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The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between Six Sigma methodology and organisational ambidexterity (exploitation and exploration orientations). For this purpose, this study describes how Six Sigma practices may enhance both orientations simultaneously, contributing to organisational ambidexterity and performance improvements.

A systematic literature review was adopted as the research methodology. The authors analysed 512 publications in Social Science Citation Index journals in fields such as management, business, operation research management science, planning development, behavioural sciences, interdisciplinary social sciences and applied psychology from 1987 to 2016, as the first development and adoption of Six Sigma was in 1987 by Motorola.

This analysis describes how Six Sigma emphasises not only useful practices for exploitation orientation, such as customer input, design for manufacturability or improvement and control of processes, but also explorative practices, such as discovery, novelty or innovation. Consequently, an adequate combination of all these practices may enhance organisational ambidexterity and organisational success.

This study relies exclusively on previously published literature that fulfilled the selection criteria described in the search methodology. Further empirical research is necessary to test the propositions included in this paper.

This study has important implications for academics, practitioners and employers, as it furnishes new theoretical insights to the scarce literature that studies the relationship between quality management practices and organisational ambidexterity. The authors provide a better understanding of Six Sigma philosophy and some fresh and new insight on how Six Sigma practices may help organisation develop distinctive competitive competences by its influence over exploration and exploitation orientations (ambidexterity). Therefore, it might be of interest to those practitioners interested in achieving a successful competitive position and discover emerging business opportunities, as it may provide some guidance on the important implication of Six Sigma practices over exploration and exploitation orientations.

This study provides new insights into the non-existent literature about Six Sigma and organisational ambidexterity and to the scarce literature about quality management and ambidexterity. Propositions on how Six Sigma practices benefit organisational ambidexterity are also suggested.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the link between manufacturing strategy formalization and manufacturing strategy implementation, considering the potential moderating role of shop-floor communication.

Multiple linear regression models considering main and interaction effects of strategy formulation and shop-floor communication on strategy implementation were performed using data from the fourth round of the international HPM Project. This includes plants with more than 100 employees in the automotive, machinery and electronics industries from 10 different countries. Unlike other research studies, this research takes into account plant management’s and plant supervisors’ perceptions.

The findings show that formal strategic planning positively influences manufacturing strategy implementation. Furthermore, both feedback and instructive communication practices moderate the manufacturing strategy process, resulting in successful manufacturing strategy embeddedness, and prompt adaptation to change.

This study provides a better understanding of the manufacturing strategy process for scholars and practitioners. In addition, the results suggest that the adoption of some shop-floor communication practices can benefit firms through the strengthening of strategy implementation.

This paper provides empirical evidence to the emerging discussion on whether formal strategic planning helps to adopt a strategy or on the contrary make decision making inflexible.

Accounting education in universities is always a hard subject for the students, who find it boring and little stimulating. So, even though students increasingly demand the integration of varied technologies and mobile devices into learning environment (Wash & Freeman 2013), educational systems of the public universities continue to be traditional. The role of students is totally passive, so the main responsibility of class development lies on the shoulders of professors, but this situation can change with the use of Socrative App in a learning environment, since it encourages students to play an active part in class.

That is why professors have to find new ways to capture the students’ attention, facilitating their learning, and at the same time, making it fun and entertaining. In this work, a teaching innovation case to first-year students in a university is presented using Socrative App. This study aims to investigate how the university can combine ICT close to traditional methodologies of learning, in order to increase interest in the subject, awakening in them passion and vocation for the accounting area.

This paper aims to develop impact value (IV), both theoretically and practically, to better account for the processes of value creation within complex service ecosystems.

This conceptual paper connects the complex systems nature of service ecosystems and the complexity of issues of sustainability and well-being to the need for a conceptual and analytical extension of value within service ecosystems.

This paper defines IV as enhancement or diminishment of the potential of stakeholders (beyond the service beneficiary), to transfer or transform resources in the future, based on direct and indirect involvement in the processes of value-in-exchange and value-in-use creation.

This paper provides an initial exploration of the theoretical and practical extension of value through the IV concept.

Sustainable service ecosystems require actors to understand their role in the service process and account for the impact pathways of their value creation activities. This paper proposes a framework for developing sustainable strategies to account for IV.

This research expands service research’s core concept of value by integrating the complex systems nature of service ecosystems, sustainability and well-being. IV provides a means to address the systemic impact pathways of service and value creation processes and bridge idiosyncratic value-in-use and broader system viability concepts.