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The purpose of this paper is to explore the multi-faceted role of metaroutines in dealing with nested ambidexterity challenges experienced during new product introductions (NPIs) at Tata Motors, an Indian automotive giant.

This study utilizes an in-depth multi-level case study highlighting the ambidexterity dynamics across strategic, business unit and functional levels.

The authors visualize the NPI system found in the firm, including the interactions between structure, process and governance, as a metaroutine. Based on this visualization, the authors argue that certain ostensive (like voice of customer, commonality) and performative (role of leadership and creative recombination) aspects of the metaroutine aid exploratory and exploitative learning across levels at Tata Motors. Further, the authors argue that the role of embedded NPI metaroutine aspects in promoting multi-level ambidexterity offers a distinct form when compared with other academically established forms of structural, contextual and temporal ambidexterity.

This study focuses on the aspects of the NPI metaroutine that enable ambidexterity within the studied firm. The authors argue that apart from the structural, temporal and contextual mechanisms, managers also need to focus on the nuances of NPI metaroutines and their potential to promote ambidexterity across levels.

The authors visualize the interactions between the process, structure and governance mechanisms, related to NPI, as a metaroutine. The authors argue that metaroutine enabled approaches to ambidexterity offer a distinct form when compared with other academically established forms of structural, contextual and temporal ambidexterity. Also, metaroutine enabled ambidexterity explains a possible way through which multi-level ambidexterity can be promoted and managed within organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the multi-level ambidexterity challenges through the metaroutine lens. Further, while confronting the ambidexterity challenges, it is found that what is paradox at one level can be understood as tradeoffs at another level. This study uses an in-depth multi-level case study of Tata Motors, an Indian automotive giant highlighting the ambidexterity dynamics across strategic, business unit and functional levels to demonstrate that paradoxes at the strategic level are converted to manageable tradeoffs at the business unit/ operational level. Also, metaroutine-enabled ambidexterity explains a possible way through which multi-level ambidexterity can be promoted and managed within organizations.

This study uses a case-based methodology (Eisenhardt, 1989) similar to the approach of Adler et al. (1999). The field research consisted of in-depth interviews, which focus on gathering information from the key involved members in the field, thus enabling us to understand how multi-level ambidexterity is promoted within Tata Motors. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect data for this study.

The metaroutine lens offers an alternative route to explain the multi-level ambidexterity dynamics at Tata Motors. The ambidexterity questions at different levels in Tata Motors seem to be a mixture of paradoxes and tradeoffs. However, a key trend emerges. At the strategic and business unit level, the firm wanted to exploit their existing products and explore new customer segments. At the product level, the strategic and NPI core team wanted to best combine the customer centric explorations with exploitations resulting in cost savings. The ambidexterity questions at these two levels seem to be paradoxes. However, as the authors analyze the functional domains, it appears that each individual domain was working under increased constraints. Hence, the ambidexterity questions at the domain level seem to be a tradeoff based on the constraints faced by individual functional domains.

This study presents an in-depth multi-level case study of an Indian automotive giant, Tata Motors. The authors present the role of metaroutines in shaping the ambidexterity issues during the development of passenger vehicles. This study builds on the seminal work of Adler et al., 1999, and extends the discussion to the framing of the ambidexterity question as a paradox and/or a tradeoff. The core argument of this paper is that balancing opposite polarities in business models is basically a paradoxical issue in the exploitation/ exploration relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically why a systematic problem-solving routine can play an important role in the process improvement efforts of hospitals.

Data on 18 process improvement cases were collected through semi-structured interviews, reports and other documents, and artifacts associated with the cases. The data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach.

Adherence to all the steps of the problem-solving routine correlated to greater degrees of improvement across the sample. Analysis resulted in two models. The first partially explains why hospital workers tended to enact short-term solutions when faced with process-related problems; and tended not seek longer-term solutions that prevent problems from recurring. The second model highlights a set of self-reinforcing behaviors that are more likely to address problem recurrence and result in sustained process improvement.

The study was conducted in one hospital setting.

Hospital managers can improve patient care and increase operational efficiency by adopting and diffusing problem-solving routines that embody three key characteristics.

This paper offers new insights on why caregivers adopt short-term approaches to problem solving. Three characteristics of an effective problem-solving routine in a healthcare setting are proposed.

