مقاله سال ۲۰۱۶

Developing new products successfully is vital for firms to generate and maintain competitive advantage in a competitive marketplace (Sheng, Zhou, & Lessassy, 2013; Zhou & Li, 2012), especially for firms in emerging economies such as China, striving to be globally influential innovators (Liu, Ding, Guo, & Luo, 2014). However, many firms from emerging economies face turbulent technological and market competition, often lack sufficient resources (Gao, Xie, & Zhou, 2015; Yi, Li, Hitt, Liu, & Wei, 2016), and have less-developed external capital market accessibility (Hoskisson, Eden, Lau, & Wright, 2000).

One strand of the literature posits that a firm’s resource construction activities can provide viable solutions under resource constraints (Baker, Pollock, & Sapienza, 2013; Salunke, Weerawardena, & McColl-Kennedy, 2013; Steffens, Senyard, & Baker, 2009). Among them, bricolage, defined as “making do with whatever is at hand by reuse and recombination” (Baker & Nelson, 2005, p. 333) has been identified as an approach to new-product development (NPD) (e.g., Cunha, Rego, Oliveira, Rosado, & Habib, 2014; Senyard, Baker, Steffens, & Davidsson, 2014). However, the exact relationship between bricolage and new-product outcomes remains the topic of an ongoing debate (Bechky & Okhuysen, 2011; Ciborra, 1996; Lanzara, 1999).

On one hand, bricoleurs remedy resource constraints, help firms enhance innovation by improvising (Baker, Miner, & Eesley, 2003), and gather new materials and knowledge for meeting time demands (Garud & Karnøe, 2003). For instance, through bricolage, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can improvise ways to cope with difficulties and hasten new information system development (Ferneley & Bell, 2006). On the other hand, since bricolage is usually embedded in local, uniplex networks and focuses on immediate local needs (Baker, 2007), it has gradually leveling positive effects on innovation; the positive effects may turn negative for a lack of heterogeneous resource and knowledge (Senyard et al., 2014).