Stage-Specific Drivers of Startup Ambidexterity

Pawel Mielcarek () and Klaudiusz Kalisty ()
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Pawel Mielcarek: Poznań University of Economics and Business
Klaudiusz Kalisty: Poznań University of Economics and Business

Foresight and STI Governance, 2026, vol. 20, issue 1

Abstract: The paper considers the impact of ambidexterity, consisting of the relationship between exploration and exploitation, on the development of start-ups. The main goal of the study is to determine the importance of ambidexterity’s critical success factors (CSF) for different phases of start-up development. Research covers 27 different CSF and 18 items describing ambidexterity. This set of variables were analysed in terms of seed, early and growth stage of start-up development. The statistical verification of research exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was applied with maximum likelihood as a factoring method. Study covers 170 start-ups operating in Poland. Respondents of the survey were general managers and business owners. The most important CSF for start-up ambidexterity are strategic cooperation, establishing formal cooperation and dynamic capacity. In terms of ambidexterity crucial activities relate to offering new, unique values for customer and systematically checking customer satisfaction. At the same time CSF as leader’s age and gender or academic training were not significant for start-up ambidexterity. Moreover, research shown that there is crucial difference between seed stage and other phases of start-up development, that require to pay attention to specific areas by the managers. Most of the limitations is a result of applied method of EFA and size of the research sample. Due to achieved sample size it wasn`t possible to form a factor for Expansion stage and Exit stage, therefore these stages weren’t separately analysed in the empirical research. This paper fills the research gap regarding the use of ambidexterity in start-ups and also deepens the knowledge on how to shape individual stages of start-up development, which allowed for recommendations for practitioners and policymakers.

Keywords: start-up; start-up development; ambidexterity; exploration; exploitation; critical success factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O21 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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