Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
İstanbul Ticaret Üniversitesi Girişimcilik Dergisi, cilt.9, sa.19, ss.1-19, 2026 (Hakemli Dergi)
Developing economies, marked by resource constraints, institutional voids, escalated international rivalry, political instability, market and industry volatility, encounter distinct competitive dilemmas, intensifying operational challenges for organisations seeking competitive advantage, yet limited research addresses how strategic orientations function in such contexts. This theoretical study, derived from dynamic capabilities, ambidexterity and contingency theories, examines how exploration and exploitation distinctly influence competitive advantage, investigating mediating and moderating relationships and institutional mechanisms thereof, within the developing economy context. The theoretical framework demonstrates that exploration driven resilience fosters competitive advantage through adaptive strategic competencies, knowledge diversification, situational responsiveness and strategic alignment, whereas exploitation driven strategic agility facilitates positional leverage through procedural and operational optimisation, and structured resource realignment, while competitive intensity and market turbulence act as critical boundary conditions amplifying the theorised relationships. This framework, through distinct capability fostering pathways configured for regulatory and contextual intricacy, advances ambidexterity theory as balancing exploration and exploitation in continuum rather than the simultaneous pursuit thereof, yielding actionable insights, and guiding capability development parameters amidst structural and capability limitations.