The association between ambidexterity, strategic orientation and business performance in the financial services (banking) sector

Abstract

Globalisation has increased competition; hence organisations are required to look within, at their capabilities to create a competitive advantage. The purpose of the study is to firstly investigate the association between ambidexterity and firm performance in the banking sector, and secondly, to investigate the association between ambidextrous capabilities in this sector and their strategic orientation in respect of Miles and Snow’s (1978) typology. This research will take on the form of a quantitative study, which will proceed in the form of a sample survey questionnaire. The target population refers to the banking organisations that make up the financial services sector in South Africa. Results of the study confirmed that the greater the ambidextrous capability (structural and contextual combined) present in the banking sector, the greater the performance. Further, the greater the structural ambidexterity is in this sector, the greater the performance. However the latter showed a weak correlation. It was concluded that innovation is greater in prospectors than defenders. It was further shown that the prospector-combined ambidexterity combination yields the greatest performance when compared to any other combination of strategy and capability. Copyright