The focus of entrepreneurial research is to answer "how, by whom, and with what effects opportunities to create future goods and services are discovered, evaluated, and exploited". Identifying the business opportunity is one of the most important abilities of a successful entrepreneur. The resource-based view shows that corporate resources drive value creation by developing competitive advantage. However, the possession of resources does not guarantee the development of competitive advantage or value creation. In order to achieve value creation, enterprises must integrate and use resources.
Slack resources are a possible source of enterprise innovation, including the company′s available resources beyond business demands, funding guidelines or target requirements, which both relieve resource demands of enterprises and provide new opportunities for enterprise construction. On the one hand, slack resources cushion corporate innovation or change, and these resources help companies mitigate internal conflicts and adapt to internal pressures. On the other hand, this "buffer" that can enhance the competitiveness of enterprises and become a source of funding for innovation activities may also be seen as a "stumble" for corporate innovation activities. It can be seen that slack resource is a double-edged sword. Entrepreneurs reorganize and creatively use existing resources, and share and mobilize practical knowledge in a way that challenges general theoretical methods. These theoretical methods indicate how entrepreneurs use resources to discover new business opportunities.
Based on this, this paper analyzes the impact of slack resources on entrepreneurial opportunity identification and the non-linear relationship between slack resources and resources bricolage from the perspective of resource orchestration, and uses empirical data from China in an empirical analysis. This paper is an important extension of the resource orchestration theory and the resource bricolage theory. It helps to break the research gap in the resource bricolage that pay too much attention to the resource constrain, and enhances the universality of resource bricolage (it is also suitable for startups with some resources). At the same time, this paper also helps to interpret the types of enterprise identification resources from the perspective of resource orchestration. Enterprises can integrate and employ resources, and identify business opportunities.
This survey lasted 4 months from March to July in 2018. We collected data in two ways from research companies and projects and 201 valid questionnaires are returned. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the measurement tools, this paper tries to adopt existing mature scales and make appropriate adjustments according to the research purpose and situation to improve the validity of concept and content in the research. The empirical results show that both absorbed and unabsorbed slack resources can help enterprises identify entrepreneurial opportunities. As for unabsorbed slack resource, it has a positive impact on resources bricolage. But when more than one certain node is involved, unabsorbed slack resource has a negative impact on resource bricolage. Resource bricolage has a positive role on entrepreneurial opportunity identification.
This paper has obtained three important theoretical results. First, the absorbed slack resource is related to the opportunity identification, because idle resources that can be developed are an advantage for companies. Unabsorbed slack resources is easier to redeploy elsewhere, and the flexibility could bring greater management discretion, which is valuable to the opportunity identification process of organizations. Second, the accumulation of absorbed slack resource tends to increase the operating costs of enterprises and crowd out production resources, because the potential to activate fixed assets requires constant trial and error, which undoubtedly increases the cost of failure. Therefore, as the cumulative absorbed slack resource has increased, it will bring a series of negative effects to the enterprise′s resource bricolage. Although unabsorbed slack resources can make companies more flexible and increase the ability of resource bricolage, over unabsorbed slack resources allows business managers to meet the status and over-optimism, thus these managers could give up the pursuit of new opportunities through resource bricolage. Third, new companies need to try new solutions to restruct and reconfigure resources and address new threats and opportunities. By combining and reusing resources to solve new problems and opportunities, entrepreneurs use their experience to develop new products or services and capture new opportunities in management. The resource bricolage focuses on the social construction nature of the new enterprise resource environment, and explains why some entrepreneurs can achieve "out of nothing" to achieve opportunities.
