Events at the Small Business Research Centre (SBRC)

February 2019

SBRC seminar: Entrepreneur resources, cultural context, and social value creation

• Speaker: Professor Dirk De Clercq (Brock University, Canada & Kingston University)
• Where: Room KHBS2038 (Kingston Business School)
• When: Monday, 18 February 2019
• Time : 1-2 pm
• Abstract: This study seeks to provide a better understanding of how the interplay of individual-level resources and culture affects entrepreneurs' propensity to adopt social value creation goals. Using a sample of entrepreneurs in multiple countries, the results offer empirical evidence that individual-level resources are relevant for predicting the extent to which entrepreneurs emphasize social goals for their business. Furthermore, culture influences the way entrepreneurs allocate their resources toward social value creation.

• About the speaker: Dirk De Clercq is Professor of Management in the Goodman School of Business at Brock University (Canada) and also Research Professor in the Small Business Research Centre at Kingston University. He is a recipient of the Brock University Chancellor's Chair for Research Excellence and the Goodman School of Business Distinguished Researcher Award. Prior to that, he is Consulting Editor of International Small Business Journal and served as Associate Editor of Journal of Small Business Management. He is also an Editorial Board Member of Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Management Studies, Small Business Economics, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, and Venture Capital: an International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance.

March 2019

Listening to the heart or the head? Exploring the "willingness vs. ability" succession dilemma

• Speaker: Dr Melanie Richards (University of Bath)
• Date: Friday 15 March 2019
• Time: 1-2pm
• Room: KHBS 3035
• Abstract: Selecting a successor from within the family often creates a decision-making dilemma for incumbent owner-managers. Incumbents ideally seek a highly committed and at the same time highly competent child as successor, yet such a candidate is often not available. Rather, family successors often exhibit lower than desired levels of commitment or competence. Extant literature is unable to predict which of the desired attributes of a potential family successor-commitment (i.e. willingness) or competence (i.e. ability)-is most important in this succession dilemma. Drawing from the institutional logics literature, we suggest that the lifetime experiences, education, and cultural environment of the incumbent as well as situational stimuli within the firm direct incumbent attention to either the corporate logic, favouring ability, or the family logic, favouring commitment, to guide decision-making in the succession dilemma. We use policy capturing to test our hypotheses, drawing on responses of 1,060 family firm owner-managers, and contribute to research on succession, family firms, and institutional logics. 
  Keywords: succession, family firms, decision-making, institutional logics.

• About the speaker: Dr Melanie Richards is Senior Lecturer in Family Business at the School of Management, University of Bath. Prior to joining the University of Bath, Melanie was a Lecturer in Management at the University of Bristol and a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Family Business at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. She held a 12 month visiting position at Cass Business School, City University London. Next to her academic career she worked as a management consultant for PwC in London. She is an advisory board member of the Annual Sustainability, Ethics and Entrepreneurship (SEE) Conference. Her research focuses on corporate social responsibility, entrepreneurship and innovation in family firms and has been published in academic journals such as Journal of Management Studies, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice and Journal of Product Innovation Management and Journal of Business Venturing.

April 2019

Small Business Research Centre Seminar: A historical perspective on institutions and regional entrepreneurship in a developing country

• Speaker: Dr Sebastian Aparicio (Durham University)
• Date: Friday 12 April 2019
• Time: 1-2pm
• Room: KHBS 3022
• Abstract: Extant literature about institutions and entrepreneurship has assumed that institutional factors are exogenous. Acknowledging that both institutions and entrepreneurial activity may be recursively linked, we attempt to overcome the endogeneity issue by examining the historical role in the relationship between informal institutions and regional entrepreneurship in a developing country (Antioquia, Colombia). Drawing on institutional economics, we hypothesize that informal institutions (i.e. entrepreneurial and business skills) are endured mechanisms enabling entrepreneurial activity. Based on a sample of 3557 individuals from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in 2012 and historical information about gold mining in the sixteenth century, we test a set of Probit models with instrumental variables. Our results show that the exploitation of gold mines and commercialisation of gold in the sixteenth century explain the persistence of those institutions such as entrepreneurial and business skills influencing entrepreneurship nowadays. Theoretical and practical implications about the importance of historical events for entrepreneurship research are discussed.
• About the Speaker: Dr Sebastian Aparicio is an Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship at Durham University Business School. He is also a Research Fellow at the Centre for University Entrepreneurship (Centre d'Iniciatives Emprenedores Universitàries -CIEU-, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona -UAB). Sebastian's research focuses on the effects of entrepreneurial activity on economic growth and development under the institutional lenses, which has been published in outlets such as Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Small Business Economics, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, and Futures among others

