Publications
Publications
- April 2003
- Academy of Management Review
Exploitation, Exploration, and Process Management: The Productivity Dilemma Revisited
By: Mary J. Benner and Michael L. Tushman
Abstract
We develop a contingency view of process management's influence on both technological
innovation and organizational adaptation. We argue that while process management
activities are beneficial for organizations in stable contexts, they are fundamentally
inconsistent with all but incremental innovation and change. But dynamic
capabilities are rooted in both exploitative and exploratory activities. We argue that
process management activities must be buffered from exploratory activities and that
ambidextrous organizational forms provide the complex contexts for these inconsistent
activities to coexist.
Keywords
Citation
Benner, Mary J., and Michael L. Tushman. "Exploitation, Exploration, and Process Management: The Productivity Dilemma Revisited." Academy of Management Review 28, no. 2 (April 2003): 238–256. (Winner of Academy of Management Review. Best Paper Award. Also the 2013 AMR Decade Award winner.)