Abstract Research identifies different modes of ambidexterity (sequential, contextual and structural ambidexterity) that, however, are implicitly seen as mutually exclusive. Accordingly, the copresence of structural and contextual ambidexterity modes—here called “blended ambidexterity”—has been given little attention, although it may be characteristic of (some) companies and may be a deliberate choice. To establish that blended ambidexterity is an empirically meaningful phenomenon and to gain insight into its causes, organizational context and consequences, we undertook a detailed study of two business units in William Demant Holding, a leading company in the medical devices industry. Our findings suggest that blended ambidexterity 1) is a meaningful empirical phenomenon; which 2) can manifest in different ways (i.e., characteristic elements of contextual and structural ambidexterity may be configured in different ways); 3) is supported by formal and informal organization; 4) is associated with different innovation outcomes, depending on how it is configured; 5) may have distinct advantages in terms of overcoming limitations of each mode; but 6) also gives rise to distinct management challenges.

中文翻译：

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混合的两手性：William Demant 控股公司的两手性模式的共存

摘要 研究确定了不同的二元性模式（顺序、上下文和结构二元性），然而，这些模式被隐含地视为相互排斥的。相应地，结构性和上下文性二元性模式的共存——这里称为“混合二元性”——很少受到关注，尽管它可能是（某些）公司的特征，并且可能是一种深思熟虑的选择。为确定这种混合的两手性是一种具有经验意义的现象，并深入了解其原因、组织背景和后果，我们对医疗器械行业的领先公司 William Demant Holding 的两个业务部门进行了详细研究。我们的研究结果表明，混合二元性 1) 是一种有意义的经验现象；2）可以以不同的方式表现出来（即，上下文和结构二元性的特征元素可以以不同的方式配置）；3) 得到正式和非正式组织的支持；4) 与不同的创新成果相关，取决于它的配置方式；5）在克服每种模式的局限性方面可能具有明显的优势；但 6) 也带来了不同的管理挑战。