MADISON, Wis.–The Filene Research Institute has released a new report that describes how credit unions can find success by manifesting “organizational ambidexterity”—a balance of both exploit and explore type activities.
The Structures for Innovation report, which includes examples and case studies, finds many organizations are either experts at “exploiting” the systems and processes they are good at or they tend to being great “explorers” for the next innovation. Few businesses find the perfect balance of organizational ambidexterity, according to Filene.
“To ensure their long-term survival, organizations need to simultaneously exploit, through incremental innovation, and explore, by seeking disruptive innovation,” writes Filene Fellow Dennis Campbell, Professor at Harvard Business School and co-author of the report.
How does a credit union go about achieving organizational ambidexterity?
“The report outlines different organizational structures credit unions can use to ‘exploit’ the products and services they are most efficient at and embrace ‘explore’ opportunities that offer the ability to compete in new or changing markets where experimentation, autonomy, and disruptive innovation are key to survival,” said Andrew Downin, managing director of research for Filene.
Filene said that Professor Campbell will further explore this question at a Filene colloquium titled Structured for Innovation taking place June 15, 2017 at Harvard University. This daylong event is focused on cooperative strategies for sustained competitive advantage and business model innovation, according to Filene.
To register, go here.
This research is sponsored by PSCU. It is the second output from Filene’s Center of Excellence for Organizational Entrepreneurship, which explores cooperative strategies for sustained competitive advantage and business model evolution.