{"id":48360,"date":"2022-10-20T12:15:51","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T10:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/?p=48360"},"modified":"2025-11-24T14:15:44","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T12:15:44","slug":"innovation-strategy-in-business-the-exploit-explore-ratio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/innovation-strategy-in-business-the-exploit-explore-ratio\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovation Strategy in Business: The Exploit-Explore Ratio"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Innovation Strategy in Business: The Exploit-Explore Ratio | Oxford Sa\u00efd\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ITVT7gqdzBg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While continuing with what&#8217;s working and not fixing what isn&#8217;t broken might seem like a logical business strategy, it\u2019s one that doesn\u2019t leave much room for innovation. As such, companies that are striving for innovation, at every level, would do far better to consider the exploit-explore ratio, says Marc Ventresca, Programme Director on the Oxford Strategic Innovation Programme from Sa\u00efd Business School, University of Oxford.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-transcript\">Transcript<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For a long time, in strategy, the idea was, if you\u2019re successful today, do more of what you\u2019re doing today, but more efficiently, or more reliably, or more consistently, and you\u2019ll be successful tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The developments in the last couple of decades \u2013 changes in technology, new kinds of rivals, the shift in geopolitics \u2013 a range of issues have made that assumption that &#8220;doing more of what we do today, tomorrow is a recipe for success&#8221; is no longer viable. And what\u2019s happened in strategy, as a field, is this idea of counterposing exploit: what we do today using existing tools and technologies in existing markets, and with existing capabilities. What we add to that, in this period of turmoil and ferment, is the idea of explore: doing something new, trying things out, trying to understand new markets, making use of new technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what becomes really interesting is that tension, that ratio between exploit and explore: what we do today for today, and what we do today for tomorrow, has become a very powerful conversation at the most senior levels of effective firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why is that important to us? Because that\u2019s the argument for innovation at all the levels we\u2019ve talked about \u2013 product and services innovation, business model innovation, and systems-level innovation. So the exploit-explore ratio, the diagram we\u2019re using, shows what that means: a set of abilities and competencies today, that are about making money today, being successful today, being effective today, has to begin to engage with what may be different tomorrow. What kind of competencies do we need to build? What kind of markets do we explore? How do we make use of new technologies? And so that ratio, no right answer, no single ratio there, but the conversation about that ratio \u2013 how much of today is about today? How much of today is about tomorrow? \u2013 becomes a really important motivation for innovating at every level. So, I\u2019m asking you to use that core, kind of, strategic idea of exploit-explore, the ratio of exploit-explore, to begin to ground your arguments for why we innovate, why innovation is important, and, potentially, how we do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While continuing with what&#8217;s working and not fixing what isn&#8217;t broken might seem like a logical business strategy, it\u2019s one that doesn\u2019t leave much room for innovation. As such, companies that are striving for innovation, at every level, would do far better to consider the exploit-explore ratio, says Marc Ventresca, Programme Director on the Oxford [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":48364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[122],"article-format":[],"class_list":["post-48360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-advice","tag-business-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.2 (Yoast SEO v26.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Innovation Strategy in Business: The Exploit-Explore Ratio - GetSmarter Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/innovation-strategy-in-business-the-exploit-explore-ratio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Innovation Strategy in Business: The Exploit-Explore Ratio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While continuing with what&#8217;s working and not fixing what isn&#8217;t broken might seem like a logical business strategy, it\u2019s one that doesn\u2019t leave much room for innovation. As such, companies that are striving for innovation, at every level, would do far better to consider the exploit-explore ratio, says Marc Ventresca, Programme Director on the Oxford [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/innovation-strategy-in-business-the-exploit-explore-ratio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetSmarter Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-20T10:15:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-24T12:15:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_OXF-INO-05-1-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"844\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shameel Mohanlal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"GetSmarter Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/innovation-strategy-in-business-the-exploit-explore-ratio\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_OXF-INO-05-1-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_OXF-INO-05-1-1.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":844},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/innovation-strategy-in-business-the-exploit-explore-ratio\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<meta property=\"og:video\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ITVT7gqdzBg\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:type\" content=\"text\/html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:duration\" content=\"159\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:video:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:adult\" content=\"false\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:upload_date\" content=\"2022-10-20T10:15:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"ya:ovs:allow_embed\" content=\"true\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Innovation Strategy in Business: The Exploit-Explore Ratio - GetSmarter Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/innovation-strategy-in-business-the-exploit-explore-ratio\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Innovation Strategy in Business: The Exploit-Explore Ratio","og_description":"While continuing with what&#8217;s working and not fixing what isn&#8217;t broken might seem like a logical business strategy, it\u2019s one that doesn\u2019t leave much room for innovation. As such, companies that are striving for innovation, at every level, would do far better to consider the exploit-explore ratio, says Marc Ventresca, Programme Director on the Oxford [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/innovation-strategy-in-business-the-exploit-explore-ratio\/","og_site_name":"GetSmarter Blog","article_published_time":"2022-10-20T10:15:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-24T12:15:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1500,"height":844,"url":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_OXF-INO-05-1-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Shameel Mohanlal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"GetSmarter Staff","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/innovation-strategy-in-business-the-exploit-explore-ratio\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_OXF-INO-05-1-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/getsmarter_blog_header-banner_OXF-INO-05-1-1.jpg","width":1500,"height":844},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/innovation-strategy-in-business-the-exploit-explore-ratio\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog"}]}]},"og_video":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ITVT7gqdzBg","og_video_type":"text\/html","og_video_duration":"159","og_video_width":"480","og_video_height":"270","ya_ovs_adult":"false","ya_ovs_upload_date":"2022-10-20T10:15:51+00:00","ya_ovs_allow_embed":"true"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48360"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52872,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48360\/revisions\/52872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48360"},{"taxonomy":"article-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.getsmarter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-format?post=48360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}