IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wsi/ijitmx/v10y2013i04ns0219877013500144.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Ambiguity And Learning In The Innovation Process: Managing Exploitation-Exploitation By Balancing Creativity And Constraint Revisited

Author

Listed:
  • ALF STEINAR SÆTRE

    (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, Alfred Getzv. 1, 7491 Trondheim, Norway)

  • ERIC BRUN

    (University of Stavanger, Department of Industrial Economics, Risk Management and Planning, 4036 Stavanger, Norway)

Abstract

In this paper, we explicate the details of the management of ambiguity and the balancing of creativity and constraint as it relates to organizations' absorptive capacity. The innovation process is characterized by cycles of expensive (explorative) activity where ambiguity increases, and constrictive (exploitative) activities, where ambiguity decreases. We argue that ambiguity oscillates in the short run and decrease in the long run while learning increases. These fluctuations in the opportunity space are driven by the balancing of creativity and constraint.

Suggested Citation

  • Alf Steinar Sætre & Eric Brun, 2013. "Ambiguity And Learning In The Innovation Process: Managing Exploitation-Exploitation By Balancing Creativity And Constraint Revisited," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 10(04), pages 1-9.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:ijitmx:v:10:y:2013:i:04:n:s0219877013500144
    DOI: 10.1142/S0219877013500144
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219877013500144
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1142/S0219877013500144?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qichao Zhang & Zhenzhong Ma & Long Ye & Ming Guo & Shuzhen Liu, 2021. "Future Work Self and Employee Creativity: The Mediating Role of Informal Field-Based Learning for High Innovation Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-17, January.
    2. Kasper Edwards & Robert G. Cooper & Tomas Vedsmand & Giulia Nardelli, 2019. "Evaluating the Agile-Stage-Gate Hybrid Model: Experiences From Three SME Manufacturing Firms," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(08), pages 1-32, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wsi:ijitmx:v:10:y:2013:i:04:n:s0219877013500144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tai Tone Lim (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.worldscinet.com/ijitm/ijitm.shtml .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.