This paper has also some management implications. First, companies need to be dexterous to enhance the ingeniousness configuration of slack resources. Enterprises should stimulate the potential of slack resources while fully accepting slack resources, so as to obtain solutions to find problems. By ensuring that enterprises have a considerable pool of resources, thereby weakening the resource constraints encountered in the development process and mobilizing the resource capacity to identify entrepreneurial opportunities. Second, enterprises need to rely on their powerful resource bricolage capability to make use of the resource allocation effect of flexible acquisition, configuration and utilization. By understanding resource elements and building resource allocation capabilities with unique characteristics, enterprises can seize some key elements that enable breakthrough and promote enterprises′ productions, model, service innovation, and incite resource advantages hidden in the organization, and generate endogenous thrust to identify opportunities.
Needless to say, this paper has inevitably some limitations. First, the sample of the study is insufficient. We finally collected 209 valid questionnaires for hypothesis verification. In particular, in the study of the curve relationship between absorbed slack resource and resource bricolage, the inverted U-type relationship is not found. However, according to Figure 2, it can be seen that the increase of absorbed slack resource, the effect of resource bricolage is weakened. In the future, the sample size can be increased for research. Second, the choice of dimensions of resource bricolage is also insufficient. This paper selects the one-dimensional method proposed by Senyard et al. for model verification. Multi-dimensional resource bricolage measurement methods can improve type selection of resource bricolage methods, and obtain the advantages and disadvantages of the selection results through comparisons. Future research can use multi-dimensional measurement methods.
Key words
slack resource /
resources bricolage /
entrepreneurial opportunity identification /
inverted U-shaped
{{custom_sec.title}}
{{custom_sec.title}}
{{custom_sec.content}}
References
[1]Shane S., Venkataraman S. The Promise of Entrepreneurship as a Field of Research[J]. Academy of Management Review,2000, 25(1): 217-226.
[2]Ardichvili A., Cardozo R., Ray S. A theory of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and development[J]. Journal of Business Venturing,2003, 18(1): 105-123.
[3]Hsu P. F. Integrating ERP and e-business: Resource complementarity in business value creation[J]. Decision Support Systems,2013, (56): 334-347.
[4]Alexy O., West J., Klapper H., et al. Surrendering Control to Gain Advantage: Reconciling Openness and the Resource‐based View of the Firm[J]. Strategic Management Journal,2017, 39(4): 1704-1727.
[5]Herold D. M., Jayaraman N., Narayanaswamy C. R. What is the Relationship between Organizational Slack and Innovation[J]. Journal of Managerial Issues,2006, 18(3): 372-392.
[6]Tan J., Peng M. W. Organizational slack and firm performance during economic transitions: two studies from an emerging economy[J]. Strategic Management Journal,2003, 24(13): 1249-1263.
[7]Bourgeois L. J. On the Measurement of Organizational Slack[J]. Academy of Management Review,1981, 6(1): 29-39.
[8]George G. Slack Resources and the Performance of Privately Held Firms[J]. Academy of Management Journal,2005, 48(4): 661-676.
[9]Tseng C.-H., Tansuhaj P., Hallagan W., et al. Effects of firm resources on growth in multinationality[J]. Journal of International Business Studies,2007, 38(6): 961-974.
[10]李晓翔, 刘春林. 困难情境下组织冗余作用研究:兼谈市场搜索强度的调节作用[J]. 南开管理评论,2013, 16(03): 140-148+160.
[11]Baker T., Nelson R. E. Creating Something from Nothing: Resource Construction Through Entrepreneurial Bricolage [J]. Administrative Science Quarterly,2005, 50(3): 329-366.
[12]Baker T., Miner A. S., Eesley D. T. Improvising firms: bricolage, account giving and improvisational competencies in the founding process [J]. Research Policy,2003, 32(2): 255-276.
[13]Duymedjian R., Rüling C.-C. Towards a Foundation of Bricolage in Organization and Management Theory[J]. Organization Studies,2010, 31(2): 133-151.
[14]Yang M. International entrepreneurial marketing strategies of MNCs: Bricolage as practiced by marketing managers[J]. International Business Review,2018, 27(5): 1045-1056.
