Many firms, especially the more successful ones, run the risk of relying too much on current strengths and neglecting innovation in the strategic development of their capabilities base. The literature refers to this as organizational path dependency, the icarus paradox, and the success breeds failure phenomenon, amongst others. From a strategic change perspective, the challenging question is - how can firms exploit their existing capabilities and at the same time be innovative? A central concept is organizational ambidexterity, which states that even though the processes of exploiting existing capabilities and exploring new ones are dualistic by nature, they must be considered simultaneously to secure the long-term success of a business. At the ISM, we are particularly interested in how companies can design not only incremental but also fundamental change and how they can effectively balance both approaches.

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