Emerging Market Firms and Dual Business Models: An Indian Perspective

Managers in organizations face severe challenges and conflicts that arise from pursuing dual business
models. Documented studies are available on how Western Multinationals operate in emerging
markets, however, little evidence is available about how home-grown emerging market firms pursue
this challenge in their home markets. With an ambidexterity perspective and activity systems approach,
this study aims to offer novel insights into how Indian firms carry out organizational integration
and separation—they focus on domains of expertise in organizational activities such as sales
and marketing rather than on business units—as they pursue the challenges of dual business models,
in contrast to the multinational corporation (MNC) approach.