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Synthesis of Motives and Use Patterns
Figure 1 below summarizes the motives and use patterns across the two groups of firms. In sum, entrepreneurial firms, driven by time constraints and limited resources, use contingent resources in a wide range of areas, including very sensitive ones. And the individuals who enter entrepreneurial firms are often highly integrated into the organization itself. In contrast, non–entrepreneurial firms make concerted efforts to block sensitive areas from contingent work and have intended strategies in place to use contingent resources to ameliorate uncertainty at the firm level and during the product development cycle. However, emergent use patterns of contingent work also are present in these firms. Because of bureaucratic and technical constraints, contractors do make their way into more sensitive areas of the firm.
FIGURE 1 Summary of Motives and Use Patterns
| Entrepreneurial Firms | Non–entrepreneurial Firms | |
| Motives | —Flexibility (product cycle, sub– standard individual skills) —Speed
of acquiring skills, |
—Conscious motives *Flexibility (product cycle, firm level uncertainty) —Emergent motive *Bureaucratic constraints *Technical constraints |
| Use Patterns | —Unbounded —Integrated |
—Segregation —Covert integration |
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