Abstract: The climate issue is one of the most severe global challenges in today’s era. In order to address the contradiction between high-quality economic development and the protection of the natural environment, enterprises should undertake green and low-carbon transformation development. Within the green perspective, ambidexterity learning has emerged as a crucial strategic choice for enterprises seeking to gain a competitive advantage. Based on a sample of 187 companies, this paper delves into the relationship among ambidexterity learning, frugal innovation, and green competitive advantage drawing upon organizational learning theory. The study reveals that both the joint dimension and the balance dimension of ambidexterity learning positively impact green competitive advantage. Additionally, frugal innovation is shown to have a positive influence on green competitive advantage, while also serving as a partial mediator between the joint dimension of ambidexterity learning and green competitive advantage. Further research indicates that a harmonious alignment of exploitative learning and exploratory learning can foster frugal innovation, and the higher level that the harmonious alignment is at, the better position enterprises are at for frugal innovation. The research conclusions of this study has significant implications for enhancing corporate governance capabilities within the context of green development.

Key words: exploitative learning, exploratory learning, frugal innovation, green competitive advantage