Organizational ambidexterity, intangible assets and economic results in new technology-based firms

Abstract

This paper analyses organizational ambidexterity and its effects on obtaining intangible assets and the results obtained by the economic evolution reached in new technology-based firms (NTBFs), with high degree of complexity and rapid generation of knowledge in a dynamic though uncertain environment. Exploration involves both innovation as generation of new ideas, and exploitation refers use of available resources and involves technological improvement. Although these two processes are essential in the entrepreneurial process, it is also true that they compete for scarce resources. Maintaining a balance between exploitation and exploration is a basic condition for survival and competitive success. Therefore, organizational ambidexterity describes the alignment of the processes of exploration and exploitation, of the exchange between environmental stimuli and the knowledge that exists in the organization and the activities carried out by its members. The study was conducted on 102 NTBFs located in business incubators and technology parks in Colombia. The assessment of intangible assets consists of discerning whether the development of innovation capability processes is a source of economic result obtainment. The intangibles assets submitted to study are related to customer satisfaction, increase in number of customers, satisfaction of the employees, increase in the level of quality of products and services, continuous improvement of products and services, and external recognition of the firm. The instrument contains 19 items related to the three constructs measured using a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5. The three Likert scales were subjected to an Exploratory and Confirmatory Factorial Analysis, finding a one-dimensional structure for the three variables. In addition, the three constructs showed adequate levels of reliability. The proposed model indicated a good fit. The results deriving from Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) enable us to corroborate that proper management of the processes associated with innovation capability —in this case the organizational ambidexterity— favours directly the attainment of intangible assets (explaining 58% of their variability) and thus influencing the results of the economic evolution (explaining 20% of the variance).