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The entrepreneurial university: strategies, processes, and competing goals

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Abreu

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Vadim Grinevich

    (University of Bradford School of Management)

Abstract

The configuration of the entrepreneurial university remains poorly understood given the complexity of the university as an organisation with multiple missions and multiple ‘products and services’, delivered by multiple and sometimes competing sub-organisations with different cultures and norms, in response to different outside pressures and demands. The outcomes of the entrepreneurial university reflect the plurality of goals, including research, teaching, knowledge commercialisation, and civic and community empowerment, but they are rarely considered within the same conceptual and empirical framework. Hence, the aim of this paper is to explore how multiple and sometimes competing strategies and associated arrangements, resources and capabilities within the entrepreneurial university affect the delivery of economic and social benefits to the external world across teaching, research, knowledge commercialisation, and civic and community empowerment missions. To achieve this aim, we elaborate the entrepreneurial university ecosystem concept so that we can systematically capture the cross-influences of the entrepreneurial university elements in their entirety rather than focussing on selected ecosystem elements and their effects in relation to one particular university mission. Our analysis is based on a novel institution-level database on university strategies, goals, policies, and support mechanisms, providing annual data for all higher education institutions in the UK over the period 2017–2020, complemented with annual administrative data on staff, finances, graduate outcomes, and infrastructure, as well as contextual data on the wider regional entrepreneurship ecosystem. Using a Seemingly Unrelated Estimation approach, we contribute with novel fundings explicitly identifying synergies and tensions between different elements of the entrepreneurial university ecosystem that affect the delivery of its outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Abreu & Vadim Grinevich, 2024. "The entrepreneurial university: strategies, processes, and competing goals," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 49(6), pages 1991-2034, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:49:y:2024:i:6:d:10.1007_s10961-024-10085-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s10961-024-10085-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entrepreneurial university; Ecosystems; Entrepreneurial university elements; Entrepreneurial university missions; Resources; Capabilities;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

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