This study explores how middle managers deal with knowledge inflows whilst striving to achieve ambidexterity. This is enabled through a two-dimensional conceptual framework involving knowledge sources (vertical or horizontal) and acquisition activities (structural and contextual).We based our study upon interviews conducted with 64 managers from hypermarket retailers in China, in addition to field observations and secondary data. Our findings reveal that these middle managers leverage different combinations of structural and contextual mechanisms to govern the vertical (top-down and bottom-up) knowledge inflows within their business units. Structural mechanisms comprise differentiation and integration. For their part, contextual mechanisms consist of a combination of discipline, stretch, support and trust. These combinations also enable horizontal knowledge inflows to be managed from outside the business unit. These also enable middle managers' ambidexterity, first at the business unit level and second at the organization level. Our findings offer managerial guidelines for handling knowledge inflows from various sources and with different patterns. They also assist middle managers with their contribution to their firms' pursuit of organizational ambidexterity.

The greening of enterprises concerning society is a matter of sustainable development of the economy. At the same time, the Internet brings technology diffusion and information transfer, which affects the greening of enterprises. Therefore, we empirically examine the impact of the Internet on greening from the perspective of green innovation and environmental violations based on the data of listed firms in China between 2010 and 2019. This paper found that the Internet effectively promotes green innovation and inhibits environmental violation, and governmental transparency positively moderates the relationship between the Internet and greening. We also conducted a series of robustness tests like a quasi-natural experiment based on Broadband China and tested the impact of digital transformation on greening for further study. Our findings enrich the literature by showing how a macro-level technological infrastructure such as the Internet can impact the micro-level behaviors of a firm.

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