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Manage your innovation

Petersson, Rebecca LU and Stiernspetz, Ivar LU (2021) BUSN79 20211
Department of Business Administration
Abstract (Swedish)
Course BUSN79 Degree Project
Authors Rebecca Petersson & Ivar Stiernspetz
Advisor Anna Glenngård
Examiner Anders Anell

Five key words Management control, Simons’ Levers of Control, Ambidexterity, Explorative innovation, Exploitative innovation.

Purpose: The study aspires to explore if and how exploitative and explorative units within the same firm require different adaptation of Management Control Systems (MCS). The study further aims to discover how Swedish manufacturing firms apply their MCS in order to steer the innovation processes in line with organisational objectives.

Methodology The paper is based upon a single case study with a qualitative approach. Primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews and a... (More)
Course BUSN79 Degree Project
Authors Rebecca Petersson & Ivar Stiernspetz
Advisor Anna Glenngård
Examiner Anders Anell

Five key words Management control, Simons’ Levers of Control, Ambidexterity, Explorative innovation, Exploitative innovation.

Purpose: The study aspires to explore if and how exploitative and explorative units within the same firm require different adaptation of Management Control Systems (MCS). The study further aims to discover how Swedish manufacturing firms apply their MCS in order to steer the innovation processes in line with organisational objectives.

Methodology The paper is based upon a single case study with a qualitative approach. Primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire previously validated by Bedford (2015).

Theoretical perspectives: The theoretical framework is developed from existing theory within innovation and management control. More specifically, a view on innovation as exploitation, exploration (March, 1991) and ambidexterity (O’Reilly & Tushman, 2013), and Simons’ (1994) Levers of Control (LOC) together with Adler and Borys’ (1996) enabling and coercive controls.

Empirical foundation: The data was collected from four semi-structured interviews complemented by a questionnaire and secondary data from an annual report.

Conclusion: The findings of the study show that Swedish ambidextrous manufacturing firms more coercively steer exploitative activities with diagnostic controls and boundaries systems while applying more enabling control mechanisms in an explorative environment through interactive controls influenced by a beliefs system. This study further demonstrates that ambidextrous firms may balance their ambidexterity by separating units that specialise in the different types of innovation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Petersson, Rebecca LU and Stiernspetz, Ivar LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
A qualitative study exploring how Swedish manufacturing firms control organisational ambidexterity
course
BUSN79 20211
year
type
H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
subject
keywords
Management control, Simons’ Levers of Control, Ambidexterity, Explorative innovation, Exploitative innovation
language
English
id
9062584
date added to LUP
2021-09-08 16:31:18
date last changed
2021-09-08 16:31:18
@misc{9062584,
  abstract     = {{Course	BUSN79 Degree Project
Authors Rebecca Petersson & Ivar Stiernspetz
Advisor	Anna Glenngård 
Examiner Anders Anell

Five key words 	Management control, Simons’ Levers of Control, Ambidexterity, Explorative innovation, Exploitative innovation.

Purpose: The study aspires to explore if and how exploitative and explorative units within the same firm require different adaptation of Management Control Systems (MCS). The study further aims to discover how Swedish manufacturing firms apply their MCS in order to steer the innovation processes in line with organisational objectives.

Methodology 	The paper is based upon a single case study with a qualitative approach. Primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire previously validated by Bedford (2015).

Theoretical perspectives: The theoretical framework is developed from existing theory within innovation and management control. More specifically, a view on innovation as exploitation, exploration (March, 1991) and ambidexterity (O’Reilly & Tushman, 2013), and Simons’ (1994) Levers of Control (LOC) together with Adler and Borys’ (1996) enabling and coercive controls. 

Empirical foundation: The data was collected from four semi-structured interviews complemented by a questionnaire and secondary data from an annual report.

Conclusion: The findings of the study show that Swedish ambidextrous manufacturing firms more coercively steer exploitative activities with diagnostic controls and boundaries systems while applying more enabling control mechanisms in an explorative environment through interactive controls influenced by a beliefs system. This study further demonstrates that ambidextrous firms may balance their ambidexterity by separating units that specialise in the different types of innovation.}},
  author       = {{Petersson, Rebecca and Stiernspetz, Ivar}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Manage your innovation}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}