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逆強論：隨創式的資源建構過程
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Inversing the Powerful: The Process of Resource Construction
through Bricolage
Summary
The norm in business competition is usually the weak being the prey of the strong, with
high-power actors winning over low-power actors. The premise of strategic management
literature has been that large firms with abundant resources can dominate competitive
smaller firms that struggle with resource constraints and are unable to change their power
positions. This paper addresses the question of how low-power actors can change their power
positions under constraints such as lack of resources or the presence of a monopoly. To
answer this question, we construct a power-inverse model that outlines the processes in
which low-power actors recognize opportunities, construct resources, and redefine the
context of competition with high-power actors. The power-inverse model consists of three
principles low-power actors follow: (a) recognizing opportunity, with low-power actors
recognizing the inevitable weakness of high-power actors in their strength and dominance,
(b) constructing resources through alliances with their opponents’ partners, and (c) redefining
the rules of the competition. These principles explain how the low-power actor ‘overpowers’
the high-power actor by changing and reshaping the dynamics and relationships of high-
power actors and their partners.
The research question is addressed through a case study based on the competition
between Advantech and Kontron in the market segment of Computer on Module (COM), an
electronic baseboard for industrial computers in China. The competition between Advantech
and Kontron reflects ‘the David and Goliath’ story. Kontron is a multinational corporation
with a long history in designing and developing COM while Advantech is a latecomer in the
COM market. The two companies faced intensive competition in China. For this study, data
were gathered through in-depth ethnographic work consisting of structured interviews with
executives, managers, and engineers from Advantech and Kontron, as well as field
observations at the two companies’ branches in Taiwan. We focused on four key elements in
our analysis: constraints, opportunity recognition, resource construction, and bricolage
outcome. We analyzed the kind of constraints Kontron imposed on Advantech and the kind
Ruey-Lin Hsiao
, Professor, Graduate Institute of Technology, Innovation & Intellectual Property
Management, National Chengchi University
Su-Hua Ou
, Assistant Professor, Department of Business Administration, Soochow University
Yun Su
, Assistant Professor, Department of Strategy and Organization, Lee Kong Chian School of
Business, Singapore Management University