University of Edinburgh Business School

Centre for Entrepreneurship Research

• Introduction
• Faculty
• Research Areas

Introduction

The Centre for Entrepreneurship Research was established in 2002 to stimulate research in all aspects innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship development. Its scope covers a variety of contexts, including micro, small and large businesses, corporate and family businesses and the public sector.

The objective of the Centre is to further understanding on how entrepreneurship contributes to economic growth and competitiveness, poverty alleviation and social wellbeing. The contribution of entrepreneurship and innovation to these important policy areas is of interest to practitioners and policymakers worldwide.

The Centre for Entrepreneurship Research has an international role and remit, with research and development activities located in a variety of developed and developing countries (including the United Kingdom, Italy, Uganda, Colombia and Sri Lanka).

The Centre brings together a number of researchers and practitioners with interests in various aspects of entrepreneurship and innovation development. Three core posts in the Centre are currently externally funded, the George David Chair of Entrepreneurship and Family Business (Professor Peter Rosa), the Scottish Programme for Entrepreneurship (SPE) Senior Lectureship (Dr Sarah Cooper) and the SPE Lecturer in Entrepreneurship (Dr Adam Bock).

The Centre has a strong focus on the application of research to policy issues and has developed good relationships with government departments and agencies regionally, nationally and internationally.

Faculty

Director

• Dr Sarah Cooper, SPE Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship

Deputy Director

• Dr Geoff Gregson, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Associated Faculty

• Professor Peter Rosa, George David Chair of Entrepreneurship and Family Business
• Professor Chris Carr, Chair of International Business
• Dr Adam Bock, SPE Lecturer in Entrepreneusrship
  
• Dr Ian Graham, Senior Lecturer in Innovation
• Mr Aidan Hetherington, Co-Director of the Entrepreneurship Club
• Dr Simon Harris, Reader in International Business
• Ms Omaima Hatem, Teaching Fellow in Entrepreneurship
  
• Dr Ashley Lloyd, Senior Lecturer in Innovation
• Dr Neil Pollock, Reader, in Innovation
• Mr Marcus Thompson, Associate Tutor
• Dr James Carr, Associate Tutor

Visiting Faculty

• Professor Gavin Don, Visiting Professor, and Founder Director of Equitas Ltd.
• Professor Richard Harrison, Visiting Professor, Queens University Belfast
• Professor Bob Hamilton, Visiting Professor, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
• Professor Henry Etzkowitz, Visiting Professor, Stanford University, USA
• Dr Zografia Bika, Honorary Fellow, University of East Anglia
• Dr Richard Diggle, Honorary Fellow
• Ms Sacha Mann, Former KTP Associate at Archangel Informal Investment
  

International Research Collaborators

• Dr Sarath Kodithuwakku, University of Peradeniya
• Professor Donato Iacobucci, Univeristy of Ancona
• Dr Bill Lucas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
• Professor Waswa Balunywa, Makerere University Business School, Uganda
• Dr Patricia Joubert, University of Swaziland
• Professor Maria Del Mar Fuentes Fuentes, University of Granada, Spain

Doctoral Students

• Mr Michael Clouser
• Mr Antonio Fierro
• Mr Michael Kang
• Mrs Omaima Hatem
  
• Mr Shariq Sheik

Research areas

The Centre’s objective of furthering our understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurship and economic growth and development is being pursued through a number of research areas:

Innovation and entrepreneurship

• The development and commercialisation of high technology spinoffs by local high technology companies (two Knowledge Transfer Partnerships - Professor Peter Rosa).

• Provision of equity investment (Venture Capital) for innovative companies. A Knowledge Transfer Partnership, directed by Dr Geoff Gregson, with Archangel Informal Investment, Scotland’s leading Business Angel Syndicate, is the first time that a KTP has been set up between a UK University and a Business Angel syndicate. Doctoral research completed under this theme includes a study by Di Guo on the influence of institutional factors on the provision of Venture Capital in China.

