Patterns of structural and sequential ambidexterity in cross-border media management

Figures & data

Table 1. Patterns of ambidextrous strategising and organising.

Dimension	Element/Practice	Exploitation	Exploration	Exemplary references
Organising	Resource management	resource exploitation; focus on internal property-based resources	resource building; focus on knowledge-based external resources	Hsu et al., 2013
Organising	Knowledge management and operational structure	knowledge/capability transfer across teams, units, subsidiaries and/or partners	knowledge building in teams and business units; technological and organisational innovation on an inter-organisational level or capability acquisition	Bandeira-de-Mello et al., 2016 Kauppila, 2010 Keen & Wu, 2011
Organising	Organisational learning	adaptive production-oriented and backward-looking experiential learning	product-innovation learning and forward-looking cognitive models	Auh & Menguc, 2005 Benner & Tushman, 2003
Organising	Type of organisational integration	horizontal integration and organisational consolidation	differentiation through vertical and diagonal integration and organisational networks	Gupta et al., 2006 Yamakawa et al., 2011
Organising	Organisational structure	hierarchy	strategic alliance and cooperative structures	Li, 2010
Strategising and Organising	Growth orientation	strategic focus on profit and economies of scale	strategic focus on (explorative) growth	Auh & Menguc, 2005 Han, 2007
Strategising	Degree of diversification	portfolio, segment and geographical focusing	portfolio, segment and geographical diversification	Lavie et al., 2010 Raisch & Birkinshaw, 2008
Strategising	Strategic focus	efficiency	flexibility and effectiveness	Adler et al., 1999 Auh & Menguc, 2005
Strategising	Strategic timeframe	focus on the present, short-term value and profit	focus on the future, long-term success by adapting to long-term changes	Benner & Tushman, 2003 Birkinshaw & Gibson, 2004
Strategising	Market orientation	responsive market orientation reacting to existing demand	proactive market orientation creating demand	Herhausen, 2016

Table 2. Conceptualising ambidexterity.

Classifying and specifying forms of ambidexterity …
… by their temporal quality	simultaneous pursuit of exploitation and exploration		temporal separation of exploitation and exploration (successive logic)
	contextual ambidexterity	structural ambidexterity	sequential ambidexterity
… by the level of analysis	media worker	media corporation	media market
	intra-organisational		inter-organisational
	on the level of the individual and the team	on the level of sub-units and organisational divisions	on the level of (formally independent) subsidiaries	on the level of (loose) partnerships, networks and alliances
… by the dimension of organisational practices	organising: referring to organisational learning, resource distribution, and organisational structure		strategising: referring to corporate strategies
	Organisational ambidexterity	Cross-dimensional ambidexterity	Strategic ambidexterity

Table 3. Company sample.

No.	Country	Company	Media type
1	AT	ORF-Enterprise	audio-visual content
2	AT	Mediaprint	publishing
3	AT	Austria Presse Agentur	news agency
4	CH	Highlight Communications	film/sports licensing
5	CH	Tamedia	publishing
6	CH	Diogenes	publishing
7	DE	Axel Springer	publishing
8	DE	Vogel Business Media	publishing
9	DE	ZDF Enterprises	audio-visual content
10	DE	Deutsche Presse Agentur	news agency
11	DE	Studio Hamburg	audio-visual content
12	DE	Bertelsmann	multi-media
13	DE	Motor Presse	publishing
14	DE	Hubert Burda Media	publishing
15	EU	European Broadcasting Union	broadcasting
16	BE	De Persgroep	publishing
17	NL	Reed Elsevier	information brokerage
18	UK	ITV Studios	audio-visual content
19	USA	Thomson Reuters	information brokerage
20	USA	Story House	audio-visual content
21	USA	Time Warner	audio-visual content
22	USA	Tribune Content Agency	news agency
23	USA	Time Inc. International	publishing
24	USA	Discovery Networks International	audio-visual content

Figure 1. Broadening the scope for exploitative and explorative action.

Table 4. Patterns of organising and strategising resulting in ambidextrous action.

	Global view » Publishers	Global view » Audio-visual companies	Local Focus » Non-dominant-language countries
patterns of organising	withdrawing from decentralised structures expanding cross-border activities by means of centralised, digital businesses or harnessing decentralised partnership networks headquarter directs knowledge transfer	exploiting centralised assets (e.g. distributing United States content locally) horizontal integration for (1) exploiting assets; (2) generating assets that might be centrally exploited (formats) vertical integration (into rights trade and distribution)	exploiting knowledge-based resources (e.g. self-concept as a niche provider) knowledge building and investment in digital/IT withdrawing from local units or replicating the business abroad
patterns of strategising	re-focusing on the core of value creation, i.e. (1) digital/immaterial content; (2) brand segment focusing: special-interest content facilitates scaling geographical diversification with scalable products	focus on audio-visual business diversifying into (audio-visual) distribution (over-the-top (OTT), streaming, apps) balancing efficiency and flexibility in format trade and development	focus on existing business restricted geographical diversification: focus on a limited number of markets emphasis on efficiency; hope to build some scalable business: reactive approach
Corresponding pattern of ambidexterity	structural ambidexterity with a focus on exploitative strategising: pruning and coring to provide a basis for further exploitation of existing resources by particular exploration activities explorative organising takes place as structural ambidexterity and aims at sequential ambidexterity: explorative investments in digital businesses to generate a basis for a scalable business	structural ambidexterity in both organising and strategising: format trade sequential ambidexterity via ambidextrous organising: investing in decentralised structures that provide centrally exploitable assets explorative organising induces structural ambidexterity and aims at sequential ambidexterity: explorative investment in digital distribution to generate a basis for a scalable business	focusing on efficiency and exploitation: cross-border activity is in itself explorative and therefore expensive – tendency to foster existing infrastructure/resources aiming at sequential ambidexterity: cautious explorative investment in digital businesses to generate a basis for a scalable business

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