Higher education institutions (from now on HEI) are facing a tremendous and complex environment nowadays, due to the changes that this sector has experimented in the last years. Strategy in HEI is dynamic and there are several variables to consider when developing a strategy that can achieve sustained competitive advantage in HEI: academic quality, professors, relationship with industry, enrollment of students, research and development, satisfaction of students, position among competitors, new technologies in education, facilities, good services, the best educative technology, finances, among others. Decision-makers will have to make strategic decisions surrounded by risk and uncertainty, and their experience, skills and the way they manage risk will be key in the correct decision-making process. During the execution of their strategies, they also will have to struggle with the assignation of their limited time and resources between exploitative activities, those focused on the day to day operation, and the explorative activities, those focused on finding new opportunities and goals that could provide competitive advantages in the long term, which in turn could differentiate their institutions. This dissertation follows a qualitative phenomenological exploratory approach to study how sample directors behave regarding risk and uncertainty in decision-making and regarding ambidexterity, and how risk in decision-making and ambidexterity affect the performance in their organizations. The findings suggest specific behaviors of the directors regarding risk in DM and ambidexterity, and that those behaviors are related to the strategy, the performance of their organizations and the deployment of dynamic capabilities. Finally, this dissertation suggests directions for future research and implications for management practice.