• Research on academic entrepreneurship. Prof Peter Rosa has published results of his work on gender and academic entrepreneurship in the sciences in Entrepreneurship and Regional Development and on-going work by Dr Sarah Cooper is focusing on technology commercialisation by female academics in the UK and Spain (with Prof Fuentes, University of Granada). Dr Cooper is also undertaking work with Dr Geoff Gregson on university commercialisation and spin-out/start-up formation, and Dr Geoff Gregson has completed two commissioned studies on aspects of R&D activity and commercialisation for the Social Science Advisory Committee and the University of Edinburgh School of Informatics.

• Structure and sensemaking at innovative entrepreneurial firms. Dr. Adam J. Bock is leading an ongoing study that simulates cognitive maps to understand how innovative entrepreneurial firms respond to significant transition and crisis. The project is currently comparing effects across Scottish, English, and American firms.

• Dr. Adam J. Bock, in collaboration with the Edinburgh BioQuarter, is leading a multi-year study of the life science ecosystem centred on The University of Edinburgh College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. View a copy of the preliminary report.

Portfolio Entrepreneurship and Economic Growth

This area focuses on the nature of portfolio entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial diversification, and its role in stimulating economic growth. The following research is being undertaken:

• Research on how far the establishment of business groups is an entrepreneurial process (Professor Peter Rosa, Omaima Hatem, Donato Iacobucci, Univeristy of Ancona).

• Entrepreneurship, diversification and pluriactivity in Scottish and Sri Lankan Farmers (Professor Peter Rosa with Dr Sarath Kodithuwakku, University of Peradeniya).

• The contribution of large scale portfolio entrepreneurs to economic growth and development in Uganda (Professor Peter Rosa with Professor Waswa Balunywa, Makerere University Business School).

• Risk and portfolio entrepreneurship in Malawi (Antonio Fierro, Doctoral Student).

Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries

The relationship between entrepreneurship, economic growth and poverty is poorly understood. The following projects shed light on this:

• In 2003 Professor Peter Rosa instigated the participation of Makerere University Business School in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, which established that Uganda had the highest rates of entrepreneurship until then recorded. The research has enabled the questioning of core assumptions underlying the GEM project. The 2009 survey is currently being undertaken.
  

• Research on entrepreneurship and family business in Uganda is detailed below.

Family Businesses and Entrepreneurship

The relationship between entrepreneurship, family business and business performance is an area of growing global interest. The following research is being carried out on this theme:

• A database of family owned businesses of Scotland’s best performing companies. This involves comparing performance measures between family and non family owned businesses.

• Studies of intergenerational entrepreneurial processes in family businesses and business families. The Centre is a member of the STEP Family Business Research Consortium coordinated by Babson College, which is researching trans-generational issues in family businesses in Europe, Latin America, Asia and North America. Additionally the Centre is conducting research in Uganda on intergenerational entrepreneurship in Ugandan large and medium sized firms, and in the UK on the career pathways of second generational Asian family members (Shari Sheik).

• International business and family business: Models of internationalisation do normally consider the role of family in the internationalisation process. Yet a large number of large international businesses are family owned and managed. Research by Professor Chris Carr on leading international businesses has shown that not only are a significant number family owned, but that they tend to perform better than non family businesses.

Entrepreneurship education, self-efficacy and intent

Research is being undertaken (Dr Sarah Cooper) to explore entrepreneurial self-efficacy and intent and how both might be developed through various types of intervention, including education, where different pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning have the potential to deliver contrasting outcomes.

• Dr Sarah Cooper is a founder member, with Dr William Lucas at MIT, of the Education and High Growth Innovation (EHGI) research group, a collaboration with colleagues from five UK universities (Edinburgh, Cambridge, Lancaster, Sheffield and York) and MIT, supported initially by the Cambridge-MIT Institute. Its work explores the influence of educational programmes and other interventions on the motivation and capability of individuals to engage in entrepreneurial behaviour. The group's field of study includes programmes involving, amongst others, high school pupils and mid-career men and women interested in venturing.

• Research has been undertaken to assess programmes for a number of public-sector and educational institutions in the UK and Australia. Programmes evaluated include Enterprisers (UK and Australia), Encouraging Dynamic Global Entrepreneurs (EDGE for Scottish Enterprise Dunbartonshire, UK), Scottish Institute for Enterprise’s Bootcamp and the HEIF-funded SPEED initiative (University of Wolverhampton/SPEED consortium).