From Balance to Switching: How Sequential Ambidexterity Shapes SME Recovery in Crisis

This study investigates the strategic responses associated with small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) recovery under crisis conditions. Rather than assuming that maintaining ambidexterity is universally beneficial, it questions whether the balance between exploration and exploitation remains effective when firms face severe resource constraints and heightened uncertainty. Using panel data on Korean SMEs from 2019 to 2023, this study compares the performance implications of ambidexterity balance and strategic switching, identifies which firms are more likely to undertake strategic switching, and examines how post-switch recovery patterns unfold over time. The findings indicate that the performance implications of ambidexterity balance weaken during the crisis period and, in some cases, become negative, whereas strategic switching is associated with more favorable recovery patterns during the crisis period. In addition, the benefits of strategic switching do not emerge immediately but instead become gradually visible over two to three years following the initial switch, highlighting the importance of post-switch adaptation time.