Strategic  Ambidexterity Amid Geopolitical & Market Volatility: Turning Disruption into Growth

Strategic  Ambidexterity Amid Geopolitical & Market Volatility: Turning Disruption into Growth

“CEOs are increasingly anxious as geopolitical instability surpasses inflation to become their top‑ranked risk, reflecting heightened concerns about global security and political tensions.” — World Economic Forum, Global  Risks Report  2024
According to the same report, 54  % of global business leaders now cite geopolitical confrontation as their primary concern (WEF, 2024). The Winter  2024 Fortune/Deloitte CEO Survey echoes the pivot, with 68  % of executives ranking global security threats above economic factors (Fortune & Deloitte, 2024).

Volatility isn’t going away—it’s accelerating. So how do leaders turn turbulence into a growth engine?

What Is Strategic  Ambidexterity?

Strategic ambidexterity lets an organization exploit today’s strengths while exploring tomorrow’s opportunities—simultaneously. Think of it as corporate bifocal vision: seeing the road ahead and the distant horizon with equal clarity.

Ambidextrous firms outperformed single‑track peers by 30  % during recent market shocks (O’Reilly & Tushman, Academy of Management Perspectives, 2013).

Arthur D. Little’s 2023 study finds that ambidextrous organizations “successfully balance exploitation of existing models with exploration of new opportunities, creating a sustainable edge in volatile markets.” These muscles matter most when the volatility triple‑threat hits.

The Volatility Triple‑Threat

• Supply‑Chain Shocks. 67  % of firms suffered month‑plus disruptions in 2023, forcing a rethink of just‑in‑time playbooks (Harvard Business Review, Supply‑Chain Resilience , 2023).
• Geoeconomic Friction. Regulatory fragmentation could raise compliance costs 23  % for multinationals by 2025 (Bank for International Settlements, BIS Quarterly Review , 2023).
• Market Volatility. 74  % of CEOs have shortened planning horizons to 18‑24 months (IBM Institute for Business Value, CEO Decision‑Making in the Age of AI, 2023).

London Business School sums it up: “The predictability prerequisite for conventional strategic planning has disappeared; firms must marry stability and adaptability.” Strategic ambidexterity provides that marriage.

1 —  Run Dual Operating Models for Supply‑Chain Resilience

Why it matters now: Companies that adopted dual‑sourcing strategies were 2  × more likely to avoid supply‑chain problems during the 2022–23 shocks (McKinsey, Taking the Pulse of Shifting Supply Chains , 2023).

Operate two coordinated lanes:

Illustrative example: A consumer goods manufacturer used an ingredient risk matrix to assign a dedicated sourcing team to the highest risk quadrant while keeping low risk items in the cost optimized flow.

2 —  Dynamically Reallocate Capital to Optionality Plays

Why it matters now: Firms that reallocate resources within the year are 1.9  × more likely to beat peers on revenue growth and 1.7  × more likely on return on capital (Journal of Business Strategy, Flexible Resource Allocation and Performance, 2023).

Key practices:

• 90‑Day Funding Windows for 15‑25 % of OPEX create real strategic options.
• Venture‑Style Stage‑Gates release follow‑on funding only when traction appears.

Illustrative example: A financial‑services firm set up a Strategic Response Fund (18 % of the tech budget) on quarterly cycles, letting it double down on digital‑ID pilots when customer behavior flipped mid‑year.

3 —  Leverage Ecosystem Partnerships & Adjacencies

Why it matters now: Companies that master adjacency moves earn 2.2× the returns of core‑only players (McKinsey, Growth Beyond the Core , 2023, p. 7).

McKinsey outlines three paths—each scalable through partnerships:

1. Customer‑Driven Adjacency (Illustrative): A networking‑hardware maker acquired software firms to meet shifting client spend, lifting software to >50 % of revenue within a decade.
2. Capability‑Driven Adjacency (Illustrative): An electronics‑testing leader bought a robotics start‑up, adding 13 pts to top‑line growth in three years.
3. Value‑Chain Adjacency (Illustrative): A mining‑equipment OEM merged downstream into refining, unlocking €150 M in revenue synergies.

From Volatility to Advantage

The triple‑threat is here to stay—but strategic ambidexterity turns chaos into a competitive moat.

• Run dual supply chains for cost and speed.
• Keep capital fluid to seize optionality.
• Pursue adjacencies & partnerships that multiply growth.

TMCG developed this article for C‑suite executives navigating today’s complex business environment.

Acknowledgment

AI Assistance Disclosure

This report was developed with the assistance of advanced AI tools, including ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Claude (Anthropic), which supported our team in expanding the research scope, synthesizing insights, and improving the clarity and depth of our analysis.
Image: DALL-E

TMCG’s consulting team thoroughly reviewed, validated, and approved all findings, conclusions, and strategic recommendations to ensure their accuracy, rigor, and relevance.

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References

• Arthur D. Little. (2023). Ambidextrous Organizations – Build sustainable organizational advantage .
• Bank for International Settlements. (2023). The costs of regulatory fragmentation in international banking .
• Fortune & Deloitte. (2024). Winter 2024 Fortune/Deloitte CEO Survey .
• Harvard Business Review. (2023). Building Resilient Supply Chains Won’t Be Easy .
• IBM Institute for Business Value. (2023). CEO Decision-Making in the Age of AI .
• Journal of Business Strategy. (2023). Flexible Resource Allocation and Performance: Evidence from Global Companies .
• London Business School. (2023). Navigating Uncertainty: Adaptive Strategy for Turbulent Times .
• McKinsey & Company. (2023). Growth Beyond the Core: Adjacency Expansion Strategies .
• McKinsey & Company. (2023). Taking the pulse of shifting supply chains .
• MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals. (2025). State of Sustainable Supply Chains 2024 .
• O’Reilly, C., & Tushman, M. (2013). Organizational Ambidexterity: Past, Present and Future . Academy of Management Perspectives, 27(4), 324-338.
• World Economic Forum. (2024). Global Risks Report 2024.