Ambidexterity between low cost strategy and CSR strategy: contingencies of competition and regulation

Abstract

Drawing on the strategic management and organizational ambidexterity literature, this study develops an ambidexterity perspective on firms’ hybrid strategies that emphasizes both low-cost and CSR-based differentiations (i.e., hybrids of low cost and CSR strategies), and distinguishes between the balance and combined dimensions of hybrid strategies to investigate their differential influence on firm performance. By taking a contingency perspective, this study further identifies competitive intensity and government pressure as two important moderators in firms’ market and political environments. Based on an empirical examination of 171 listed firms in China using both first-hand survey data and secondary data, both dimensions of hybrid strategies are found to be positively related to firm performance. And the effects of these two dimensions are differentially moderated by competitive intensity and government pressure. These findings provide important implications for both research and the practice of strategic management and organizational ambidexterity.