The influence of manufacturing flexibility on the interplay between exploration and exploitation: The effects of organizational learning and the environment

Javier Tamayo-Torres (1) , Antonia Ruiz Moreno (1) , Francisco Javier Llorens Montes (1)

1 Business Management

This paper analyzes whether the firm can combine exploration and exploitation and seeks to determine whether implementing manufacturing flexibility will facilitate the development of either of these two terms or both simultaneously. This relationship was measured in 231 Spanish production firms. The results obtained show that: (1) firms develop exploration of new knowledge at the same time as they exploit their abilities; (2) manufacturing flexibility encourages the development of both exploration and exploitation; (3) this relationship is even more significant if we take into account dynamism of the environment and organizational learning.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Javier Tamayo-Torres, Antonia Ruiz Moreno, Francisco Javier Llorens Montes. The influence of manufacturing flexibility on the interplay between exploration and exploitation: The effects of organizational learning and the environment. International Journal of Production Research, 2011, pp.1. ⟨10.1080/00207543.2010.518989⟩. ⟨hal-00661559⟩