Post-entry opportunity development of CMNEs from a resource bricolage perspective

Purpose This study aims to examine how Chinese multinational enterprises (CMNEs) develop international opportunities after market entry in resource-constrained host-country environments, drawing on a resource bricolage perspective. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a qualitative, longitudinal single-case study of China Road and Bridge Corporation in Kenya (1984–2021). Data are triangulated from interviews, archival materials and secondary sources to reconstruct key events and trace post-entry opportunity development over time. Findings The study identifies a stage-based bricolage mechanism for CMNEs’ post-entry opportunity development. In the discovery stage, firms tend to rely mainly on parallel bricolage to reuse general-purpose resources across projects, which more often supports discovered opportunities through rapid scanning, replication and incremental adaptation. In the creation stage, firms tend to shift toward selective bricolage to integrate domain-specific resources within a focal domain, which is more conducive to codeveloping created opportunities with local stakeholders. In the transformation stage, firms increasingly combine both bricolage modes, enabling conversion between discovered and created opportunities over time. Originality/value The study extends international opportunity development research by theorizing how bricolage supports post-entry opportunity development as a dynamic, staged process in emerging-market multinational contexts. For managers, the findings offer guidance on selecting and sequencing parallel and selective bricolage strategies when operating under resource scarcity and institutional uncertainty.