Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Ambidexterity as a dynamic capability in the globalization of the multinational business enterprise (MBE) : Case studies of AB Volvo and IKEA

Vahlne, Jan-Erik and Jonsson, Anna LU (2016) In International Business Review 26(1). p.57-70
Abstract
Most current research argues that globalization of companies is a myth. In spite of this Swedish firms have managed to globalize successfully according to a study by Vahlne and Ivarsson (2014). On a general level this is because they managed to build strong advantages and learned to overcome barriers constituted by cultural, institutional and geographic distance. We elaborate on the expectation that organizational ambidexterity has explanatory power for profitable globalization. We perform case studies of IKEA and AB Volvo to motivate our expectation and illustrate how these firms have been able, or not able, to balance and manage the simultaneous processes of exploration and exploitation. Ambidexterity is included in the package of... (More)
Most current research argues that globalization of companies is a myth. In spite of this Swedish firms have managed to globalize successfully according to a study by Vahlne and Ivarsson (2014). On a general level this is because they managed to build strong advantages and learned to overcome barriers constituted by cultural, institutional and geographic distance. We elaborate on the expectation that organizational ambidexterity has explanatory power for profitable globalization. We perform case studies of IKEA and AB Volvo to motivate our expectation and illustrate how these firms have been able, or not able, to balance and manage the simultaneous processes of exploration and exploitation. Ambidexterity is included in the package of dynamic capabilities affecting the globalization process positively. We find that being proactive in exploration and improving on the effectiveness in exploitation may lead to successful globalization performance. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Ambidexterity, Dynamic capabilities, Globalization, Uppsala model, IKEA, AB Volvo
in
International Business Review
volume
26
issue
1
pages
57 - 70
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:84971614199
  • wos:000390719400005
ISSN
1873-6149
DOI
10.1016/j.ibusrev.2016.05.006
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
874b24e2-8892-40ca-b5ba-a1ab9634e711
date added to LUP
2016-09-02 16:51:53
date last changed
2022-04-24 17:22:06
@article{874b24e2-8892-40ca-b5ba-a1ab9634e711,
  abstract     = {{Most current research argues that globalization of companies is a myth. In spite of this Swedish firms have managed to globalize successfully according to a study by Vahlne and Ivarsson (2014). On a general level this is because they managed to build strong advantages and learned to overcome barriers constituted by cultural, institutional and geographic distance. We elaborate on the expectation that organizational ambidexterity has explanatory power for profitable globalization. We perform case studies of IKEA and AB Volvo to motivate our expectation and illustrate how these firms have been able, or not able, to balance and manage the simultaneous processes of exploration and exploitation. Ambidexterity is included in the package of dynamic capabilities affecting the globalization process positively. We find that being proactive in exploration and improving on the effectiveness in exploitation may lead to successful globalization performance.}},
  author       = {{Vahlne, Jan-Erik and Jonsson, Anna}},
  issn         = {{1873-6149}},
  keywords     = {{Ambidexterity; Dynamic capabilities; Globalization; Uppsala model; IKEA; AB Volvo}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{57--70}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{International Business Review}},
  title        = {{Ambidexterity as a dynamic capability in the globalization of the multinational business enterprise (MBE) : Case studies of AB Volvo and IKEA}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2016.05.006}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.ibusrev.2016.05.006}},
  volume       = {{26}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}