ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author focuses on the firm's use of narratives that can help render visible the firm's self-conception and image of context. In Penrose's view the concepts of self-conception and image of context of the firm form a mechanism by which firms act. She argues that by considering construction of meaning along those lines suggested by Geertz, the subjective elements that Penrose points to may be treated not as unknowable, personal fads of the entrepreneur, but as shared cultural expressions of the firm. The author treats growth as a process of development in the sense suggested by Penrose, and focuses on the method and direction of growth in Fiberline. She also focuses on the method and direction of Fiberline's growth. The author demonstrates different ways of working with narrative or discursive approaches in the study of entrepreneurship to catalyze the introduction of this line of thought in the field.