May 2019

SBRC seminar: Formal and Informal Institutional Differences Between Home and Host Country and Location Choice: Evidence from the Spanish Hotel Industry

• Speaker: Dr Ana M. Romero-Martínez (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain)
• Date: Monday 13 May 2019
• Time: 1-2pm
• Place: Room 3034, Kingston Business School
• Abstract: Using secondary data of internationalized Spanish hotel chains, this research attempts to examine the role of formal and informal institutional differences between home and host country from the foreign location choice point of view. Generally speaking, the results show that (a) the higher the formal institutional differences the lower the attractiveness of the foreign location, (b) the negative effect of linguistic differences, as an informal institutional dimension, significantly affects the choice of location, and (c) the moderating role of linguistic differences between formal institutional factors with regards to the choice of location is contrary to our expectations. Based on the findings, this work wishes to offer not just a better understanding of the location choice decisions within the service sector industry but also to identify both the joint effect of formal and informal institutional factors as well as to distill their individual effects. This is of relevance since there seem to be no conclusive empirical evidence of such effects so far in the literature.
• About the speaker: Dr Ana M. Romero-Martínez is Senior Lecturer in Management and Entrepreneurship at  Faculty of Economics and Business, Complutense University of Madrid (UCM).  She is Associate Dean for International and Economics affairs at Faculty of Commerce and Tourism (UCM) as well. Currently she is visiting scholar at Kingston Business School. Previously, she held visiting scholar positions at King's College London, University of London (2015), SOAS, University of London (2016) and University of Birmingham (2018). She is member of the "Strategies for Business Growth" consolidated research group (UCM) and the "Business Strategy, Strategor" research group (Rey Juan Carlos University). Her research focuses on international business, entrepreneurship and innovation and has been published in academic journals such as Journal of World Business, International Business Review, Management International Review, Service Business or Group Decision and Negotiation and in books published in editorials such as Springer.

October 2019

Choose wisely: Regional and international collaboration partners of SMEs and their effect on innovative performance

• Speaker: Dr Maksim Belitski (Henley Business School, University of Reading)
• Time: 1-2pm
• Date: Friday 4 October 2019
• Room: KHBS 3024 (Kingston Business School)
• Abstract: While knowledge collaboration on innovation increases innovative performance, it may also vary depending on type of collaboration partner and geographical proximity. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to look for external collaboration as they have limited resources. For SMEs the most common collaboration partners are customers and suppliers oftentimes from their direct geographical surrounding/entrepreneurship ecosystem. However, is this really the most productive way of increasing the innovative output of SMEs? Would cooperating with international partners, the government, competitors or universities lead to better results? Building on open innovation in the small business management literature, we apply a geographical perspective and develop the model of external knowledge collaboration in SMEs along four geographical dimensions (regionally, nationally, Europe and rest of world) to investigate innovative output measured as product innovation. We use 21,140 observations (19,510 firms) across the most innovative sectors in the United Kingdom (UK) during 2002-2014. We find that a) compared to large firms, SMEs benefit more from collaboration with external partners; b) in terms of collaboration partner type, the highest returns for SMEs are based on collaborations with customers and suppliers (independent of location) c) collaboration within regional and national boundaries is most beneficial for SMEs.
• About the speaker: Dr Maksim Belitski is an Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Henley Business School, University of Reading, United Kingdom. He is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Development Strategies, Indiana University Bloomington (US). He has worked for University of Bolzano (Italy), Loughborough University, University College London (UK), University of Leicester, University of Economics Bratislava, Belarusian State University. His research interests lie in the area of Entrepreneurship, innovation and regional economics, with a particular focus on Entrepreneurship as a spillover of knowledge and creativity. He is an Editor of Small Business Economics: An Entrepreneurship Journal, E-commerce Journal, and Journal of Management Development

SBRC seminar: Shotter's withness/withinness thinking in education, research and professional practice

Speaker: Dr Rita Klapper (University of Utrecht, Netherlands )

Date: Monday 3 December 2018
Time: 1-2pm
Room: KHBS3034

About the speaker:

Dr Rita G. Klapper is presently Senior Assistant Professor in Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at the University of Utrecht. She researches and teaches at the interface of entrepreneurship, sustainability and leadership and has previously held posts as Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management at Liverpool John Moores University, UK and Associate Professor at Rouen Business School, now NEOMA.  Rita's research interests focus on: (a) sustainable entrepreneurship, innovative business models for sustainable enterprise and cognitive perspectives; and (b) sustainable entrepreneurship education. 

