Cross-Functional Ambidexterity : Organizational Antecedents and Boundary Conditions

Recent research relates firms' innovativeness to specific combinations of exploitation and exploration across the product and market domains, but the organizational literature lacks concrete insights on how firms can achieve such cross-functional ambidexterity. Based on a qualitative comparative analysis of 15 innovation units at three large firms, we find that different combinations of exploitation and exploration across the product and market domains are associated with distinct organizational context configurations. While a unit's formal structure and informal culture are related to the product innovation domain, its target system and monitoring system are related to the market innovation domain. We contribute to the organizational literature by clarifying the antecedents and boundary conditions of cross-functional ambidexterity and compare and contrast this new perspective with the established ambidexterity perspectives.