From the ACE Research Vignette Series ~ In this vignette, Professor Per Davidsson and Associate Professor Paul Steffens consider the links between entrepreneurial “bricolage” and innovation.
Background and Research Question
Out of perceived financial necessity as well as creative ability, business founders often apply improvised, makeshift solutions to make progress with their start-up. They may use whatever resources they already have rather than acquiring the new and “proper” inputs; borrow space or machinery from friends and neighbours; buy used rather than new; apply some retrofitting to make a lawnmower engine or a discarded AC unit run or cool (or heat) something else; ask whatever “free” consultants rather than paid professionals for advice, and assign dressed up friends and their own camera and photo skills to produce a catalogue or website portraying their merchandise. Researchers have recently applied the label ‘Entrepreneurial Bricolage’ for these frugal and creative ways in which entrepreneurs sometimes manage to achieve a lot with seemingly very limited resources.
According to the emerging theory of entrepreneurial bricolage, there are three aspects to this phenomenon…. read the full article