Bricolage as a Means of Innovating in a Resource-Scarce Environment: A Study of Innovator-Entrepreneurs at the Bop

Linna, Paula

doi:10.1142/s1084946713500155

Cited by 96 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

125

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The concept of entrepreneurial bricolage as a means of improvising has been studied in a limited number of different contexts. Linna (2013) explored the use of bricolage by entrepreneurs in developing countries. Bricolage was found to be widely used by local entrepreneurs as part of the innovation process in the resource-scarce environment found in many developing countries.…”

Section: Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Bricolage: A Review Of Thementioning

confidence: 99%

Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Bricolage versus Rationalisation: A case-based analysis of contrasting responses to economic instability in the UK brass musical instruments industry

Smith

Blundel

2014

Journal of General Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In periods of economic crisis and instability, the response of many business organisations is to try and adapt to prevailing market conditions. This typically results in a pattern of retrenchment and rationalisation designed to cut costs. Responses of this kind may be justifiable and, to varying degrees, effective at a firm-level. However, their wider repercussions can include the worsening of a pre-existing economic downturn (e.g. large- scale redundancies affecting local communities and cancelled orders affecting other firms in the supply chain). When faced with an economic crisis, some firms adopt a more entrepreneurial approach, in which the key features are strategic reappraisal and various forms of product, process and organisational innovation (Filippetti and Archibugi, 2011). While large corporations are capable of this kind of transformation, there is an increasing recognition of the important part that smaller entrepreneurial firms can play in innovation (Christensen, 1997) including the reinvigoration of industry sectors through open innovation (Chesbrough, 2003) and contributing to the reconfiguration of geographic clusters (Best, 2001). Studies of long wave cycles have shown that periods of economic crisis and depression can be important for innovation: they can disrupt established industry structures and cause entrepreneurs to see markets and customers in a different light so that they re-think products and services (Barras, 2009). However, comparatively little attention has been directed to considering just how entrepreneurial individuals in smaller firms mobilise the resources necessary for innovation and cope with risk in the unfavourable and demanding conditions that prevail in times of economic crisis. This exploratory study seeks to address this research gap. It does so through an in-depth historical case study of the contrasting responses of two firms, in the same industry sector but operating on different scales with differing modes of production (i.e. artisanal v. mechanised), to the greatest economic crisis of the 20th century, namely, the Great Depression of the 1930s (Crafts and Fearon, 2011). The two firms, which served the same markets and were affected by the same external forces, followed very different paths: the larger one engaged in a series of acquisitions as a means of rationalising production and cutting costs, while the much smaller firm that operated on a very modest scale chose to innovate. This innovation involved developing a product that was new to Britain at the time, namely the sousaphone, an unorthodox musical instrument that hitherto had only been produced in the United States. As well as comparing the activities of the two firms operating on different scales, the study examines why the owners of this small firm decided to innovate in the very difficult trading conditions that prevailed at the time, and exactly how they were able to acquire and mobilise the resources needed to pursue this path. In particular, the study focuses on the use of improvisation (Kamoche, Cun...

show abstract

Section: Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Bricolage: A Review Of Thementioning

confidence: 99%

Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Bricolage versus Rationalisation: A case-based analysis of contrasting responses to economic instability in the UK brass musical instruments industry

Smith

Blundel

2014

Journal of General Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For individuals existing within the poorest segments of society, capturing the ‘value’ embedded within others’ waste offers an opportunity to generate a subsistence income (Schenck and Blaauw, ; Linna, ). Waste pickers collect, bundle and sell their materials to buyers in both formal and informal markets who trade wastes as commodities.…”

Section: Literature Review and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Waste materials, scavenged or bought at a reduced price, can also be an important raw material for the creation of other sellable items: for instance, toy cars made from drinks cans or artistic crafts made from recycled materials. Linna () identifies affordability as the key to innovation in low‐income contexts, through using locally available ‘hidden’ resources, such as waste resources and vacant land.…”

Section: Literature Review and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whilst a body of work has emerged on waste pickers, other waste livelihood models remain underexplored and undertheorized. Linna () suggests that bricolage as a conceptual lens offers interesting insights in developing country contexts, which are typified by chronic resource shortages. Given that ‘bricoleurs’ are considered to ‘make do’ with cheap and free resources, recombining them for new purposes (Baker and Nelson, ; Baker, 2007), using bricolage as a framing to explore our examples of waste livelihoods is potentially very insightful.…”

Section: Literature Review and Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this paper we consider how in resource constrained environments ‘free’ or discounted resources associated with waste materials are used to create livelihood income models by individual entrepreneurs and social enterprises. We adopt the conceptual framing of bricolage, which is suggested by Linna () as a suitable lens through which to consider market‐based innovations in developing country environments. Using an inductive, exploratory approach (after Stebbins, ) and a purposive, snowball sample of cases, we explore the business models associated with waste materials such as flip‐flops, plastic bags, advertising flyers, human waste and eggshells through this conceptual framing.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Waste Livelihoods Amongst the Poor – Through the Lens of Bricolage

Holt

Littlewood

2016

Bus Strat Env

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper examines two social enterprises and 25+ informal economy micro-entrepreneurs in Kenya who utilize waste materials to generate income, considered through the conceptual lens of bricolage. Waste materials can all be considered as sources of free or discounted materials that in resource-constrained and poor communities might be leveraged to generate income in the absence of employment. This paper explores three key themes that emerge from the research findings, namely the various strategic dimensions of the cases, the networks and social capital they leverage and how these livelihood models relate to various dimensions of bricolage such as improvisation, making do and the process of 'fiddling' or recombining resources. The findings also suggest that differing waste livelihoods have different rates of return, or profitability, and differing input requirements of capital, skills and knowledge. The paper also stresses the role of boundary spanning organizations such as NGOs and hybrid/social enterprises.

show abstract

Bricolage in environmental entrepreneurship: How environmental innovators “make do” at the bottom of the pyramid

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous studies have discussed extensively the development of business solutions in resource-constrained environments. However, understanding how local entrepreneurs engaged in environmental innovation can overcome resource constraints at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) remains an under-researched area. Under the theoretical framework of bricolage, this study thus adopts a cross-sector multiple case study approach to provide empirical evidence on how social and environmental entrepreneurs in Kenya design low-cost solutions to environmental problems and for people at the BOP. The study considers environmental bricolage as a method of innovation ingenuity for social-environmental entrepreneurs. Network, marketing, waste material, and skills and knowledge bricolage are identified as mechanisms for addressing resource challenges by social and environmental entrepreneurs when creating low-cost and superior-value solutions at the BOP. The study further highlights the critical role of boundary-spanning organizations, the government, external knowledge, and technology.

show abstract

Bricolage as a Means of Innovating in a Resource-Scarce Environment: A Study of Innovator-Entrepreneurs at the Bop

Cited by 96 publications

References 43 publications

Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Bricolage versus Rationalisation: A case-based analysis of contrasting responses to economic instability in the UK brass musical instruments industry

Improvisation and Entrepreneurial Bricolage versus Rationalisation: A case-based analysis of contrasting responses to economic instability in the UK brass musical instruments industry

Waste Livelihoods Amongst the Poor – Through the Lens of Bricolage

Bricolage in environmental entrepreneurship: How environmental innovators “make do” at the bottom of the pyramid

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About