SRBC seminar: The categorical imperative in a two-dimensional space: Founders' background and resource acquisition at IPO

Speaker: Professor Vangelis Souitaris (Cass Business School)

Date: 14th December 2018
Time: 1-2pm
Room: KHBS 3022, Kingston Business School

Abstract

Social categorization theory suggests that specialised providers are endowed with more resources than those spanning multiple categories. Yet, because category spanning may simultaneously happen along multiple relevant dimensions, research must ask how category spanning in such a multidimensional space shapes outcomes. Does the hybridity penalty apply for each of category dimension separately? Does category spanning in multiple dimensions simultaneously increase the penalty of hybridity? Or can specialisation in one dimension offset the penalty of category spanning in another dimension?

In this study, we focus on founders of new ventures, categorized by investor audiences along their industry and functional backgrounds (a two-dimensional space) and we relate founder categorization to resource acquisition at IPO. By analyzing a novel, hand-collected dataset of 173 entrepreneurial IPOs in the Alternative Investment Market in London (2002-2013), we find that, compared to IPO firms whose founders specialize in one industry or one function, those founded by category spanners are generally devalued by investors. However, devaluation is less severe in case founders are partly hybrid, spanning categories in one dimension (either for industry or function) but being a specialist in the other dimension.  We also show that an external expert endorsement-in our case, intensive VC affiliations-can offset the penalty of hybridity, especially when hybridity occurs along multiple dimensions.

About the speaker

Vangelis Souitaris is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Cass Business School. He founded the Entrepreneurship group at Cass and he is the current subject-group leader. Before Cass, Vangelis spent 6 years as an assistant professor at Imperial College London. He currently holds a visiting chair at the University of St. Gallen. Vangelis also visited on sabbatical LBS (2015-16), Wharton (2008-09), Bologna (2008), and Vlerick (2005). In 2011, he was recognized as one of the top 40 business school professors under 40 years old, by the online business education magazine "Poets and Quants".

Vangelis specialises in behavioural and social aspects of technology entrepreneurship. His behavioural portfolio includes studies on entrepreneurial inspiration, polychronicity, analysis versus intuition, halo effects, and escalation of commitment. His sociologically-driven work includes studies on institutional and network influences on technology enterprise. Currently he focuses on 3 specific areas: 1) Behavioural aspects of entrepreneurial decision making, 2) Entrepreneurial finance and 3) Academic entrepreneurship. Vangelis published work in prestigious field journals (Research Policy, Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Journal of Product Innovation Management, R&D Management, Technovation) and also general management journals (Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Management Studies, British Journal of Management, Long Range Planning).

SBRC seminar: Tenacity, workplace adversity, and problem-focused voice
Speaker: Professor Dirk De Clercq (Brock University, Canada & Kingston University)

Where: Room KHKH1041, Kingston Hill Campus

When: Monday, 19 February 2018

About the speaker

Dirk De Clercq is professor of Management in the Goodman School of Business at Brock University, Canada. He is also Research Professor in the Small Business Research Centre at Kingston University. He is a recipient of the Brock University Chancellor's Chair for Research Excellence, Faculty of Graduate Studies Graduate Mentorship Award, Goodman School of Business Distinguished Researcher Award, and Departmental Researcher of the Year Award. He teaches Entrepreneurship and Research Methods, and is Consulting Editor of International Small Business Journal. His research focuses on entrepreneurship, innovation, organizational behaviour and cross-country studies.

Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between employees' tenacity levels and problem-focused voice behaviour, as well as how this relationship may be augmented when employees encounter adversity in relationships with peers or in the organizational climate in general. Based on quantitative data collected through surveys administered to employees and their supervisors in a large manufacturing organization, the results inform organizations that the allocation of personal energy to reporting organisational problems might be perceived as particularly useful by employees who encounter significant hardships in their work environments.

