Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship (벤처창업연구)

The Korean Society of Business Venturing (한국벤처창업학회)
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The Study on the Balance of Ambidextrous Strategy of Exploration and Exploitation for Startup Performance

조직의 탐색과 활용에 대한 양손잡이 전략의 균형이 스타트업 성과에 미치는 영향

  • 최성철 (국민대학교 글로벌창업벤처대학원) ;
  • 이우진 (국민대학교 글로벌창업벤처대학원)
  • Received : 2021.09.03
  • Accepted : 2021.12.24
  • Published : 2021.12.31
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Abstract

The organizational ambidexterity is an organizational strategy designed to pursue exploration activities to seize new opportunities and exploitation activities to efficiently use resources. Most of these ambidextrous structures have been studied for large corporations with slack resources, and there are still not many studies on the necessity of an ambidextrous structure for startups with relatively low-level resources. However, recently, the startup ecosystem is being advanced globally, and the amount of VC investment is rapidly increasing. This is a time when a lot of venture fund is invested in startups and a startup-friendly environment for rapid growth is created. This is the time to discuss the necessity and applicability of an ambidextrous organizational structure for startups. Therefore, this study conducted a hypothesis test whether the importance and necessity of balance that startups solving market problems with new ideas and utilizing accumulated resources have. To conduct this study, we analyzed 140 startups data gathered from the survey and the moderation effect was also analyzed. As a result of the study, it was verified that the balance of startup exploration and exploitation had a significant effect on startup performance, and the moderating effect of environmental dynamics was found to have a significant effect on the relationship with non-financial performance. Therefore, for startups with insufficient resources, it was concluded that the surplus resources generated in the process of a firm's growth should be effectively utilized and the balance between exploration and exploitation should be balanced from the initial stage of searching for a new business. In other words, it was confirmed that it is important for continuous growth and survival to seek the structure of an ambidextrous organization in order to internalize a mechanism that enables startups to pursue both effectiveness and efficiency in the long term. This study suggests a strategic direction for the growth of startups from the perspective of organizational structure. We expect that this meaningful results on the relationship between the ambidextrous capabilities of startups and performance contribute to the growth of startups in the rapidly growing startup venture environment.

조직의 양손잡이(organizational ambidexterity) 구조는 기업이 새로운 기회를 포착하는 탐색(exploration) 활동과 자원을 효율적으로 이용하는 활용(exploitation) 활동을 동시에 추구할 수 있도록 설계한 조직 전략이다. 이러한 양손잡이 구조는 현재 대부분 여유 자원이 풍부한 대기업을 대상으로 연구가 이루어지고 있으며, 상대적으로 여유 자원 보유 수준이 낮은 스타트업의 양손잡이 조직구조 필요성에 대한 연구는 아직 많지 않다. 하지만, 최근 전 세계적으로 창업생태계가 고도화되면서 벤처에 투자하는 모험자본이 급속하게 증가하고 있으며, 이러한 현상은 스타트업에 많은 투자가 이루어지고 급성장할 수 있는 환경이 조성되면서 스타트업의 양손잡이 조직구조의 필요성과 적용 가능성에 대한 논의가 필요한 시점이다. 이에 본 연구는 새로운 아이디어로 시장의 문제를 해결하며 꾸준히 시장에서 탐색 활동을 하고 있는 스타트업(start-up)이 이러한 탐색 활동과 동시에 누적되어 가는 기업의 자원을 활용할 수 있는 역량을 갖추는 것이 기업성과에 영향을 미칠 것이라는 가설을 검증하였다. 본 연구의 가설검증을 위해 국내 140개 스타트업의 설문데이터를 분석하였으며, 지금의 시장 상황처럼 불확실하고 변동성이 높은 환경에서의 양손잡이 조직에 대한 필요성을 검증하기 위하여 환경적 동태성(environmental dynamics)의 조절효과가 있는지도 분석하였다. 연구결과 스타트업의 탐색과 활용의 균형(balance)은 기업성과에 유의미한 영향이 있음이 검증되었고, 환경적 동태성의 조절효과는 비재무성과와의 관계에 유의미한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 자원이 부족한 스타트업의 경우 기업이 성장해 가는 과정에서 발생하는 잉여자원들을 효과적으로 활용하고 새로운 사업을 탐색하는 초기 단계부터 탐색과 활용의 균형을 맞추어야 한다는 결론을 도출하였다. 즉, 장기적으로 스타트업도 효과성과 효율성을 동시에 추구할 수 있는 메커니즘을 내재화하기 위해서 양손잡이 조직의 구조화를 추구하는 것이 지속적인 성장과 생존을 위해 중요함을 확인할 수 있었다. 본 연구는 조직의 구조 관점에서 스타트업의 성장을 위한 전략적 방향을 제시하고, 급격하게 성장하는 창업벤처 분야에서 스타트업의 양손잡이 역량과 기업성과와의 영향 관계에 대한 유의미한 결과가 스타트업의 성장에 기여할 것으로 기대한다.

Keywords

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