What drives SME explorative-exploitative alliance formation: an integrated perspective

Domain separation approach toward ambidexterity has received increased research attention in recent years. While SMEs can especially use the approach for obtaining competitive benefits, what drives them to form alliances across the different domains of the approach is not yet clear. The aim of this paper is to determine the drivers of SME exploration-exploitation alliance domains. The study combines the parallel perspectives on motives-antecedents of SME alliances and the domains of exploration-exploitation to provide an integrated theoretical model. Specifically, the paper aims to determine the likely conditions which cause SMEs to opt for exploration or exploitation in each of the domains. Findings indicate that a combination of motives and antecedents at all three levels - firm-level, partner-level, and environmental-level, affect the three domains of SME exploration-exploitation alliances, namely functional, structural and attribute.