Role of Digital Platforms in Entrepreneurial Processes: A Resource Enabling Perspective of Startups in Pakistan

TL;DR

This study investigates how digital platforms serve as external enablers in Pakistani startups, highlighting their role in making entrepreneurial processes more flexible and resource-efficient through qualitative case studies.

Contribution

It introduces the application of entrepreneurial bricolage theory to understand digital platform-based startups in Pakistan and explores how these platforms facilitate continuous and resourceful entrepreneurial processes.

Findings

Digital platforms make entrepreneurial processes less bounded and more adaptable.

Startups can evolve products/services continuously after initial endorsement.

Limited-resource startups effectively use bricolage to navigate entrepreneurial stages.

Abstract

This article aims to explore the role of digital platforms as external enablers in entrepreneurial processes. The recent infusion of digital platforms into different aspects of innovation and entrepreneurship has supported digital entrepreneurship; however, the altered entrepreneurial processes are yet to be explored. This study focuses on digital platform-based startups of Pakistan and draws on entrepreneurial bricolage theory to understand the enabling external resources. We followed multiple qualitative case studies approach and collected data through semi-structured interviews from two startups operating solely on digital platforms, 1) XYLEXA and 2) Toycycle. The findings show that entrepreneurial process is a continuous process. Digital platforms have made entrepreneurial processes less bounded i.e. the products and services keep on evolving even after they have been endorsed to the end user. Moreover, platform-based startups having limited resources can move through the entire entrepreneurial process by combining available resources efficiently and effectively.