Entrepreneurial Opportunities, Language and Time
Speaker: Professor Dimo Dimov (University of Bath)
Date: Friday, 19 January 2018

Relationship between loan managers at Chinese banks and SME owner-managers
Speaker: Dr Geoff Lightfoot
Date: Monday 11 December 2017

Perceived Uncertainty and Types of Behavioral Logic: The Role of Unanticipated Consequences in New Venture Creation Process
Speaker: Professor Erno Tornikoski (Grenoble Ecole de Management, France)
Date: Friday 15 September 2017

Internationalisation stages of traditional SMEs: Increasing, decreasing and re-increasing commitment to foreign markets
Speakers: Noémie Dominguez, Associate Professor of International Business, and Ulrike Mayrhofer, Full Professor of International Business at IAE Lyon School of Management, Jean Moulin Lyon University
Date: Friday 26 May 2017

Non-Compliance and the National Living Wage: Case Study Evidence from Ethnic Minority and Migrant-Owned Businesses
Speaker: Professor Monder Ram
Date: Monday 8 May 2017

Explaining sustainable behaviour in the face of institutional adversity among Ontario restaurants
Speaker: Professor Dirk De Clercq 
Date: Monday, 10 April 2017

Small Business Growth: A review and research proposal
Speaker: Professor Martina Battisti (University of Portsmouth)
Date: Friday 17 March 2017

Trust me, I'm an entrepreneur
Speaker: Dr Olga Kalinowska-Beszczynska (University of Exeter Business School)
Date: Thursday 10 November 2016

Self-employment: Rags to Riches or Riches to Riches?
Speaker: Benedict Dellot (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce)
Date: Thursday 20 October 2016

SBRC seminar: Challenges in governance structures for social entrepreneurship: The case of Impact Hub
Speaker: Dr Alessandro Giudici (Cass Business School)
Date: Monday 3 October 2016

Sense-making and Entrepreneurial Becoming in a Family-based Start-up
Speaker: Professor Ossie Jones (University of Liverpool)
Date: Friday 15 April 2016

Explaining employee creativity
Speaker: Professor Dirk De Clercq (Brock University Canada / Kingston University)
Date: Monday 14 March 2016

Enterprise culture and the obsolescence of class
Speaker: Dr Sara Nadin (University of Liverpool)
Date: 22 January 2016

Portfolio Allocation, Background Risk and Households' Flight to Safety
Speaker: Professor Sarah Brown (University of Sheffield)
Date: 27 November 2015

Exploring Family Dynamics in Women's Choices in the Informal Economy - The Case of Nepal
Speaker: Dr Mirela Xheneti 
Date: 7 December 2015

The transformation of the business angel market: Implications for research and practice  
Date: 26 October 2015
Speaker: Professor Colin Mason, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow

The Entrepreneurial University: Context and Institutional Change
Date: 5 June 2015
Speakers: Professor Lene Foss, Arctic University of Norway, Norwegian School of Economics

Entrepreneurship Research Opportunities Amongst Minority and Disadvantaged Communities
Date: 8 May 2015
Speakers: Professor Thomas Cooney (Dublin Institute of Technology)

Business with China Workshop
Date: 24 April 2015
Speakers: Professor Ron Tuninga, Professor David Smallbone, Professor Zhongming Wang, Professor Barbara Krystyna Pierscione, Professor Andy Augousti, Mark Hedley.

Policy for Small Business and Entrepreneurship - Lessons from international comparisons.
Date: 2 March 2015
Speaker: Professor Robert J. Bennett, University of Cambridge.

Pushed to the edge: a study of self-employed Ukrainian migrants in the UK construction sector
Date: 9 February 2015
Speaker: Dr Natalia Vershinina (De Montfort University - Leicester)

How does life course enable explanation of entrepreneurial behaviour and earnings?
Date: 22 January 2015
Speaker: Dr Julia Rouse (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Is effectuation enough? New venture creation, agency and social structure (webinar)
Date: 18 December 2014
Speaker: John Kitching

Adversity in the Workplace and Innovative Behaviour
Date: 28 November 2014
Speaker: Professor Dirk De Clercq

Flock Theory - a new approach to the study of innovation
Date: 19 November 2014
Speaker: Dr Rosemary Athayde