The purpose of this study is to investigate absorptive capacity and dynamic capabilities dilemma in high dynamic market IT small medium enterprises (SMEs). Absorptive capacity and dynamic capabilities have a conflict in theoretical stance. Those in favor of dynamic capabilities regard absorptive capacity as a part of dynamic capabilities, and there are many arguments regarding treating absorptive capacity as a part of dynamic capabilities. One major deficit of dynamic capabilities is that it requires adjusting the firm’s dynamic resources when responding to change, requiring some investment and time. Thus, dynamic capabilities then have a problem in instantaneously responding to a highly dynamic market. With the requirement to adjust organizational resources, absorptive capacity, as a part of dynamic capabilities, cannot have direct impact on a firm’s performance.

To show that absorptive capacity, by itself, can have a direct impact on a firm’s performance in a highly dynamic market, quantifiable variables are identified to measure the level of effort in developing absorptive capacity. The relationships between the absorptive capacity development effort and the firm’s financial performance is then explored and evaluated.

It is confirmed that absorptive capacity in a high dynamic market such as IT SMEs have direct and positive impact to the firm’s financial performance, without having to configure its resource to interact with changes.

The study discusses the paradoxical dilemma of the role of absorptive capacity under the light of dynamic capability. The finding indicates that in high dynamic market when the spontaneous respond to market change is crucial to firm's survival, absorptive capacity can direly deliver the result to leverage the firm's performance without having to reconfigure its resources as indicated in the theoretical stance of dynamic capability.

The purpose of this paper is to use an extreme case to identify and describe the nature of routines that might support processes and outcomes of data use, drawing from a framework developed by Coburn and Turner (2012a).

The author conducted a four-month case study (Stake, 1995) of an elementary school in a large urban school district that had implemented balanced score cards. The author identified a school that had strong qualities to support data use, including leadership and information systems.

Two school-level organizational routines facilitated teachers’ data use: collaborative teams and processes of inquiry. These routines stored knowledge about the types of data teachers ought to notice, and to a lesser extent, how they ought to interpret data and construct implications for practice. These routines also provided opportunities for single and double-loop learning (Argyris and Schön, 1996) and might contribute to improvements in student learning. This case provides an example of how a school negotiated external performance management pressures, and maintained their professional autonomy, focussing on internally initiated assessments.

Relatively little research has described what organizational routines support data use among practitioners. In addition to describing two routines, this case also demonstrated the need to frame these routines as organizational routines for learning. To further develop these routines, the author drew on the notion of the knowledge-creating company (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995) to explain how the school used their organizational routines to share tacit knowledge (socialization), and to convert tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge (externalization), which supported instructional innovations.

Microfoundations have received increasing attention in several management disciplines. This study aims to outline the uniqueness of microfoundations research in innovation, look at where it comes from and where it is going and provide rich opportunities for future work.

To advance research in this area, this study conducted a systematic literature review combining mixed methods and creating a mapping framework to take stock of progress in the innovation microfoundations research field.

This study shows how distinct subfields have formed around key ideas expressed in subsets of seminal articles, shedding light on the relational nature of knowledge creation – uncovering these subfields’ characteristics, evolution and future trajectories.

This study develops a framework that reflects a critical analysis of the microfoundations of innovation within dos three research levels – individual, process and interaction and structure – and highlights the research gaps and potential research questions for future research that reflect the broad spectrum of approaches in the microfoundations of innovation literature.

Changes are inevitable in risky and uncertain business environments of today’s volatile supply chains. The concept of flexibility originates from this need to mitigate the ill-effects of risks and uncertainty in supply chains. In this paper, an attempt is made to present an exhaustive review on supply chain flexibility (SCF) and its implementation to gain strategic advantages.

A citation analysis method is employed in this paper to discuss, analyse and apprehend the conceptual, empirical, analytical and simulation studies done in this field. In this paper, about 110 papers on flexibility from many reputed journals are examined to study and assimilate various aspects of flexibility.

SCF embraces a unified process-based view including the core processes such as procurement, sourcing, distribution and logistics and mitigates uncertainty or risks involved. The review helps to assimilate the key knowledge about relevant practices in SCF and helps to draw implementing strategies while offering managerial insight on the subject.

Citation and co-citation analysis is done to review the SCF literature. Efforts are made to investigate relevant papers from various journals regarding its ability to mitigate risk or aid in making strategic decision. The study, however, is limited to certain industries in the papers as per chosen approach here. The strategies described in here may further be verified by the researchers and practitioners pertaining to their study or industries focused.

