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逆強論：隨創式的資源建構過程
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niche—COM technology in quasi-military standards—which had not been applied to COM
technology before..
This research contributes to literature in entrepreneurship, bricolage, and strategic
management. First, entrepreneurship studies have proposed that entrepreneurs can recognize
opportunities due to their prior knowledge and challenging previous experiences. We extend
this line of research by proposing that entrepreneurs can recognize opportunities in the
constraints lying within incumbents’ strengths and dominance. Second, studies of bricolage
have focused on “making do” by repurposing resources and recombining resources, but have
yet to examine how to construct resources from nothing. We propose that low-power actor
can construct resources from nothing by giving symbolic meanings to the resources, making
allies with opponents’ partners, and obtaining resources from them. Last, we propose a
systematic power-inverse model for low-power actors to inverse their power positions with
respect to high-power actors. Strategic literature has indicated various tactics for responding
to power constraints; however, these tactics have been reactive rather than proactive. We
argue that low-power actors are able to inverse their power positions by redefining the
context of the competition. Our model indicates that low-power actors can proactively affect
the context of competition and reshape the dynamics between the high-power actors and
their partners, and low-power actors can be influential in competitive environments.
This research has a few limitations but opens up directions for future research. First, we
could not conduct fieldwork directly with Advantech and Kontron in China so had to rely on
field observation and interviews with their branches in Taiwan. Our data collection included
interviews only with managers from the two companies who were stationed in China, so we
could not examine how they formulate strategic responses in their interaction with each
other. Future research could examine the strategic interaction between high-power and low-
power actors through the lens of the power-inverse framework and explore other ways in
which actors can change the rules of the game to inverse their power positions. Second, we
did not have the data to account for how Advantech combined and integrated new resources
with its existing resources. Thus, we could not address how actors who have obtained and
internalized new resources integrate them with existing resources and whether such actors
find a synergy between old and new resources. These questions could be addressed in future
research to shed light on the synergy of strategic, organizational, and human resources.
Third, as suggested, resources can have symbolic meanings, and actors can re-contextualize
the meanings of resources to construct new resources from nothing. Future research could
continue to examine the social construction of resources and how the process of
re-contextualization of the resources may facilitate resource construction.