Drawing on comparative data from five universities in Latvia and Norway, this article examines universities' strategic responses to a policy environment that calls for more entrepreneurial approaches in organizing research activity in higher education. This study concludes that strategic responses of universities to pressures for entrepreneurialism vary not only depending on the national policy context but also depending on the institution's profile. While universities in this study rarely defy some of the key elements of entrepreneurialism as proposed in the policy domains, their strategic responses are conditioned by local institutional realities.