000			02650cam a2200265 4500500
005			20250121093033.0
041			_afre
042			_adc
100	1	0	_aSekhar Chanda, Sasanka _eauthor
700	1	0	_a Ray, Sougata _eauthor
700	1	0	_a Mckelvey, Bill _eauthor
245	0	0	_aThe Continuum Conception of Exploration and Exploitation: An Update to March’s Theory
260			_c2019.
500			_a35
520			_aIn his seminal 1991 publication, March illustrates the continuum conception of exploration and exploitation by an organizational learning metaphor. Exploration involves allocating resources to experimentation. Exploitation involves doing known things better and focusing on execution. In March’s formal model, members of an organization deploy their collective human capital and engage in learning activities to fashion organizational knowledge. Collective human capital (CHC) is constituted by the aggregate beliefs of members, some of which are correctly aligned with respect to an objective external reality while others are neutral or misaligned. Organizational knowledge—constituting the validated knowledge in an organization—resides in the databases, rules, forms, norms, operating procedures and other artifacts in an organization. March’s computational experiments pertaining to the continuum conception suggest that more exploration is always preferable over more exploitation. We demonstrate that the reverse holds true when the CHC available in an organization is somewhat lower than that assumed in March’s experiments. Our research indicates that a section of extant research is mistaken in assuming that March’s formal model for the continuum conception suggests an inverted U-shaped relation between the extent of exploration and organizational outcome. Instead, the level of CHC determines whether it is rewarding to focus on exploration or exploitation. Thus, the formal model supports managerial intentionality towards exploratory and exploitative innovation through appropriate choice of the level of CHC. We call for a new “balance” discussion, focusing on the determinants of the minimum level of the non-preferred activity from among exploration and exploitation.
690			_aorganizationallearning
690			_abottom of the pyramid
690			_aorganizational knowledge
690			_aexploration
690			_acomputational simulation
690			_aexploitation
690			_ahuman capital
786	0		_nM@n@gement | 21 | 3 | 2019-02-27 | p. 1032-1079 | 1286-4692
856	4	1	_uhttps://shs.cairn.info/journal-management-2018-3-page-1032?lang=en&redirect-ssocas=7080
999			_c515332 _d515332