Facilitating ambidexterity in replicator organizations: artifacts in their role as routine-recreators

Replicator organizations compete by transferring their business models and their embedded organizational routines across various geographical sites. Based on empirical results from case-study research, we show how a globally operating replicator firm integrates the logic of ambidexterity into its organization. We explain how artifacts - especially rulebooks - facilitate not only standardized replication, but also innovation. Finally, we emphasize that artifacts such as rules and codified knowledge need to be interpreted through a common frame of reference, one which can serve as a knowledge bridge that enables contextual ambidexterity in replicator organizations.