Ambidexterity in the context of SME alliances: Does sustainability have a role?

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) deal with many challenges that threaten their survival every day. To successfully overcome these challenges, SMEs rely on strategic alliances. Drawing on the innovative concept of ambidexterity, this study focuses on how SME alliances can handle the dilemma of exploration and exploitation to achieve an advantage in terms of financial performance. A sample of 9,673 Italian SMEs aggregated in 1,854 alliances in the period 2010-2015 was used to test the hypotheses, referring to the moderating effect of corporate sustainability on the relationship between ambidextrous strategies and alliance performance. The results show that, in general, SME alliances that do not set sustainability goals prefer a focused alliance to achieve economic benefits; otherwise, if sustainability objectives are considered at the bases of the alliance formation, the greatest economic benefits are linked to an ambidextrous alliance.