Exploration vs. Exploitation

Organizations have to both refine what they already do (exploitation) and search for new things (exploration). James March showed that exploitation reliably crowds out exploration, because its returns are nearer, surer and easier to measure.

Source: March, "Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning" (1991).

See also: Competency Trap, Resource Allocation Trap. From How do organizations throw (AI) stuff away?

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# Oct 23, 2026
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