Surviving with Limited Resources: A Literature Review on Resource Bricolage, Strategic Resources, and Sustainable Performance of Gen Z Food and Beverage Entrepreneurs
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Abstract
This literature review examines how Generation Z food and beverage (F&B) entrepreneurs achieve sustainable performance despite operating under conditions of severe resource scarcity. Drawing on 32 peer-reviewed journal articles published mainly between 2024 and 2026, the review synthesizes three interrelated streams of research: resource bricolage, strategic resource management grounded in the resource-based view, and sustainable performance in small and micro enterprises. The review finds that Gen Z entrepreneurs, who typically enter the F&B sector with minimal capital, rely heavily on bricolage practices such as improvisation, making do, and recombination of readily available resources to compensate for the absence of formal strategic assets. However, bricolage alone rarely explains superior performance; its effect on sustainable outcomes is consistently mediated by strategic capabilities such as digital adoption, green innovation, dynamic grit, and knowledge management. The review further shows that sustainable performance in resource-constrained ventures is multidimensional, encompassing financial, social, and environmental outcomes, and is shaped by orchestration processes that convert improvised resources into durable competitive advantage. Based on this synthesis, the review proposes an integrative conceptual framework linking resource bricolage, strategic resource orchestration, and the three dimensions of sustainable performance, positioned specifically within the context of youth-led F&B micro and small enterprises. The review concludes that policy and incubation programs supporting Gen Z entrepreneurs should move beyond capital injection alone toward building strategic and digital capabilities that allow bricolage to be translated into lasting sustainability.
Keywords: resource bricolage, strategic resources, sustainable performance, Gen Z entrepreneurship, food and beverage SMEs
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