본 연구는 탐험적 혁신과 활용적 혁신이 기업의 성과와 생존에 미치는 영향을 탐구하였다. 탐험과 활용의 균형이 기업의 장기적인 성과와 생존에 있어 중요하다는 이론적인 논의에도 불구하고, 대부분의 실증연구들은 주로 탐험과 활용의 균형이 조직의 단기적 재무성과에 ...

본 연구는 탐험적 혁신과 활용적 혁신이 기업의 성과와 생존에 미치는 영향을 탐구하였다. 탐험과 활용의 균형이 기업의 장기적인 성과와 생존에 있어 중요하다는 이론적인 논의에도 불구하고, 대부분의 실증연구들은 주로 탐험과 활용의 균형이 조직의 단기적 재무성과에 미치는 영향을 연구함으로써 장기적인 영향을 분석하지 못하였다. 이에 본 연구는 1983년부터 2011년까지 KOSPI에 상장되었던 118개의 IT 기업을 대상기업으로, (1) 탐험과 활용의 균형이 조직의 생존에 어떠한 영향을 미치며, (2) 조직의 내적·외적 상황에 따라 탐험과 활용의 균형이 어떻게 달라지는지를 규명하기 위해 연구모형을 개발하고 검증하였다. 탐험과 활용은 기업의 혁신활동으로 구분하였으며 특허자료를 통해 측정하였다. 또한 조직의 내외부 컨텍스트를 조직의 여유자원, 경쟁전략, 환경의 동태성으로 구분하여 각 상황에 따라 탐험과 활용의 균형이 조직생존에 미치는 영향이 어떻게 달라지는가를 규명하였다. 연구결과, 탐험적 혁신의 정도는 조직의 생존과 역U형의 관계를 가지는 것으로 나타나, 탐험과 활용의 균형이 조직생존에 중요하다는 조직양면성(organizational ambidexterity)관점이 지지되었다.

Despite a number of studies on the relationship between exploration, exploitation and various performance consequences, far less attention has been paid to uncovering how exploratory innovation dissimilarly influences a firm’s short-term, long-term pe ...

Despite a number of studies on the relationship between exploration, exploitation and various performance consequences, far less attention has been paid to uncovering how exploratory innovation dissimilarly influences a firm’s short-term, long-term performance, and its survival. Prior work has mainly examined the effect on one of various performance outcomes in different time horizons, and has rarely considered both short-term and long-term performance. This study is the first to simultaneously examine the short-term and long-term performance effects of the balance between exploration exploitation, as well as its survival effects. The findings from longitudinal and survival analyses on Korean IT firms for the 1981-2011 period reveal that exploration and exploitation have differential performance effects – exploration have a positive effect on long-term performance, whereas exploitation have a positive effect on short-term performance – at any given point in time, and that maintaining an appropriate balance between those two activities over a long period of time is critical to long–term firm survival.


Despite a number of studies on the relationship between exploration - exploitation and various performance consequences, it is hard to find the studies considering both short-term and long-term performance. Furthermore, few studies have examined the survival implications of balancing exploration and exploitation. In this regard, This study addresses two fundamental questions: (1) what is the difference between the performance effects of exploration and exploitation?, and (2) how does an appropriate balance between exploration and exploitation influence firm survival? This study is the first to examine both the short-term and long-term performance, as well as its effects on survival. Findings from panel and survival analyses on Korean IT firms for the 1981-2011 period reveal that the ratio of exploratory innovation has a negative effect on short-term performance and a positive effect on long-term performance. Furthermore, we find that the ratio of exploratory innovation has an inverted U-shaped relationship with firm survival, indicating that firms with an appropriate balance between exploratory and exploitative innovation are more likely to survive for a longer time than those focusing on either exploration or exploitation.

This study investigates the effects of exploration and exploitation on organizational longevity. An analysis of 1981-2011 data from the Korean IT industry reveals an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between the relative extent of exploratory ...

This study investigates the effects of exploration and exploitation on organizational longevity. An analysis of 1981-2011 data from the Korean IT industry reveals an inverted U-shaped curvilinear relationship between the relative extent of exploratory innovation and organizational longevity, providing support for the ambidexterity perspective. This paper also examines the moderating effects of financial slack, competitive strategy, and environmental dynamism on the relationship between exploratory innovation and organizational longevity. The results indicate that financial slack and differentiation strategy moderated the exploration-longevity relationship. Overall, our study calls for a contingency approach to understanding the performance implications of the exploration-exploitation balance.

Our findings make two main contributions to exploration-exploitation theory and the body of innovation management literature. First, we provide clear empirical evidence that exploration and exploitation have differential performance effects. March (19 ...

Our findings make two main contributions to exploration-exploitation theory and the body of innovation management literature. First, we provide clear empirical evidence that exploration and exploitation have differential performance effects. March (1991) argues that exploitation addresses short-run concerns, whereas exploration addresses long-run concerns. In other words, the benefits of exploration have longer time horizons than the benefits of exploitation. In this regard, Lavie, Stettner, and Tushman (2010) also argue that studies should consider both short-term and long-term performance at the same time. However, prior empirical studies tend to exclusively examine one performance outcome, and rarely consider both short-term and long-term performance.
Second, we clarify the survival implications of balancing exploration and exploitation. Many theoretical studies have argued that organizational ambidexterity is about survival (March, 1991; Levinthal & March, 1993; O’Reilly & Tushman, 2013). In today’s fast-paced business environment, in practice, firms are concerned more about life-and-death issues than their short-term financial performance. However, most empirical studies on organizational ambidexterity have mainly examined relatively short-term performance effects, rather than the effects of balancing exploration and exploitation on survival.