Resumo

Startups have a relevant social role in generating solutions and jobs, but need strategies to deal with a restricted environment. It is common for startups to fail due to a lack of resources, especially in emerging economies. In this sense, entrepreneurial bricolage (EB) and frugal innovation (FI) can contribute to improving startup performance and success odds. Moreover, founders’ knowledge can be a valorous resource to startups FI. Recent literature claims to study startups that need to innovate using scarce and limited resources.

How is the founder’s ICT knowledge related to Frugal Innovation in the product/service development strategy? Objective: This paper aims to explore the relationship between founders’ ICT knowledge and Frugal Innovation in startups resulting in performance, in the presence of Entrepreneurial Bricolage.

In KBV, the firm's primary role is to incorporate specialized knowledge residing in individuals in goods and services (Grant, 1996, Kogut, 2000). Frugal innovation by Weyrauch & Herstatt (2016) used 3 criteria: substantial cost reduction, focus on core features, and optimized performance. Bricolage is the act of improvising by applying combinations of the resources that are at hand for new problems and opportunities (Fisher, 2012). An approach to startup performance evaluation is through founders´ perception of competitors and this is the case of the study conducted by Wiklund & Shepherd (2003

The multiple case study was adopted for better variance along relevant dimensions (Seawnght & Gerring, 2008). The initial categories, derived from the literature review. As recommended by Yin (2016), we used sources triangulation. The interview data was collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with founders. Secondary data was collected. We used the structuring of the content analysis suggested by Bardin (2011). Atlas.ti tool was used to support the processes of registration, coding, and analysis.

The founder’s ICTs knowledge provides a better ability for the company to innovate with few resources (FI), supporting our first proposition The founder's ICTs knowledge also helps the exploration of new possibilities and resources to innovate frugally, supporting our second proposition. The entrepreneur’s bricolage behavior allows for a greater ability to innovate frugally, supporting our third proposition. Finally, the combination of the founder's knowledge and his ability of bricolage, FI, proves to contribute to the startup’s performance, supporting our fourth proposition.

It was found that the previous founder’s ICT knowledge use has influenced product development strategy through FI and bricolage resulting in different performances. This research allowed the deepening of the relations between the founders´ ICT knowledge, bricolage, frugal innovation and the performance in the context of technology.

Grant, R. M. (1996). TOWARD A KNOWLEDGE-BASED THEORY OF THE FIRM. Strategic Management Journal, 17(Winter Special Issue), 109–122. Weyrauch, T., & Herstatt, C. (2016). What is frugal innovation? Three defining criteria. Journal of Frugal Innovation, 2(1), 1–17. Wiklund, J., & Shepherd, D. (2003). Knowledge-based resources, entrepreneurial orientation, and the performance of small and medium-sized businesses. Strategic Management Journal, 24(13), 1307–1314.