When the parent imitates the child: Strategic renewal through the separation and subsequent re-integration of a business unit.

This is a Centre for Technology Innovation and Engagement (C-TIE) Seminar taking place at Leeds University Business School on Tuesday 6 March 2018

Dr Martin Friesl, Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management at Lancaster University Management School and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Management Reviews (IJMR), leads this Strategy & Organisation Group and Centre for Technology Innovation and Engagement (C-TIE) seminar on strategic renewal at a large organisation.

Prior research provides evidence of the innovation benefits of structurally separating innovative units from the existing organisation. Such benefits are largely conceptualised on the level of the spun out subsidiary. In contrast, this research shows how the separation and subsequent reintegration of a subsidiary becomes a source of renewal for the parent company. 

Martin Friesl's research team has developed a process model that shows how structural ambidexterity can become a source of ’proximate isomorphic pressure’ that breaks the path dependence of the focal firm and results in the parent’s gradual convergence with the subsidiary. This creates the conditions for reintegration, and ultimately, strategic renewal. Their publication on the subject draws on the longitudinal analysis of strategic renewal of Immochan between 2006 and 2014. The research team contribute by applying a process perspective to structural ambidexterity and strategic renewal, identifying the important role of proximate isomorphic pressure in breaking path dependence, and challenging prevailing assumptions about the role of structural ambidexterity.

Keywords: ambidexterity, strategic renewal, process study, corporate parent, isomorphism

Pre-registration not required

For further information, please contact Josh Morton at J.Morton1@leeds.ac.uk

About the speaker

Martin Friesl is Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management at Lancaster University Management School and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Management Reviews. Martin’s research focuses on strategic transformation, strategy implementation and the development, change and replication of organisational capabilities in a variety of contexts such as Biotechnology, IT offshoring, Retailing, Franchising, Commercial Property Development, the Armed Forces and Financial Services. His work has received awards for its implications for practice and is published in leading peer-reviewed journals such as Organization Studies, Strategic Organization, British Journal of Management, Long Range Planning, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, European Management Review and International Journal of Management Reviews.