This study compares two high-tech firms in terms of their differences in organizational characteristics and learning activities beyond the boundaries. It finds that the larger company continuously develops new technology to achieve long-term survival through a balance between exploration and exploitation while the smaller enterprise grows quickly by leveraging focused technology and core business. The innovation-oriented firm gives more emphasis to learning beyond its knowledge boundary and the customer-oriented firm focuses on learning beyond its organizational boundary. The two firms' sustainable development illustrates two strategies to adapt to the complexity of the external environment. (Contains 3 tables, 1 figure and 1 note.)