Achieving competitive advantage through bricolage: A small business perspective

Abstract

The entrepreneurial bricolage theory has been connected to a wide range of organizational phenomena, including innovation, firm performance, social entrepreneurship, and opportunity identification. Regrettably, research in this domain is yet to significantly heighten understanding of its connection to competitive advantage, which has been touted as the ultimate goal of any strategic business. This study reverses this trend by looking at the impact of entrepreneurial bricolage on competitive advantage as well as the mediating effect of resource orchestration capability in the relationship. Based on survey data administered to 413 small business enterprises (SBEs), structural equation modeling was used to analyze the results. Results show that entrepreneurial bricolage was significantly related to competitive advantage. Resource orchestration capability partially mediated the relationship between entrepreneurial bricolage and competitive advantage. A novel finding of this study documents resource orchestration capability and entrepreneurial bricolage as antecedents of competitive advantage, which has been missing in prior literature. The study concludes with theoretical and managerial implications and also proffers future research direction.

Dynamic resource management and slack resources

“…Therefore, businesses can achieve greater profitability through the application and redistribution of slack resources (Abukari et al, 2024;Conz et al, 2023;Greenley et al, 1998), it being necessary to pursue a combination of slack resources to maximise the level of competitiveness of the business (Dolmans et al, 2014) or even a reallocation of these resources allowing the pursued objectives to be achieved (Helfat and Peteraf, 2003), being able to facilitate a strategic transition (Mallon and Lanivich, 2023). These processes are assimilable to those proposed by resource management approaches (Helfat et al, 2009;Lavie, 2012;Sirmon et al, 2007Sirmon et al, , 2011.…”

“…In the same vein, some authors have argued that many organisations perform better with fewer resources (Baker and Nelson, 2005). This is explained by managing resources more efficiently, potentially showing the absence of essential rigidities (Leonard-Barton, 1992) and the alignment of managerial and shareholder interests (Jensen and Meckling, 1976), which is necessary in these cases to have a “resource orchestration capability in the form strategic deployment of resources” (Abukari et al ., 2024). This constraint-focused view of resource management requires an examination of the source of scarcity.…”

“…Therefore, businesses can achieve greater profitability through the application and redistribution of slack resources (Abukari et al ., 2024; Conz et al ., 2023; Greenley et al. , 1998), it being necessary to pursue a combination of slack resources to maximise the level of competitiveness of the business (Dolmans et al.…”