Bricolage

Miguel Pina e Cunha

Chapter 2.8 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Strategy as Practice, 2025, pp 135-137 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Bricolage is the process of activating and combining available resources in novel ways. It is a mode of action based on making do with “whatever is at hand” (Levi-Strauss, 1962/1966, p. 17), one that overcomes the functional fixedness of resources (Duymedjian & Rüling, 2010). From a bricolage perspective, strategy is a practice that is shaped by the resources available. Bricolage centers on resources: resource acquisition, control, utilization, and dependence are all at the core of strategy making. From the perspective of resources, strategy can be taken as related to where an organization competes and how, so that it can secure the resources necessary for its continued preservation. Strategy is thus inseparable from resources. The where question, commonly called competitive strategy, involves thinking about resources, namely the intensity of competitors and competition. The how question, organizational strategy, depends on the organization's resources, namely capital in its multiple forms. Resources are thus at the core of the strategy process. But they have been conceptualized from different positions, namely engineering and bricolage. For SAP scholars, this is an important issue, presenting strategy as fundamentally shaped by the sociomaterial world. In this entry, two perspectives are contrasted – bricolage and engineering – and a synthesis of them is proposed.

Keywords: Bricolage; Improvisation; Resource constraints; Sociomateriality; Creativity; Resourcefulness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035315956
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