A Case Study of How Organisational Members do Affect the Balancing of Exploitation and Exploration

Combing operations between the main parties in integration of new products, efficiently, are inpractice for most organisations a challenging task demanding strong organisational capabilities, andin accordance to literature, achieving a successfully combination would be possible through anorganisation's ability to establish dual capabilities in terms of exploitation and exploration (March,1991). Few studies, however, suggest a classification of which organisational conditions wouldsupport a balance allowing exploitation and exploration operating side by side. Based on a single indeptcase study using semi-structured interviews and observation techniques this paper exploresexploitation and exploration in a Danish industrial manufacture. Findings suggest that conditionsaffecting the balance between exploitation and exploration activities would depend on how anorganisational member involves his personal social values. The results provide a more exhaustiveunderstanding of the criteria that influences the balance mechanism between exploitation andexploration capabilities, thus adding to an extension in the understanding of the concept ofexploitation and exploration.