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Bricolage is a term used to illustrate the practice in which small firms tap scant available resources to exploit business opportunities and to facilitate innovation. We focus on decreasing returns from excessive bricolage and, more importantly, highlight an important role played by supply chain knowledge in mitigating decreasing returns from bricolage. The role played by supply chain knowledge in reducing the negative effects of excessive bricolage is not explored yet. This study, in the context of an emerging economy, seeks to isolate the linear and quadratic effects of bricolage on firm performance and examines the moderating influence of supply chain knowledge on the bricolage-to-firm performance relationship. To test the proposed relationships, data from large-scale manufacturing firms in north-west India were used. The final sample size of 106 firms was used for testing the relationships using stepwise OLS analysis. The results revealed that at lower levels of supply chain knowledge, bricolage had an inverted-U relationship with firm performance. In other words, supply chain knowledge mitigates the negative effects of bricolage on performance. However, it did not strengthen the positive effect of bricolage on performance.

The aim of this study is to gain an insight on how bricolage is used as a method of innovation in a resource scarce context. Previous studies of entrepreneurship have emphasized the significance of bricolage especially as a way to mobilize resources. Although seen to be essential when entrepreneurs are facing resource constraints, no attention has been paid to bricolage in the context of local entrepreneurs in developing countries. This study is based on the analysis of innovation processes of Kenyan innovator-entrepreneurs who are designing low-cost renewable energy solutions for rural people at the Base of the Pyramid (BOP). In this study, three different types of bricolage were especially recognized: a social mindset combined with resourcefulness; making do with resources at hand; and improvization as way of proceeding. This research provides empirical evidence on how bricolage is used in different parts of the innovation process. The paper contributes significantly to the emerging discussion on innovation and entrepreneurship in the context of a developing country.

This study explores the relationships between bricolage, firm performance and growth opportunities in contexts characterized by extreme resource scarcity. Using a sample of 160 Palestinian female entrepreneurs as representative of entrepreneurs acting in extremely resource-deprived environments, we find that bricolage has a positive influence on firm performance. Further, as predicted in the hypotheses, the role of bricolage differs depending on the type of strategy the firm develops. When firms seek to introduce new products/services or modifications in their current products/services, a high level of bricolage hinders performance. Conversely, when firms seek to expand by introducing their current products/services in new markets and opening new locations, bricolage enhances performance. This study offers a more nuanced understanding than previous research of the role of bricolage in contexts of extreme resource constraints.

Bottom-of-the-pyramid (BOP) markets include an estimated 689 million people living in extreme poverty and, with some controversy, are frequently lauded as the “next frontier” for economic prosperity. In this context, supply chain resource orchestration (SCRO) could be a game changer; however, not enough is known about SCRO at the BOP. We examine SCRO theory and practice and identify strategies to enable more BOP players to achieve sustainable social and economic benefits. Our methodology involves: (1) a critical review of extant supply chain BOP literature to develop a SCRO model, (2) a content analysis with interview data triangulation that examines 21 case studies of business ventures at the BOP, (3) abstraction of a typology of common SCRO strategies, (4) development of a classification pyramid and SCRO process model that illustrate SCRO tactics across pyramid levels and (5) creation of a classification matrix, which encapsulates our observed connections among motivations, strategies, tactics and outcomes across the case studies. The research sheds light on opportunities for future scholars to examine supply chains and SCRO at the BOP level. It also provides practical guidance on how to orchestrate a successful BOP supply chain and suggests the SCRO strategies propagating from the grass roots level tend to benefit the most people.

In some large enterprises introducing radical innovation may prove difficult, but introducing a combination of incremental changes may be more practical, particularly in the services sector where existing resources are utilized, and this may be seen as a process of entrepreneurial bricolage. For small resource-limited firms there may be no alternative but to draw on novel combinations of existing resources. The term bricolage comes from a French expression for “tinkering” and this is what it is suggested many innovative SMEs do — learn-by-doing. The notion of entrepreneurial bricolage has been used to describe a process for assembling readily available physical and knowledge assets in novel combinations for a business purpose, creating product and process “recipes”. In this paper, we explore the research question: How can entrepreneurial bricolage be represented as a coherent process?

Historically, leveraging the right resources has been deemed critical for successful product innovation. However, recent findings reveal that some entrepreneurs and ventures, despite facing resource constraints, can still develop innovative products. This intriguing phenomenon has captured the attention of scholars, resulting in an increasing number of empirical work examining various aspects of resource-constrained product innovation. To consolidate the dispersed knowledge generated by these studies and establish a solid foundation for evidence-based entrepreneurship and management, we conducted a comprehensive review of 53 articles. Through an evidence-based analysis, we construct a framework that encompasses the who-why-how-where-when-what of the phenomenon. This framework delineates the scope of the phenomenon and sheds light on the enabling antecedents and processes undertaken by the actors, thus serving as a foundation for both research and practice. Moreover, we identified significant research gaps on the topic and provided suggestions for future research to focus on underexplored concepts and relationships within the framework.

Transdisciplinary innovation — what is it and how does it work? In this paper, the way disparate professional and community actors may work together is considered, drawing on case study data from three different Australian–Indian academic research collaborations. One considered food sector SME innovation practice in the two countries and the other two considered the deployment in India of radical technologies developed by international teams to deliver social benefits. The collection of knowledge artifacts from disparate sources was the norm. Implementation of an innovative idea or technology application commonly involved interactive learning from parallel testing of possible combinations. Six themes to be explored further emerged from this exploratory study. These related to social networking, interaction protocols, the use of boundary objects, knowledge sharing and modes of research.