首页 | 本学科首页   官方微博 | 高级检索  
     检索      


Managing skunkworks to achieve ambidexterity: The Robinson Crusoe effect
Authors:Carole Donada  Caroline Mothe  Joaquín Alegre
Institution:1. ESSEC, France;2. University Savoie Mont Blanc, France;3. University of Valencia, Av. Los Naranjos, S/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Abstract:Literature on ambidexterity emphasizes the need for both exploration and exploitation. Large firms usually choose to implement structural ambidexterity to separate both activities. We here focus on an extreme case of such structural partitioning implemented as a secret skunkworks project in a large French automotive company. A qualitative survey using both primary and secondary data shows that the major basic and initial characteristics of a skunkworks (i.e. secrecy, urgency, and autonomy) created favorable conditions for the technological exploration. However, exploitation failed due to precisely those same characteristics coupled with the fact that the project did not respond to a specific market demand: The skunkworks suffered from what we call the "Robinson Crusoe effect." We therefore contribute to the literature on skunkworks, which have remained understudied in the academic literature, as well as on ambidexterity, by showing how the interrelation between different factors is crucial for structural ambidexterity to be successful
Keywords:Ambidexterity  Exploitation/exploration  Skunkworks  Radical innovation
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录!
设为首页 | 免责声明 | 关于勤云 | 加入收藏

Copyright©北京勤云科技发展有限公司  京ICP备09084417号