Ambidexterity and co-evolution in operations: Integrating theory and practice

• Autor(a) principal: Paiva, Ely Laureano
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por; eng
• Título da fonte: Revista de Administração de Empresas
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.fgv.br/rae/article/view/78676

What factors influence changes related to operations in companies? Usually, the operations management area prioritizes a technical view of its issues, often with limited theoretical support, consequently distancing itself from other areas of business administration. How could the co-evolution theory help this understanding by making contributions to research and practice of operations management? In this context, the development of a new product or business process leads to significant changes in the way a company configures its operations. The growth of e-commerce in recent decades illustrates how a change takes place not just in the company’s strategy, but also in the operations along the entire supply chain. However, what would drive change? Several answers have been proposed. Initially, one thinks of internal resources as the main drivers of such changes. Even with criticism, the resource-based view (RBV) has assumed a predominant role in operations research (Bromiley & Rau, 2016). According to RBV, internal resources, including the business leader, are essential to strategies of and changes in the company’s operations (Hitt, Xu, & Carnes, 2016). However, external causalities, such as the influence of the industrial sector, are also important. Considering this approach, it is valid to consider Michael Porter’s influence in the way the strategy of companies has been thought for decades (Hayes & Pisano, 1996).