

paper · doi:10.5465/amj.2006.22083026

Abstract

Exploration and exploitation have emerged as the twin concepts underpinning organizational adaptation research, yet some central issues related to them remain ambiguous. We address four related questions here: What do exploration and exploitation mean? Are they two ends of a continuum or orthogonal to each other? How should organizations achieve balance between exploration and exploitation—via ambidexterity or punctuated equilibrium? Finally, must all organizations strive for a balance, or is specialization in exploitation or exploration sometimes sufficient for long-run success? We summarize the contributions of the work in this special research forum and highlight important directions for future research.

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