PLATFORM-ENABLED AMBIDEXTERITY

Firms bogged down with organizational inertia are unable to gain the competitive advantage other firms can achieve through organizational ambidexterity. By definition, firms experiencing high levels of inertia are unable to rapidly adapt and change as their needs dictate. This research addresses the question of “How can firms experiencing organizational inertia achieve ambidexterity?” In doing so, the role of IT as a digital options generator is explored and the concept of platform-enabled ambidexterity is introduced

The impact of information technology resources on SMEs' innovation performance

This work aims to develop a research framework to examine the impact of information technology resources on the innovation performance of Saudi small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs). SMEs innovation capability influences growth and technological progress (Bruque & Moyano, 2007). However, many developing countries exhibit moderate or even low innovation performance. For instance, Saudi Arabia is ranked 54th by the Global Innovation Index (GII 2011). Innovation systems studies focus on the alignment between the interactions of innovation actors with their constantly changing environment toward better innovation performance (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff, 2000). The dynamic capabilities of organisations have been highlighted as a crucial characteristic that helps to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (Teece et al., 1997). The indirect impact IT resources on innovation performance represents an attractive research area (Benitez-Amado et al., 2010). Therefore, we argue that a closer look at Saudi SMEs information technology resources and their impact on the firm dynamic capabilities and innovation performance would make a significant contribution to existing knowledge. Areas such as the organisation strategies of developing countries, innovation management, dynamic capabilities, open innovation and strategic information systems are few examples of areas that might benefit from this work

The Effect of Application Ambidexterity on Firm Agility

Firm agility is quickly becoming an essential capability for companies to effectively compete in hypercompetitiveenvironments. At the same time, firms are using applications that enable close integration coupled with an increased ability toreconfigure processes. Such applications should manifest a balance between integration and reconfigurability. This is theconcept of applications ambidexterity. The IS literature has selectively focused on either integration or reconfigurability. Byfocusing on only one characteristic we have been unable to understand the IT - agility relation. Research suggests thatintegration and reconfigurability alone cannot explain the true nature of the IT - agility relation. This conceptual paperattempts to understand the complementary effects of integration and reconfigurability on firm agility. It contributes to theliterature by theorizing the role of IT application ambidexterity on firm agility through the mediating variables of knowledgeexploration, knowledge exploitation and process adaptability

Ambidexterity in Information Systems Research: Overview of Conceptualizations, Antecedents, and Outcomes

Organizations that are not efficient and innovative today quickly become irrelevant tomorrow. Ambidexterity (i.e., simultaneously conducting two seemingly contradicting activities, such as exploitation and exploration) helps organizations to overcome this challenge and, hence, has become increasingly popular with manifold applications in information systems (IS) research. However, we lack a systematic understanding of ambidexterity research, its research streams, and their future trajectory. Hence, we conduct a systematic literature review on ambidexterity in IS research and identify six distinct research streams that use an ambidexterity lens: IT-enabled organizational ambidexterity, ambidextrous IT capability, ambidexterity in IS development, ambidextrous IS strategy, ambidextrous inter-organizational relationships, and organizational ambidexterity in IS. We present the current state of research in each stream. More so, we comprehensively overview application areas, conceptualizations, antecedents for, and outcomes of ambidexterity. Hence, this study contributes to the emergent theme of ambidexterity in IS research

Impact of IT ambidexterity on new product development speed: Theory and empirical evidence

New product development (NPD) speed is becoming an important weapon by which firms can gain market share in today’s competitive and complex market environments, where consumer preferences change rapidly. Drawing on the information technology (IT)-enabled organizational capabilities perspective, this study proposes that IT ambidexterity—the simultaneous pursuit of IT exploitation and IT exploration, which has become imperative in modern industry to sustain the business value of IT—enhances NPD speed by facilitating operational agility. We examine the proposed relationship of IT ambidexterity with the potential moderating role of market complexity in a sample composed of 292 British high-tech firms. Our findings, based on a moderatedmediation analysis, suggest that the impact of IT ambidexterity on NPD speed is mediated by operational agility and that the mediation effect is especially pronounced in complex markets. The resulting theoretical arguments and empirical evidence yield further insights into the strategic impacts of IT

Agility in responding to disruptive digital innovation: Case study of an SME

Disruptive digital innovation (DDI) often creates hypercompetitive market environment that forces firms to be agile to survive and remain competitive. Whereas most studies have focused on larger firms' effort to be agile, few have looked at how small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) respond to DDI. The study attempts to answer the research question of how SMEs achieve agility to respond to DDI. Drawing on a case study of an innovative SME, our study develops a framework on agility based on the processes of mitigating organizational rigidity, developing innovative capabilities, and balancing the tension of organizational ambidexterity. Specifically, our findings show that for SMEs, mitigating organizational rigidity is enabled by the mechanism of achieving boundary openness while developing innovative capability is enabled by the mechanism of achieving organizational adaptability. At the same time, given the inherent challenges of resource constraints, SMEs also need to balance the tension of organizational ambidexterity

Ambidextrous IT Governance: The Art of Balancing Exploration and Exploitation in IT Governance

Through a case study at a global technology company, we investigate how organizations can adapt their IT governance approach to the information system at hand. This is done by considering the degree of information system integration and whether the system is related to supporting operational efficiency (exploitation) or innovation (exploration). Based on the findings of the case study, we introduce the concept of ambidextrous IT governance to describe how IT governance can be adapted to fit the dual needs of both exploration and exploitation through the use of IS