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Purpose Firms regularly have to handle business-related market changes on the market, such as new market entrants, increased competition, changing prices and changing demand. However, firms active on a market subject to political interventions, resulting in changes of the market, also have to handle different support systems with subsidies, taxes, regulations, etc. As these interventions affect both firms and customers, it is important for firms to adapt to them, but if they continue to change, firms also need to adapt to changing conditions. The purpose of the paper is to study how firms handle continuous market changes and shifting governmental interventions through market-political ambidexterity.

Design/methodology/approach Based on a qualitative approach, 13 in-depth interviews focusing on how firms handle market changes and political interventions over time were conducted during two time periods. The data was coded in several steps, using systematic combining.

Findings The empirical results reveal that firm size is crucial in developing market-political ambidexterity; small firms lack the resources needed to handle all changes in an ambidextrous way. Changes on the market require firms to be active, whereas changes of the market, e.g. interventions, require internal stability in the firms. Changes on the market are easier to handle, wherefore there seems to be a need for firms to develop political exploration and exploitation activities related to market-political ambidexterity.

Originality/value This study contributes to industrial marketing by increasing our understanding of how SMEs handle the simultaneous but sometimes contradicting demands from market changes and political interventions by developing market-political ambidexterity.