R&D 2-5-10 Digital transformation in SMEs through low-intense organizational ambidexterity

Purpose and goal:

The purpose of the project has been to take the first step towards a better understanding of the conditions and the preliminary forms of what we call a low-intensity organizational ambidexterity (LOA) in SMEs. With LOA, we mean an organizational capability that enables a more proactive and systematic development work where the focus is primarily on an exploitative work but where the exploration over time takes place continuously but in low-intensity form.

The goal was to gather a project consortium and jointly write a step 2 proposal, which also happened. Expected results and effects:

In this project, a consortium consisting of four product-owning companies and researchers have come together. The result is an initial understanding of the conditions and preliminary forms of low-intensity organizational ambidexterity in SMEs, which formed the basis for a joint proposal to Vinnova. The effect that the proposal seeks to achieve is a developed capability for digital transformation by creating organizational routines / processes / governance models that help SMEs to manage the need for long-term development in 2, 5 and 10-years´ time, respectively.

Approach and implementation:

The project has been based on interviews and discussions with top-management in the four participating companies, literature studies of organizational ambidexterity (OA) in small and medium-sized companies, and discussions with researchers in the field. The discussions with the companies have primarily aimed to confirm basic assumptions about the conditions for OA in SMEs and to create a plan for the implementation of the project that the consortium jointly has applied for funding from Vinnova to implement.