Entrepreneurial Ventures in Higher Education Analysing Organizational Growth

This article examines the creation and growth of a Centre for Enterprise (CfE), based in Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) Business School, which grew in 6 years to a total of 21 staff. In the article we draw on the concept of 'strategic space' to demonstrate the way in which a number of crises were negotiated during the CfE's growth. We demonstrate that issues of strategy and people management were particularly significant 'tipping points' in pursuing a growth strategy. This strategy was incremental and evolutionary rather than based on the classical rational model associated with Ansoff. In order to develop both research and business support capabilities in the CfE, strategy emerged as 'crises of knowing' that were resolved in response to the specific institutional contexts in which the CfE was located. In summary, the CfE's strategic orientation focused on building an organization that was entrepreneurial, flexible and responsive to new opportunities.