The paradox of ambidexterity: marketing and service-sales in the spotlight

While firms increasingly strive for ambidexterity in their marketing, service, and sales, most research considers the notions of firm marketing ambidexterity and strategic service-sales ambidexterity in isolation. There is also limited research that connects firm marketing ambidexterity and strategic service-sales ambidexterity at the corporate level. Accordingly, we adopt a top-management perspective to gain a deeper understanding of ambidexterity capabilities, contingencies, and outcomes. Through the lens of Organizational Learning Theory, we identify firm marketing ambidexterity as a critical driver of strategic service-sales ambidexterity. We also advance two contingency factors—customer demandingness and marketing function status—that govern this relationship. Using survey data from 190 upper managers and executives, the results indicate that firms should strive for excellence (high levels) in marketing exploitation and exploration to achieve strategic service-sales ambidexterity, suggesting that achieving ambidexterity is not as straightforward as theory suggests. Instead, it depends on the level of customer demandingness and the status of the marketing function in a firm. Furthermore, the results indicate that strategic service-sales ambidexterity enhances firm performance. These findings offer implications for practitioners and scholars.