ALIEN HAND SYNDROME OR AMBIDEXTERITY? MULTIPLE CASE STUDY ON START-UPS

Öz

One of the most critical problems affecting the survival of start-ups is that R&D projects cannot turn into income-generating products in a short time, or the projects take longer than expected. To overcome this problem, start-ups need to balance innovation and survival skills. In other words, they need to be ambidextrous. In this direction, the study aims to reveal how start-ups survive in R&D project investments that take a long time to turn into an innovation. In this context, multiple case studies from qualitative research methods were preferred in the study. Four start-ups were examined. The data were obtained from semi-structured interviews with five people, four firm managers and, one employee. The findings show that start-ups have difficulties maintaining the balance between innovation and survivability due to limited resources. In other words, start-ups are not exposed to the alien hand syndrome, and they act ambidextrous, even if it is difficult. In addition, it has been determined that start-ups have turned to different areas that generate income in an easy and fast way to be ambidextrous. 

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Organizational ambidexterity
• Start-ups
• Alien hand syndrome

YABANCI EL SENDROMU MU ÇİFT YÖNLÜLÜK MÜ? START-UPLAR ÜZERİNE ÇOKLU ÖRNEK OLAY ÇALIŞMASI

Öz

Ar-Ge projelerinin gelir getiren ürünlere kısa sürede dönüşememesi veya projelerin beklenenden uzun sürmesi start-uplar için hayatta kalmayı etkileyen en önemli problemlerden birisidir. Bu problemin üstesinden gelmek için, start-upların inovasyon ve hayatta kalma becerileri arasında denge sağlamaları, diğer bir ifadeyle çift yönlü davranmaları gerekir. Bu doğrultuda çalışma, start-upların inovasyona dönüşmesi uzun süren Ar-Ge proje yatırımlarında nasıl hayatta kaldıklarını açığa çıkarmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu kapsamda, çalışmada, nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden çoklu örnek olay tercih edilmiştir. Örnek olay olarak dört start-up incelenmiştir. Veriler dört firma yöneticisi ve bir firma çalışanı olmak üzere beş kişiyle yapılan yarı yapılandırılmış görüşmelerden elde edilmiştir. Bulgular, start-upların sınırlı kaynaklara sahip olmasından dolayı inovasyon ve hayatta kalma becerisi arasındaki dengeyi sağlamada zorluklar yaşadıklarını göstermektedir. Diğer bir ifadeyle, start-uplar yabanı el sendromuna maruz kalmayıp, zor da olsa çift yönlü davranmaktadırlar. Ayrıca, start-upların çift yönlü olmak için kolay ve hızlı yoldan gelir getiren farklı alanlara yöneldikleri tespit edilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Örgütsel çift yönlülük
• Start-uplar
• Yabancı el sendromu

Kaynakça

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