[15]Shahzad A. M., Mousa F. T., Sharfman M. P. The implications of slack heterogeneity for the slack-resources and corporate social performance relationship[J]. Journal of Business Research,2016, 69(12): 5964-5971.
[16]Voss G. B., Sirdeshmukh D., Voss Z. G. The Effects of Slack Resources and Environmental Threat on Product Exploration and Exploitation[J]. Academy of Management Journal,2008, 51(1): 147-164.
[17]赵兴庐, 刘衡, 张建琦. 冗余如何转化为公司创业?——资源拼凑和机会识别的双元式中介路径研究[J]. 外国经济与管理,2017, 39(06): 54-67.
[18]Xu E., Yang H., Quan J. M., et al. Organizational slack and corporate social performance: Empirical evidence from China’s public firms[J]. Asia Pacific Journal of Management,2014, 32(1): 181-198.
[19]Baker T. Resources in play: Bricolage in the Toy Store(y)[J]. Journal of Business Venturing,2007, 22(5): 694-711.
[20]Kickul J, Bacq S, Garud N. Catalyzing social innovation: Is entrepreneurial bricolage always good? [J]. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development,2018, 30(3-4): 407-420.
[21]方世建, 黄明辉. 创业新组拼理论溯源、主要内容探析与未来研究展望 [J]. 外国经济与管理,2013, 35(10): 2-12.
[22]Tasavori M., Kwong C., Pruthi S. Resource bricolage and growth of product and market scope in social enterprises[J]. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development,2018, 30(3-4): 336-361.
[23]Song G., Min S., Lee S., et al. The effects of network reliance on opportunity recognition: A moderated mediation model of knowledge acquisition and entrepreneurial orientation[J]. Technological Forecasting and Social Change,2017, 117: 98-107.
[24]Eckhardt J. Opportunities and Entrepreneurship[J]. Journal of Management,2003, 29(3): 333-349.
[25]Miller D. The Correlates of Entrepreneurship in Three Types of Firms [J]. Management Science,1983, 29(7): 770-791.
[26]Schmitt A., Rosing K., Zhang S. X., et al. Dynamic Model of Entrepreneurial Uncertainty and Business Opportunity Identification: Exploration as a Mediator and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy as a Moderator[J]. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,2018, 42(6): 835-859.
[27]Detienne D. R., Chandler G. N. The Role of Gender in Opportunity Identification[J]. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,2010, 31(3): 365-386.
[28]Mcmullen J. S., Plummer L. A., Acs Z. J. What is an Entrepreneurial Opportunity[J]. Small Business Economics,2007, 28(4): 273-283.
[29]Shane S. Reflections on the 2010 AMR Decade Award: Delivering on the Promise of Entrepreneurship As a Field of Research[J]. Academy of Management Review,2012, 37(1): 10-20.
[30]Baron R. A. Opportunity Recognition as Pattern Recognition: How Entrepreneurs “Connect the Dots” to Identify New Business Opportunities[J]. Academy Management Perspectives,2006, 20(1): 104-119.
[31]Penrose E. T. The theory of the growth of the firm [M]. City: Basil Blackwell.1959.
[32]Cyert R., March J. A behavioral theory of the firm[M]. City: Prentice-Hall.1963.
[33]Pitelis C. N. A Behavioral Resource-Based View of the Firm: The Synergy of Cyert and March (1963) and Penrose (1959)[J]. Organization Science,2007, 18(3): 478-490.
[34]Sirmon D. G., Barney J. B., Ketchen D. J., et al. Resource Orchestration to Create Competitive Advantage[J]. Journal of Management,2010, 37(5): 1390-1412.
[35]Zahra S. A., Filatotchev I., Wright M. How do threshold firms sustain corporate entrepreneurship? The role of boards and absorptive capacity[J]. Journal of Business Venturing,2009, 24(3): 248-260.
