Do institutions matter in business strategy? – The changing focus of strategic management to institutions: a literature review

The post-crisis managerial literature emphasizes the roles of institutional factors in any disruption of the ecosystem of market capitalism and puts it in the middle of its analytical framework. It has become clear that nowadays, scientific discussions about the measure of increase of direct state involvement in certain economic areas has become more relevant. The socio-economic model based on market coordination was no doubt shaken by the crisis in 2008 across the world and inspired various representatives of the scientific and political community to revise their theses on coordination mechanisms that support the way out of an economic downturn. This paper intends to give a brief summary of the two leading strategic management approaches (Porter’s five forces and the resource-based view of the firm) on institutions. The author’s aim is to demonstrate that incorporation of the institution-based view into the mainstream theories can enrich the analytical framework of strategic management by providing deeper understanding of the contextual factors that underpin interactions between institutions and organizations.

Organizational ambidexterity as a new research paradigm in strategic management

Long-term survival and growth depends on the firm’s ability to exploit its current competencies while exploring fundamentally new ones. Finding the balance between exploration and exploitation is called ambidexterity in the literature. This paper is a comprehensive review of organizational ambidexterity theory. Creating and maintaining the capacity to simultaneously pursue these contradictory activities is an extremely difficult managerial challenge. Although, several aspects are well-researched, especially structural and leadership solutions in large, multinational enterprises, but little is known about: (1) how ambidexterity forms in earlier growth stages? (2) What are the key drivers and elements of organizational context that makes organizations able to become ambidextrous? (3) What is the role of different managerial levels in this formation process? Reviewing the literature, in this article the author would like to introduce the paradox of exploration and exploitation, the tensions and different aspects of ambidexterity, the fields current stage and some important research gaps.