Iterative Transitions Between Exploration and Exploitation: Experiences from the Finnish Manufacturing Industry

This chapter describes methods for advancing exploration and exploitation in industrial settings and presents the experiences of Finnish manufacturing companies that have used such methods. The chapter explores the foundations of exploration and exploitation, and incorporates also both the absorptive capacity and the analytical and interpretative innovation processes into a novel framework for different types of networks, including production, development and innovation networks. In addition to the theoretical considerations, this chapter includes introductions to the various renewal methods and manufacturing company case studies. This work will provide insight into the practical implementation of exploration and exploitation activities and into overcoming the dilemma of transitioning between exploration and exploitation activities in different contexts.