Improvising firms: bricolage, account giving and improvisational competencies in the founding process

Improvisation occurs when the design and execution of novel activities converge. Drawing on three samples of young firms, this inductive study investigates the existence, channels and implications of strategic improvisation in knowledge-intensive new businesses. Our study suggests that not only may founding itself be improvisational in some cases, but improvisational processes and issues permeate entrepreneurial activity and have non-obvious implications for emergent firm strategies and competencies. We develop propositions in four domains: (1) the occurrence of strategic improvisation; (2) tactical improvisation rising to the level of strategy; (3) network bricolage; and (4) improvisational competencies. This study contributes to research on organizational improvisation, bricolage and entrepreneurship. Theoretically and in practice, both improvisation and bricolage represent potentially rich additions to the vocabulary of entrepreneurial action. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.