Role of Designers in Portfolio Management of Ambidextrous Organizations

Role of Designers in Portfolio Management of Ambidextrous Organizations

Ghanimifard, M.

Gemser, G. (mentor)
Hultink, E.J. (mentor)

Industrial Design Engineering

Product Innovation Management

2011-04-28

The most important objective of a successful management strategy is to ensure optimal profitability of the business. This however is a delicate task in the sense that it is not merely concerned with the current state of the business. It is well established that any successful management strategy should treat the business as a sustainable long term commitment. The challenge here is doubled when we take into account the fast moving changes in the market as well as in customers’ needs and expectations. It is therefore no surprise that there is tremendous amount of work in the literature aiming to correctly understand the dynamics of this commitment. An important part of this literature is concerned with the notion of ambidexterity. This is one approach for organizations to adopt to changing environments. However, although there has been many studies on the ambidexterity in the structural level, there is but scarce literature available on this notion in the individual level. Furthermore most of these scarce literature is naturally dedicated to individual ambidexterity in the management. “Naturally”, because the managements ‘ attitude has the highest influence on the strategies of a firm. These studies have come up with important characteristics that distinguish ambidextrous managers as well measures to provide comparison in the level of ambidexterity. We believe, however, that there are other individuals in the company for whom the same characteristics can be identified and studied. The aim of this research is to contribute to the literature by examining senior designers as individuals with high capacity to achieve ambidexterity. We will study different approaches to ambidexterity and show that they can be efficiently applied to experienced designers. We shall study how ambidexterity in designers can influence the future of a firm.

portfolio management
ambidexterity
strategic
senior industrial designers

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:66303b34-861f-414b-9ce0-a427cab0f3fb

Campus only

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2011 Ghanimifard, M.