Alexander Zimmermann
Thumbnail Image
Title
Prof. Dr.
Last Name
Zimmermann
First name
Alexander
Email
alexander.zimmermann@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 2025
Homepage

Filters

Reset filters

Settings
Now showing 1 - 10 of 59
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

How paradoxical leaders guide their followers to embrace paradox: Cognitive and behavioral mechanisms of paradox mindset development

2023-03-13 , Boemelburg, Raphael , Zimmermann, Alexander , Palmié, Maximilian

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Managing Persistent Tensions on the Frontline: A Configurational Perspective on Ambidexterity

2018-07 , Zimmermann, Alexander , Raisch, Sebastian , Cardinal, Laura

Ambidexterity research has noted that firms’ simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation causes organizational tensions that are difficult to resolve. To make these tensions manageable, scholars have generally suggested that senior managers take the central role in designing organizational solutions, such as the structural separation or contextual integration of the exploratory and exploitative tasks. Yet, in an inductive study of ten corporate innovation initiatives, we find that our informants assigned far less importance to the senior managers’ initial design choices than to the frontline managers’ subsequent configurational practices. Frontline managers used these practices to constantly adapt and align their initiatives’ organizational contexts, which allowed them to cope with persistent exploration-exploitation tensions in their daily business activities. Based on these empirical insights and drawing on paradox theory, we develop a configurational perspective on ambidexterity, where frontline managers play a more central, proactive, and strategic role than purported by the established design perspective on ambidexterity.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Die grüne Hoffnung

2016-06 , Zimmermann, Alexander , Probst, Gilbert , Hermann, Carolin , Ferreira, Paul

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Creating Societal Benefits and Corporate Profits

2014 , Zimmermann, Alexander , Gomez, Peter , Probst, Gilbert , Raisch, Sebastian

Some companies are pursuing initiatives that aim to synergistically create value both for the company and society. But these initiatives follow a different development process than traditional corporate products. Based on in-depth case studies of four leading global corporations from different industries (BMW, Nestlé, P&G, and Vanke), the researchers from the Center for Organizational Excellence (CORE) identify distinct organizational solutions and best practices to support such initiatives in different stages of the new business development process.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Stemming the downturn: How ambidexterity and public policy influence firm performance stability during economic crises

2022-04-01 , Doblinger, Claudia , Wales, William , Zimmermann, Alexander

A key question confronting policy makers during economic crises is how they can support firms to maintain their performance levels until the economic storm has passed. The present study bridges insights from the ambidexterity and public policy literatures to examine how firm-internal responses (that is, ambidexterity) and external public policy incentives (that is, demand-pull policies) affect the stability of firms' performance in a recessionary economic context. Using data from private German renewable energy firms at a time following the global financial crisis, we find that only firms with low ambidexterity achieve performance stability in light of demandpull policies. This research draws attention to the relevance of stability as a policy-relevant performance measure during times of economic crises. Further, we suggest that greater insight into the interplay of managerial and political factors is necessary to enable policy makers to support the stability of certain industries during crises.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Fit für die Zukunft

2017 , Linz, Carsten , Müller-Stewens, Günter , Zimmermann, Alexander

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

How Is Ambidexterity Initiated? : The Emergent Charter Definition Process

2015-07-26 , Zimmermann, Alexander , Raisch, Sebastian , Birkinshaw, Julian

Ambidexterity research has presented a range of structural and contextual approaches for implementing a dual orientation across organizations. Much less is known about the preceding process through which organizations decide to adopt an ambidextrous orientation. In this paper we focus on this first step-the charter definition process through which the activities and responsibilities of an organizational unit are agreed. Most prior studies implicitly assume that senior executives at some point identify the need to become ambidextrous and subsequently design supportive structures and contexts to implement their choice. Based on an inductive multilevel case study of four alliances, we show how this mandated (or top-down) charter definition process can be complemented with an alternative emergent (or bottom-up) charter definition process in which frontline managers take the initiative to adopt an ambidextrous orientation in their part of the organization. This emergent process is important because it enables frontline managers to respond in a timely manner to changing requirements of which senior executives are still unaware. We use the findings from our case study to develop potentially generalizable observations on the level of initiation, the tensions, the management approaches to deal with the tensions, and the outcomes that characterize this emergent charter definition process. We then put forward a multilevel process framework of how organizations initiate an ambidextrous orientation, and we discuss theoretical implications for the general ambidexterity literature, the nascent dynamic view on ambidexterity, and the broader research on how charters in organizations evolve.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Complements or substitutes? A microfoundations perspective on the interplay between drivers of ambidexterity in SMEs

2020-12-01 , Zimmermann, Alexander , Hill, Susan , Birkinshaw, Julian , Jaeckel, Martin

Research on the microfoundations of ambidexterity has identified a number of drivers that shape the ability of individuals to overcome exploration-exploitation tensions. However, little is known about how these drivers interact and whether they act as complements or substitutes. In a twostage survey of small and medium-sized enterprises, we find that formal structural drivers and informal contextual drivers of ambidexterity do not demonstrate complementarity, as generally assumed, but rather act at cross-purposes with each other. Furthermore, we find that behaviorally complex executives (those with the ability to think and act ambidextrously) appear to render the effects of the other two drivers relatively unimportant, and are only ever associated with moderate levels of ambidexterity. These findings permit the development of important theoretical insights for ambidexterity research from a microfoundations perspective.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

How Do Firms Adapt to Discontinuous Change? : Bridging the Dynamic Capabilities and Ambidexterity Perspectives

2016-08-01 , Birkinshaw, Julian , Zimmermann, Alexander , Raisch, Sebastian

This article develops a conceptual integration of the dynamic capabilities and ambidexterity perspectives in order to understand how firms adapt to discontinuous change. Based on three illustrative case studies, it demonstrates that it is not possible to identify a universal set of dynamic capabilities. Rather, the distinct set of capabilities required depends on which of three modes of adaptation (structural separation, behavioral integration, or sequential alternation) has been prioritized. This article contributes a contingency perspective to dynamic capability research and offers guidance to managers about the alternative approaches they could take when seeking to adapt to environmental discontinuities.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Eine Frage des Klimas

2014-01 , Jäckel, Martin , Gomez, Peter , Zimmermann, Alexander

View