Demystifying the ambidextrous internationalization of firms: A multiple case study in the pharmaceutical industry of an emerging economy in turbulent environment

Being ambidextrous in the internationalization pathways can help a firm overcome the complex dynamics in a foreign environment. But the extant research into exploring ambidexterity in internationalization in a crisis environment like the COVID-19 context is limited. The main objective of this research is to delineate how the pharmaceutical industry has made ambidextrous internationalization pathways during the COVID-19 transition period. Drawing upon the organizational ambidexterity and dynamic capability (DC) theory, this paper investigates how pharmaceutical companies adopt ambidexterity in internationalization. Four case studies along with a total of 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with pharmaceutical companies from Bangladesh, an emerging economy. Qualitative content analysis was done to derive the necessary codes and themes using MAXQDA software. From the inductive coding process, the study identified four facets of ambidextrous internationalization: structural ambidexterity, contextual ambidexterity, sequential ambidexterity, and innovation ambidexterity. Besides, the study unveiled several novel ambidexterity implementation approaches, such as adoption of causation and effectual logic, practice of institutional isomorphism, resource partnering, innovation orientation, resource recognition, capability to realign, experiential learning, and adoption of intrapreneurship culture. The study demonstrates how firms from an emerging economy adopted different ambidextrous approaches along with their implementation and resource allocation tactics for internationalizing businesses. Our study contributes to the firm internationalization literature by presenting how ambidextrous approaches can be leveraged while internationalizing within crisis environments.