Research into Ambidextrous R&D in Product Development New Product Development at a Precision Device Maker

Through research into new product development processes at a precision device maker, this paper discusses the skilful management of knowledge boundaries that lie between various organizations, and between specialized human skills and functions that make up a project organization, and presents the ways in which new organizational capabilities are brought about for the development of new products, as exploratory activities that dynamically merge and integrated the various knowledge within a company. This paper describes some of the implications derived from analysis and observations of the new organizational forms of the company's ambidextrous R&D management which the company uses to engage in both 'uncertainty management (exploration)' and 'existing product management (exploitation),' through the partnering of its existing formal organizations and dynamic structuring of diverse multifunctional teams formed as projects spanning different specializations and capabilities.