Welcome from the Director:
Professor Andrew Burke
Welcome to the Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurial Performance and Economics which manages Cranfield School of Management’s entrepreneurship activities. The Centre is new and was founded in 2006. Our mission is to create a leading international business school centre which provides a stimulating entrepreneurial environment to promote high performing ventures through cutting edge entrepreneurial research, teaching and practice. Our programmes include: the MBA which has an excellent reputation for enterprising students and alumni, a highly active student entrepreneurship association, the Cranfield UpStart Programme which is a business start-up and investment readiness programme (launched in 2006 with great results), Britain’s largest and longest running executive programme for managers of fast growing ventures (BGP) and an extensive network of active entrepreneurs and venture financiers. All of these activities are underpinned by an international research programme on entrepreneurship drawing extensively from the fields of economics and finance. We have recently hired a senior research fellow in applied econometrics/economics, a research fellow in entrepreneurial finance and a lecturer in entrepreneurship. We also have opportunities for PhD research studentships.
Cranfield has a long tradition of enterprising students and alumni who play a key role in our programs. Many of these started up new ventures while on the Cranfield MBA. 20% of our MBA alumni are involved in launching a new venture within 10 years of graduating from Cranfield. As Director, I am lucky that so many of these people actively ‘give back’ to the School by participating and contributing to our many activities. Their contribution is an important cornerstone of our programme and indeed brand.
We have a philosophy of embedding rigour and reality in all our activities. We do not see practice and analysis (or theory) as being in conflict with one another but important complementarities. In many instances, entrepreneurship can be complex and in such situations it requires a deep understanding of this reality and the ability to make sense of it. With this core philosophy we aim to ensure that the Centre is indeed a centre of excellence for international entrepreneurship research and practice with the outputs of both features embedded in all teaching programs.
The Centre is committed to promote entrepreneurial ventures with high performance potential. The characteristics of these ventures should reflect the entrepreneurial values of Cranfield University and the benefactor of the Bettany Chair of Entrepreneurship, Tim Bettany. These are ventures which:
- Are self-sustaining
- Personally fulfill the founders and those involved in realising the vision of the venture
- Have potential for high economic performance
- Benefit society and provide role models for productive enterprise
- Foster a spirit of learning and ‘giving back’ in the entrepreneurial community
- Involve the highest standards of integrity and honesty
- Are ethical and environmentally friendly
I would like to invite you to participate with our Centre. Have a look around our website and see if you can contribute as a student or as part of our network in any of our diverse range of activities. We also welcome comments and suggestions.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew