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以實質選擇權觀點探討探索性與利用性活動對公司績效之影響：中介效果模型
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one way that exploration and exploitation can be balanced over time and over multiple
domains.
The above discussion implies that the operationalization of exploration and exploitation
depends on the resource characteristics and the study context. We used real options reasoning
to elaborate the relationship between uncertainty, exploration, exploitation and firm
performance to study how firms allocate resources under uncertainty.
2.2 Real Options Reasoning (ROR)
ROR applies the financial options concept to real assets or investment decisions. A
financial option gives the owner the right, but not the obligation, to buy (call option) or sell
(put option) a security at a given price on or before the expiration date. Analogously, an
investment in a real option gives a firm the right, but not the obligation, to make further
investments at a given time or defer them. Thus, a real option is commonly defined as “a
limited commitment that creates future decision rights” (McGrath, Ferrier, and Mendelow,
2004).
Many strategy researchers have advocated ROR because its application gives the
investor the managerial flexibility to address strategic issues in a highly uncertain
environment, thus providing insights for good managerial decisions (McGrath, 1997, 1998,
1999; Kogut and Kulatilaka, 2001; Folta and Miller, 2002; Miller and Folta, 2002; McGrath
and Nerkar, 2004). They suggested that an option-like initial investment has growth potential
while avoiding substantial losses if the investment turns sour. This approach has also been
referred to as the options lens (Bowman and Hurry, 1993), options thinking (Kogut and
Kulatilaka, 1994), real-options logic (McGrath, 1997), and options reasoning (McGrath,
1999; Miller and Arikan, 2004). ROR is especially noticeable in sequential decision making
under conditions of uncertainty. Given that investments in both the exploration and
exploitation contexts involve the sequential allocation of resources, ROR explains the
motivation that drives exploration and exploitation, as well as their relationship to each other
and their performance implications.
In this paper, exploration and exploitation are conceptualized as two distinct resource
allocation processes in two functional domains. Exploration or an exploratory investment is
viewed as the creation of real options or what in financial reasoning is termed call options.
Exploitation or an exploitative investment is conceptualized as “striking” these options.