Grow to last or grow to sell? Strategy making and narrative identity refocussing in business support programmes

Venture growth creates tensions that, in turn, cause entrepreneurial identities (EI) to evolve as entrepreneurs have to engage with new forms of strategic thinking in order to scale up. However, little is known about how these tensions inform emergent entrepreneurial identity work and its consequences, as entrepreneurs reorganize ventures for growth. We explore this issue by analysing how the process of remaking strategy under the auspices of a UK university business school venture growth programme informed the narrative identity work of the participant entrepreneurs. Our findings illustrate that engaging in strategy making generated ‘narrative identity refocussing’ as entrepreneurs used strategy-related meanings to plot growth events into their self-narration and construct growth trajectories expected to lead to future growth. We contribute to debate by extending understanding about how narrative identity work is undertaken at moments of transition in the entrepreneurial journey, specifically as entrepreneurs scale their ventures, and how business schools can enhance this process.