The following is an excerpt from a study titled ‘The Exploration Exploitation Dilemma: A Multidisciplinary Framework:

The trade-off between the need to obtain new knowledge and the need to use that knowledge to improve performance is one of the most basic trade-offs in nature, and optimal performance usually requires some balance between exploratory and exploitative behaviors. Researchers in many disciplines have been searching for the optimal solution to this dilemma. Here we present a novel model in which the exploration strategy itself is dynamic and varies with time in order to optimize a definite goal, such as the acquisition of energy, money, or prestige. Our model produced four very distinct phases: Knowledge establishment, Knowledge accumulation, Knowledge maintenance, and Knowledge exploitation, giving rise to a multidisciplinary framework that applies equally to humans, animals, and organizations. The framework can be used to explain a multitude of phenomena in various disciplines, such as the movement of animals in novel landscapes, the most efficient resource allocation for a start-up company, or the effects of old age on knowledge acquisition in humans.
Our framework demonstrates that the optimal solution to the exploration - exploitation trade-off depends on the life-stage of the subject as well as on the environmental conditions, and that the same strategies can be used by a variety of subjects - animals, humans and organizations alike. This fact points to the universality of the exploration-exploitation dilemma and the strategies aimed at solving it. Thus, the proposed framework can improve our understanding and consequently, our decision making in a multitude of disciplines.

Read the full study here.

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