The case presents the real-life situation of XRM Vision, an SME IT consulting firm specializing in the design and implementation of CRM solutions. Like most SMEs, XRM Vision faces major, sometimes conflicting, management challenges such as which growth strategies to pursue while simultaneously increasing process efficiency and urging employees to identify business opportunities while fostering operational excellence. This case focuses on the challenges and difficulties SME managers face in their struggle to strike a balance between exploiting and exploring.

The case describes the exploitation-exploration tensions faced by XRM Vision’s management since the company’s founding and outlines the strategies and actions/practices it has deployed to navigate the choppy waters between exploitation and exploration.

• Identify and analyze exploitation-exploration tensions faced by organizations.
• Identify and analyze the decisions, strategies, actions, and/or practices used by XRM Vision to cope with conflicting demands using Lavie et al.’s (2010) modes of balancing.
• Identify and analyze the tactics used by XRM Vision to cope with conflicting demands using Andriopoulos and Lewis’s (2009) tension management tactics, an alternative framework proposing six categories of tactics.