Entrepreneurship: Theory Vs Practice (Series 1B)
Bricolage Theory of Entrepreneurship
This theory was proposed by Claude Levi-Strauss. in his book entitled “The Savage Mind”.
The key premise of the theory is that the concept of entrepreneurship tend to be practiced by people in resource bounded and/or economically depressed regions of the world.
Simply put, people in poor countries tend to naturally engage in micro entrepreneurial activities base on survival of the fittest ideology as their governments would have failed in generating and distributing the wealth of their nation. They are therefore, forced to make something out of nothing; nothing in this case referring to the under-utilised resources that can be cleverly converted into marketable products and/or services.
He referred to entrepreneurs in those settings as “bricoleur” which simply refers to someone who creates things out of whatever resources are available. He or she doesn’t wait for everything to be ready or perfect before he/she starts, but rather make use of what is available now.
Levi-Strauss compared the “bricoleur” to the engineer; the bricoleur who he also referred to as the Savage mind uses the available tools or resources he/she has to produce a new product or complete a specific project.
In contrast, the engineer also referred to as the scientific mind tend to firstly plan ahead, then source for the resources needed before starting the project. The bricoleur tend to engage in emergent change practices where change is managed using an incremental approach whereas the engineer tend to engage in planned change practices.
This theory is very much similar to Professor Saras Sarasvathy Effectuation theory of entrepreneurship which states that, in starting and growing a business, entrepreneurs naturally start with an evaluation of the resources they have (money, skills, network etc.) and then sets realistic goals that match those resources.
The effectuation logic starts with the assessment of the available resources you have and then set a realistic vision/goal out of them
In summary, the bricoleur entrepreneur tend to make use of those resources that are readily available in his/her environment or at his/her disposal to start a venture or project rather than waiting for a huge capital/resources that may never come thereby killing the dream.
Bricoleurs simply refuse to accept the limitations of their environment as a reason for not starting a business. Rather, they go out and start irrespective of societal limitations.
About the Series
Entrepreneurship Theory Vs Practice is a series to demonstrate the interlink between entrepreneurship theories and practice.
A lot has been said about the relevance and practicability of academic knowledge with specific reference to the discipline of entrepreneurship. Some have argued that we don’t need an academic knowledge to succeed in the formation and growth of an enterprise.
As an academic and practitioner of entrepreneurship and a strong believer of the relevance of both, I will be presenting a brief abstract of some of the prominent academic studies on entrepreneurship and how they can help you in the formation and growth of your venture.