Are highly innovative firms also high growth firms? And what are the casual events that deliver high sales growth?
Date: 3 November 2014
Speaker: Marc Cowling

HR practices, employee attitudes and film performance
Date: 10 October 2014
Speaker: Professor George Saridakis and Lai Yanqing

Econometrics Workshop
Date: 4 and 5 June 2014
Speaker: Professor Christos Agiakloglou (Department of Economics, University of Piraeus)

Professor George Saridakis inaugural lecture: The road less travelled - factors influencing female entrepreneurship
Date: 3 June 2014 
Speaker: Professor George Saridakis

Where's my shop? Understanding the impact of the London riots on small businesses and owner managers 
Date: 4 April 2014 at 1pm - 4pm
Speaker: Dr Rachel Doerm, Goldsmiths University

Institutional complexity, reflexivity and leadership in family firms: Towards a logics-based conception of leadership 
Date: 7 February 2014 at 1pm - 2pm
Speaker: Dr Elina Meliou, University of Winchester

Nascent Governance: the Impact of Entrepreneurial Finance on Board Formation and Roles
Date: 21 October 2013 at 1pm - 2pm
Speaker: Professor Christophe Bonnet, Grenoble Ecole de Management

Forecasting enterprise activity in the UK: Comparison of univariate and multivariate time-series models
Date: 15 November 2013 at 1pm - 2pm
Speaker: Professor George Saridakis, Kingston University

Mediation versus moderation, moderated mediation, mediated moderation
Date: 28 November 2013 at 1pm - 2pm
Speaker: Professor Dirk De Clercq, Brock University 

How to disseminate research for impact
Date: 23 May 2013 at 10.30am - 4.00pm
Speaker: Professor Simon Down, Director of International Institute for Management Practice; Professor Darren Dalcher; and Professor Audley Genus

2nd SBRC workshop on applied econometrics Issues on Spurious Behaviours
Date: 20 May 2013 at 4.00pm-6.00pm
Speaker: Professor Christos Agiakloglou, Department of Economics at the University of Piraeus

Organizational Responses to Stigma Contagion: The Management of Legitimacy and Identity Following Association with a Stigmatized Group
Date: Monday 20 May 2013, 1.00pm - 2.00pm
Speaker: Dr Paul Tracey (Judge Business School, Cambridge University)

Relational influences on commitment to change: Interpersonal justice, relational conflict, and social interaction
Date: Wednesday 13 March 2013, 1.00pm - 2.00pm
Speaker: Professor Dirk De Clercq (Brock University and Kingston University) 

How to develop research with impact
Date: 8 February 2013 at 10.45am - 4.00pm
Speaker: Dr Richard Blundel, Dr Ian Drummond, Rosana Mirkovic and Dr Richard Roberts

Introduction to Panel Data and Time-Series Forecasting Methods
Date: Tuesday 11 December 2012, 10.30am - 3.30pm
Speaker: Professor George Saridakis (Kingston University) and Dr Grammatoula Papaioannou (Loughborough University)

Firm Growth and Shareholder Wealth: An Empirical Investigation
Date: Monday 26 November 2012, 1.00pm - 2.00pm
Speaker: Dr Andrew Vivian (Loughborough University)

Skilled migration on temporary 457 visas: Issues for workers pertinent to small firms in Western Australia
Date: Monday 19 November 2012, 1.00pm - 2.00pm
Speaker: Dr Susanne Bahn (Edith Cowan University)

Twenty Years of Living, Dying, Under-performing and Over-performing in New technology Start-Ups
Date: Wednesday 12 November 2012, 1.00pm - 2.00pm
Speaker: Professor Marc Cowling (Exeter University)

How do Entrepreneurial Firms Grow? From Product to Technology Markets
Date: Wednesday 7 November 2012, 1.00pm - 2.00pm
Speaker: Professor Mike Wright (Imperial College London)

Do Different Factors Explain Self-employment Rates for Males and Females?
Date: Monday 29 October 2012, 1.00pm - 2.00pm
Speakers: Professor David Storey (Sussex University) and Professor George Saridakis (Kingston University)

Shop Crime and Deterrence: Evidence on shoplifting among young people in the Youth Lifestyle Survey (YLS)
Date: Wednesday 24 October 2012, 1.00pm - 2.00pm
Speaker: Professor George Saridakis (Kingston University)