TY - JOUR
T1 - Interfirm cooperatives enabling organizational ambidexterity, a case study of the printing industry in Colombia
AU - Camargo Benavides, Andres Felipe
AU - Ehrenhard, Michel
AU - De Visser, Matthias
AU - de Weerd-Nederhof, Petra C.
N1 - Funding Information:
Currently, the global printing industry is suffering a structural crisis caused by new trends in digital marketing, digitalization of products, and technological changes. In addition, globally, there is a high fragmentation of the market with low barriers to entry, further increasing the number of companies competing in the market (PTP, 2012 ). According to the Productivity Transformation Program (PTP), led by the Colombian Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism (with financial support from World Bank), the Colombian printing industry consists of 97.2% small companies, 2.1% medium companies, and 0.7% large companies. Furthermore, 65% of companies are located in the capital Bogotá, 14% in the central western region, 10% are located in the western part, and 3% of companies are located in the eastern part of the country (PTP, 2012 , pp. 23–24). 1
Funding Information:
We thank Professor Dr. Dietmar Roessl, head of the Institute for Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship and head of the Research Institute for Co-operation and Co-operatives, and Dr. Barbara Kump, at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, for their fruitful comments.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Thunderbird International Business Review published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2022/9/1
Y1 - 2022/9/1
N2 - Research into organizational ambidexterity at the interorganizational level is limited, but it is even more scarce when considering emerging markets and alternative organizational forms such as the cooperative enterprise. We will attempt to fill these research gaps by offering in-depth case studies of three interfirm cooperatives within the printing industry in Colombia. We analyze how interfirm cooperatives enable organizational ambidexterity in its small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and explore which factors are hindering ambidexterity. Our findings indicate that lower socioemotional wealth in SMEs undermines the need to invest in exploration. Additionally, cooperation within an interfirm cooperative appears to be entirely reliant on its component SMEs agreeing on the right balance of social and economic values. We conclude that, although the interfirm cooperative may play an important role in facilitating ambidexterity in emerging markets, transitioning from a primarily transactional role to a higher role as intermediator of ambidexterity poses significant challenges.
AB - Research into organizational ambidexterity at the interorganizational level is limited, but it is even more scarce when considering emerging markets and alternative organizational forms such as the cooperative enterprise. We will attempt to fill these research gaps by offering in-depth case studies of three interfirm cooperatives within the printing industry in Colombia. We analyze how interfirm cooperatives enable organizational ambidexterity in its small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and explore which factors are hindering ambidexterity. Our findings indicate that lower socioemotional wealth in SMEs undermines the need to invest in exploration. Additionally, cooperation within an interfirm cooperative appears to be entirely reliant on its component SMEs agreeing on the right balance of social and economic values. We conclude that, although the interfirm cooperative may play an important role in facilitating ambidexterity in emerging markets, transitioning from a primarily transactional role to a higher role as intermediator of ambidexterity poses significant challenges.
KW - cooperative Enterprise
KW - emerging markets
KW - Interfirm cooperative
KW - Latin America
KW - organizational ambidexterity
KW - SME
KW - UT-Hybrid-D
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130969235&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/tie.22283
DO - 10.1002/tie.22283
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85130969235
VL - 64
SP - 477
EP - 491
JO - Thunderbird International Business Review
JF - Thunderbird International Business Review
SN - 1096-4762
IS - 5
ER -