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Universities are a relevant and little-explored context to the study of strategic action, considering their need to adapt to environmental dynamics and establish a closer relationship with society. This study contributes to shedding light on how the changing process from a traditional university model to a more entrepreneurial model takes place. Thus, this study aims to analyze the role played by the universities' strategic management to the establishment of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in the academic environment. For this sake, we did a multiple case study focusing on managers' decisions at the strategic level. The selected cases are three universities, two in Brazil and one in Sweden, recognized for their academic entrepreneurship approach in their environments. Based on these cases, the study reveals the influence of top-management decisions for the establishment of EO and how traditional institutions can pursue an entrepreneurial university model. The results emphasize the key role played by the universities' strategic management in establishing EO, through different levels of participation, but with recurrent behaviors in the implementation of the third academic mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes research concerning with identifying and explaining similarities and differences in characteristics of entrepreneurs in incubators in Brazil and Portugal. The analytical fundamentals for the comparisons were Hofstede's cultural dimension model and entrepreneurial orientation (Lumpkim & Dess, 1996). The use of these two models relied on the application of a questionnaire to entrepreneurs in these two countries, and the research was therefore based on intensive field work, which was crucial to achieving the desired goals. Results from the research revealed that there were differences in cultural dimensions - power distance and uncertainty avoidance, both higher in Brazil. The entrepreneurial orientation was also higher in Brazil, especially risk-taking and competitive aggressiveness. The Brazilian entrepreneurs were more likely to reject future uncertainties and showed a greater propensity to take risks and expose themselves to uncertainty, as long as they were paid for this exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]