Concept for ambidextrous management of incremental and radical innovation in manufacturing

Abstract

Innovation managers constantly seek to improve manufacturing systems using continuous improvement as a core process. On the other hand, significant technological advances promise to improve manufacturing systems’ performance radically. Therefore, manufacturing units must be able to deal with complex and volatile environments and at the same time act explorative and exploitative to produce both incremental and radical innovations. The organizational ability to achieve this balanced target state is called ambidexterity. The challenge of continuously increasing efficiency while at the same time developing and integrating radical innovation into the manufacturing system has grown enormously in recent years. Consequently, a severe challenge is imposed on the innovation management of the manufacturing unit. This implies ambidexterity management in manufacturing, encouraging organizational research to identify relevant design dimensions and describe concrete managerial implementation measures in a manufacturing context.Therefore, this paper presents an approach to enable ambidextrous innovation management in manufacturing, fostering radical innovation. Relevant organizational dimensions and their interconnections are identified using scientific literature and expert interviews. In addition, examples of concrete managerial implications for implementing ambidexterity in manufacturing are presented.