Bricolage Meets Strategy: Insights From Greek Social Entrepreneurs in Times of Crisis

This study explores how Greek social entrepreneurs use bricolage—creatively drawing on scarce resources to solve problems and seize opportunities—to navigate crises and drive strategic growth. It distinguishes formational and strategic bricolage, highlighting their interplay and offering actionable insights for managers and policymakers.

Author

Luc Glasbeek
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Keywords

Download the full study

Glasbeek, L. (2024). Bricolage and its Strategic Connotations: A Study of Greek Social Entrepreneurs in Times of Crisis. British Journal of Management. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12880

14 January 2025

What did I study and why does this matter?

My study of Greek social entrepreneurs, published in the British Journal of Management on 22 November 2024, sheds light on how resource scarcity can inspire strategic growth through a practice called bricolage. Bricolage refers to using scarce resources in inventive ways to solve problems and seize opportunities.

On the beaches, you have all this plastic waste. So, we started a series of workshops to see what trash can be and explore how it’s a resource that hasn’t yet been activated. We ended up constructing an open-air cinema.

(An interviewee talking about bricolage)

The study’s premise is that the strategic dimensions of bricolage have been critically undertheorized despite practitioners’ recognition of bricolage’s intrinsic strategic overtones. This represents a significant gap in current scholarly discourse, suggesting a need for more nuanced theoretical frameworks that can capture the strategic implications of bricolage.

This topic is also relevant to managers and policymakers seeking to understand how organizations can survive or thrive in severely constrained conditions. Bricolage’s strategic connotations help understand how companies navigate complex economic environments where traditional strategic approaches, such as inflexible top-down planning, may fall short.

What about the research context?

Greece’s prolonged economic, political, and social crises provide a vivid context for me to examine bricolage. When Greece’s debt crisis erupted in 2008, the country faced a cascade of enduring challenges. Severe austerity measures and an economic meltdown affected the public and private sectors, prompting a mass emigration of skilled workers.

Simultaneously, an influx between 2014 and 2017 of over 1.1 million migrants from war zones, as reported by the United Nations Refugee Agency, further strained already depleted institutional resources.

Greek businesses struggled with limited access to financial services compared to most EU member states, while high household debt levels restricted owner financing as an alternative to bank loans. Just as the economy began to stabilize with modest annual growth of 2% from 2017 to 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a sharp 10% economic contraction in 2020, compounding the country’s vulnerabilities.

What’s the research design?

The study draws on qualitative data from 20 Greek social enterprises operating in a crisis context. These Greek social enterprises have invariably faced severe resource scarcity.

Using semi-structured interviews and observations, the research captures the lived experiences of entrepreneurs grappling with resource scarcity. Analysis was conducted using thematic coding, ensuring both rigor and depth.

What did I find?

This study is significant because it highlights how resource-scarce environments—often perceived as detrimental—may unlock creativity and drive organizational survival through bricolage. In the process, strategies may form. Furthermore, it demonstrates how the resulting strategies, in turn, influence and shape bricolage, creating a reciprocal relationship between bricolage and strategy. The study conceptualizes two key forms of bricolage:

  • Formational Bricolage: This process involves creatively combining resources to organically shape a strategy as it emerges, illustrating how actions taken in the moment can give rise to broader strategic directions.
  • Strategic Bricolage: In this form, strategy actively guides bricolage efforts, providing focus and sometimes setting boundaries for resource use, ensuring alignment of bricolage outcomes with long-term goals.

A striking example of formational bricolage comes from a CEO who explained how she employed bricolage to overcome the difficulties that his company experienced: “I have to have the mental flexibility to change and incorporate new insights to survive. I’m looking for income streams. I have no other choice but to be open.” This quote reflects the CEO’s intention to remain flexible and open to fundamentally new strategies for survival in a challenging and uncertain environment.

“I was invited to talk on the International Day for Failure. During my talk, I said that if you make a mistake, make it fast, and move on.” (An interviewee talking about the importance of flexibility)

In contrast, an apt illustration of strategic bricolage comes from a CEO saying: “I think if you don’t have a strong vision […], it’s very difficult to overcome all the challenges.” This statement highlights the importance of having a well-defined strategy that shapes and directs the organization’s actions and behaviors. The strong vision acts as a framework that ensures the actions taken through bricolage align with long-term goals, providing focus and helping to steer the organization through uncertain or resource-scarce circumstances.

The study thus describes how entrepreneurs and managers engage in a back-and-forth process that shapes the trajectory of their ventures (“formational bricolage”) while also being influenced by these trajectories once they have emerged (“strategic bricolage”).

What can managers and organizations take away from this?

While the study provides researchers with a more accurate, holistic depiction of what actually happens in organizations by innovatively linking bricolage and strategic behaviors, it gives practitioners a more precise grasp of everyday activities by separately acknowledging formational and strategic bricolage and providing a theoretical foundation for their manifestation. For managers, specifically, this means embracing a dual mindset: cultivating immediate creativity while aligning actions with broader goals. Moreover, policymakers may consider developing adaptive regulatory frameworks that recognize and support bricolage-driven innovation, creating flexible infrastructures that accommodate emergent, resourceful problem-solving strategies across organizational and institutional contexts. Yet, bricoleurs must also remain mindful of the broader vision(s) guiding their work. This underscores the critical role of effective communication in ensuring alignment and shared understandings.

Conclusion

This study describes the interplay between bricolage’s resourcefulness and strategy in crisis contexts. By distinguishing between formational and strategic bricolage, it offers a theoretical contribution to academia and actionable insights for managers and policymakers. Ultimately, it highlights how even the most challenging environments can be fertile ground for innovation and strategic growth.

Author

Luc Glasbeek
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Luc Glasbeek is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management and Organization at the School of Business and Economics of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He earned his PhD in 2020 and has since published in the International Journal of Management Reviews and the British Journal of Management. With over 25 years of professional and entrepreneurial experience, Dr. Glasbeek has developed a thorough understanding of international businesses. His current research interests include bricolage, leadership, and strategy. His ORCID is: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7650-5003.