It provides managerial insight for practitioners on how to use flexibility within the firm and across supply chain while considering various trade-offs.

This paper is unique as a review paper, as it encompasses various kinds of studies done on SCF from conceptual models to mathematical models. Further, it briefs with the current practices in industries/SC towards being flexible. It talks of various trade-offs in pursuit of flexibility and concludes while suggesting numerous research gaps and opening new dimensions for SCF research. It offers many managerial and academic implications.

During the past decades, numerous contributions to organizational learning have emerged. However, these theories are plagued by the same paradoxical core that prevents organizational learning from being unambiguously determined or stably located throughout the entire organization and its individuals. The purpose of this paper is to understand how researchers approach this issue.

Through a meta-lens, this conceptual study observes how researchers are taming the paradox of organizational learning, referring exclusively to the theories that deal with its inherent paradox.

The author distinguishes fundamentally different theorizing strategies. Therefore, the paper aims not to sharpen the elusive and fuzzy nature of organizational learning but to sharpen the elusive understanding that its nature is fuzzy. As a consequence, the study further emphasizes how challenging an instrumental use of the academic construct of organizational learning for practicing managers outside research laboratories is.

The paper contributes (first) to the core understanding of the inherently conflicting construct of organizational learning by (second) uncovering the dialectics of the theories concerning it – the former only becomes feasible as a result of the latter.

This paper aims to propose a model to assess managerial flexibility and its determinants.

The authors perform a literature review to identify the main dimensions of managerial flexibility. Flexibility as a firm capability to co‐align the firm and the business environment permanently is deeply related to the notion of fit. The proposed model integrates different approaches to fit. Based on an empirical, transnational study, the research proposes a model for managerial flexibility.

Three types of flexibility are measured: managerial flexibility, financial flexibility and metaflexibility. Financial flexibility and metaflexibility determine the degree of managerial flexibility, which in turn has positive implications for performance.

The variables included in the model are not exhaustive. The concept of fit implies a static perspective of flexibility.

The results are useful both for researchers and for practitioners. Researchers can benefit from a review of managerial flexibility and a methodology that combines different approaches to fit: matching, covariation and profile deviation. Practitioners can learn that managerial flexibility, articulated in some managerial practices, has positive effects on performance when they are in line with the requirements of the environment. In order to activate these practices, firms should maintain a commitment to learning capabilities and financial resources.

Three contributions are important for research. First, the paper proposes a model for explaining the nature of managerial flexibility. Second, it shows that flexibility and fit are interrelated concepts and that fit improves the measurability of flexibility. Third, managerial flexibility has positive implications for firm performance.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between Six Sigma methodology and organisational ambidexterity (exploitation and exploration orientations). For this purpose, this study describes how Six Sigma practices may enhance both orientations simultaneously, contributing to organisational ambidexterity and performance improvements.

A systematic literature review was adopted as the research methodology. The authors analysed 512 publications in Social Science Citation Index journals in fields such as management, business, operation research management science, planning development, behavioural sciences, interdisciplinary social sciences and applied psychology from 1987 to 2016, as the first development and adoption of Six Sigma was in 1987 by Motorola.

This analysis describes how Six Sigma emphasises not only useful practices for exploitation orientation, such as customer input, design for manufacturability or improvement and control of processes, but also explorative practices, such as discovery, novelty or innovation. Consequently, an adequate combination of all these practices may enhance organisational ambidexterity and organisational success.

This study relies exclusively on previously published literature that fulfilled the selection criteria described in the search methodology. Further empirical research is necessary to test the propositions included in this paper.

This study has important implications for academics, practitioners and employers, as it furnishes new theoretical insights to the scarce literature that studies the relationship between quality management practices and organisational ambidexterity. The authors provide a better understanding of Six Sigma philosophy and some fresh and new insight on how Six Sigma practices may help organisation develop distinctive competitive competences by its influence over exploration and exploitation orientations (ambidexterity). Therefore, it might be of interest to those practitioners interested in achieving a successful competitive position and discover emerging business opportunities, as it may provide some guidance on the important implication of Six Sigma practices over exploration and exploitation orientations.

This study provides new insights into the non-existent literature about Six Sigma and organisational ambidexterity and to the scarce literature about quality management and ambidexterity. Propositions on how Six Sigma practices benefit organisational ambidexterity are also suggested.