[36]Kreiser P. M. Entrepreneurial Orientation and Organizational Learning: The Impact of Network Range and Network Closure[J]. Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice,2011, 35(5): 1025-1050.
[37]Kirzner I. M. Entrepreneurial Discovery and the Competitive Market Process: An Austrian Approach[J]. Journal of Economic Literature,1997, 35(1): 60-85.
[38]Mccaffrey M. On the Theory of Entrepreneurial Incentives and Alertness[J]. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice,2014, 38(4): 891-911.
[39]Tamayo-Torres J., Gutierrez-Gutierrez L., Ruiz-Moreno A. The relationship between exploration and exploitation strategies, manufacturing flexibility and organizational learning: An empirical comparison between Non-ISO and ISO certified firms[J]. European Journal of Operational Research,2014, 232(1): 72-86.
[40]Levinthal D., March J. G. A Model of Adaptive Organizational Search[J]. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization,1981, 2(4): 307-333.
[41]Malen J., Vaaler P. M. Organizational Slack, National Institutions, and Innovation Effort[J]. Journal of World Business,2016, 52(6): 782-797.
[42]Verbeke A., Yuan W. The Drivers of Multinational Enterprise Subsidiary Entrepreneurship in China: A New Resource-Based View Perspective[J]. Journal of Management Studies,2013, 50(2): 236-258.
[43]Liu H., Ding X. H., Guo H., et al. How does slack affect product innovation in high-tech Chinese firms: The contingent value of entrepreneurial orientation[J]. Asia Pacific Journal of Management,2012, 31(1): 47-68.
[44]Bradley S. W., Shepherd D. A., Wiklund J. The Importance of Slack for New Organizations Facing ‘Tough’ Environments[J]. Journal of Management Studies,2011, 48(5): 1071-1097.
[45]Jifri A. O., Drnevich P., Tribble L. The role of absorbed slack and potential slack in improving small business performance during economic uncertainty[J]. Journal of Strategy & Management,2016, 9(4): 474-491.
[46]Foss N. J., Klein P. G., Kor Y. Y., et al. Entrepreneurship, subjectivism, and the resource-based view: toward a new synthesis[J]. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal,2008, 2(1): 73-94.
[47]Servantie V., Rispal M. H. Bricolage, effectuation, and causation shifts over time in the context of social entrepreneurship[J]. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development,2018, 30(3-4): 310-335.
[48]Boxenbaum E., Linda R. New knowledge products as bricolage: Metaphors and scripts in organizational theory[J]. Academy of Management Review,2011, 36(2): 272-296.
[49]Desa G., Basu S. Optimization or Bricolage? Overcoming Resource Constraints in Global Social Entrepreneurship[J]. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal,2013, 7(1): 26-49.
[50]Senyard J., Baker T., Steffens P., et al. Bricolage as a Path to Innovativeness for Resource-Constrained New Firms[J]. Journal of Product Innovation Management,2014, 31(2): 211-230.
[51]Ozgen E., Baron R. A. Social sources of information in opportunity recognition: Effects of mentors, industry networks, and professional forums[J]. Journal of Business Venturing,2007, 22(2): 174-192.
[52]Gregoire D. A., Shepherd D. A., Lambert L. S. Measuring Opportunity-Recognition Beliefs[J]. Organizational Research Methods,2010, 13(1): 114-145.
[53]Baron R. M., Kenny D. A. The Moderator-Mediator Variable Distinction in Social Psychological Research_ Conceptual, Strategic, and Statistical Considerations[J]. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,1986, 51(6): 1173-1182.
[54]Khanna T, Palepu K. The future of business groups in emerging markets_ long-run evidence from chile[J]. Academy of Management Journal,2013, 43(2): 268-285.
[55]于晓宇, 李雅洁, 陶向明. 创业拼凑研究综述与未来展望 [J]. 管理学报,2017, 14(02): 306-316.
PDF(1317 KB)
