Enterprise and Diversity | University of Strathclyde

Enterprise and diversity research focuses on those who experience entrepreneurship differently due to some form of socio-economic difference.

Developing deeper understandings of women entrepreneurs is a longstanding area of expertise at the University of Strathclyde, most notably the ground breaking work of Sara Carter.

Hunter Centre staff also have a strong tradition of researching ethnic minority and migrant entrepreneurs, and those from economically marginal areas.

Our current research & projects

Sara Carter is the theme leader for the “Enterprise & Diversity” workstream at the UK’s Enterprise Research Centre and co-Chair of the British Bankers Association Diversity & Inclusion Business Council. She was a member of the UK Government’s Women’s Enterprise Task Force (2007 - 2009), recipient of the Prowess ‘Women’s Enterprise Researcher of the Year’ Prize, and awarded OBE for services to women entrepreneurs in 2008.
Sara Carter and Eleanor Shaw have studied women’s business ownership from a holistic research and policy perspective, and have also made major contributions to understandings of financing for female entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurial capital.
Katerina Nicolopoulou has explored the impact of gender diversity on Boards of Directors, and the role of gender within family firms.
Jonathan Levie has analysed the impact of gender upon business and social enterprise, as well as the role of ethnicity and immigration in shaping UK entrepreneurship. Jonathan recently project managed a major grant from the EC DG Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion for the Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, and is a member of an EC DG Employment expert panel on entrepreneurship and social exclusion.
Stoyan Stoyanov’s research concentrates on immigrant entrepreneurs.
Sarah Drakopoulou Dodd studies socially and economically marginal entrepreneurs, using case studies drawn from the worlds of punk rock and craft beer.
Samuel Mwaura is currently focusing on the Enterprise Research Centre’s “Diversity and SMEs in the Emerging Economy” work package. His main research interests are in drivers of firm start-up, firm performance and growth –in least developed countries and under-represented sections of society.

Entrepreneurs from peripheral or marginalised geographical contexts are also subject to specific threats and opportunities. The countryside provides a challenging setting for entrepreneurship, with particular attention being paid to farming enterprises, rural resource opportunities and constraints, and wider regional issues associated with peripherality. Areas of specialism within the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship include:

diversified and portfolio farm entrepreneurship (Sara Carter)
rural relational capital (Paul Ferri)
development in peripheral regions (Niall MacKenzie, Sarah Dodd, Samuel Mwaura)
Russell Matthew’s PhD thesis focuses on the formation and development of top management teams in peripheral region high technology ventures
Carolyn McMillan’s PhD research focuses on entrepreneurship and development studies, looking at entrepreneurship and its role in the economic and social development of disadvantaged groups in Nepal

Our key publications

Gender Diversity in Business

Summers, J. Eikhof, D. and Carter, S. (2014) Opting Out of Corporate Careers: Portraits from a Women's Magazine Employee Relations, Vol. 36 No.1, pp.33 – 48

Hughes, K.D., Jennings, J.E., Brush, C., Carter, S., and Welter, F. (2012) ‘Extending Women’s Entrepreneurship Research In New Directions’ Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice Vol. 36, No. 3, pp. 429-442.

Marlow, S. Henry, C. and Carter, S. (2009). Exploring the Impact of Gender Upon Women’s Business Ownership. International Small Business Journal, Vol. 27, No.2, pp139-148.

Holmquist, C. and Carter, S. (2009) The Diana Project: Pioneering Women Studying Pioneering Women Small Business Economics, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp121-128.

Diaz, C. and Carter, S. (2009). Resource Mobilization through Business Owners’ Networks: Is Gender an Issue? International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship Vol. 1, No. 3, pp226-252

Carter, Sara, et al. "Gender, entrepreneurship, and bank lending: the criteria and processes used by bank loan officers in assessing applications." Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice 31.3 (2007): 427-444.

Neergaard, H., Shaw, E., & Carter, S. (2005). The impact of gender, social capital and networks on business ownership: a research agenda. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 11(5), 338-357.

Wilson, F., Carter, S., Tagg, S., Shaw, E., & Lam, W. (2007). Bank loan officers' perceptions of business owners: the role of gender. British Journal of Management, 18(2), 154-171.

Shaw, E., Marlow, S., Lam, W., & Carter, S. (2009). Gender and entrepreneurial capital: implications for firm performance. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 1(1), 25-41.

Marlow, S., Carter, S., & Shaw, E. (2008). Constructing female entrepreneurship policy in the UK: is the US a relevant benchmark? Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 26(2), 335-351.

Levie, J., & Hart, M. (2011). Business and social entrepreneurs in the UK: gender, context and commitment. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 3(3), 200-217.

Diaz Garcia Maria Cristina, Shaw Eleanor, Carter Sara, Entrepreneurial capital and firm performance: gendered experiences in North and South Europe International Review of Entrepreneurship Vol 7, No. 4, (2009)

Gender diversity and board performance Kakabadse Nada, Figueira Catarina, Hong Yang Jessica, Nicolopoulou Katerina, Kakabadse Andrew, Ozbilgin Mustafa, Human Resource Management (accepted for publication 2014)

Women in Turkish family businesses : drivers, contributions and challenges Karatas-Ozkan Mine, Erdogan Aybuken, Nicolopoulou Katerina, International Journal of Cross Cultural Management Vol 11, No. 2, pp. 203-219 (2011)

Ethnic Diversity in Business

Levie, J. (2007). Immigration, in-migration, ethnicity and entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom. Small Business Economics, 28(2-3), 143-169.

Levie, J. and Hart, M. (2011) The contribution of migrants and ethnic minorities to entrepreneurship in the UK. In: The Dynamics of Entrepreneurial Activity, edited by Maria Minniti. Chapter 3. pp.101-124. UK: Oxford University Press

Sarah Drakopoulou Dodd “Roots Radical - The Social Construction of Punk Entrepreneurship” 2014, in Entrepreneurship and Regional Development 26(1-2), 165-205

Regional Diversity and Entrepreneurship

Alsos, G. A., & Carter, S. (2006). Multiple business ownership in the Norwegian farm sector: resource transfer and performance consequences. Journal of Rural Studies, 22(3), 313-322.

Dodd, S.D. and Briga Hynes (2012) “The Impact of Regional Entrepreneurial Contexts Upon Enterprise Education Entrepreneurship and Regional Development 24, 9-10,741-766

A conceptualisation of the relationship capital of rural small service firms Ferri Paul, Moyes David, Whittam Geoff, Local Economy Vol 27, No. 2, pp. 136-151 (2012)

'Too much on the Highlands?' : recasting the economic history of the Highlands and Islands Perchard Andrew, MacKenzie Niall, Northern Scotland Vol 4, pp. 3-22 (2013)

Public sector support and technology-based smes in peripheral areas - the case of north wales Yoo So-Jin, MacKenzie Niall, Jones-Evans Dylan, Journal of Enterprising Culture Vol 20, No. 01, pp. 83-104 (2012)

Alsos, G., Carter, S., Ljunggren, E., and Welter, F. (Eds.) (2011) The Handbook of Research on Entrepreneurship in Agriculture and Rural Development Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, ISBN 9781848446250, 320 pages.

Alsos, G. Carter, S. and Ljunggren, E. (2014) Kinship and Business: How Entrepreneurial Households Facilitate Business Growth. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Available Online-First at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2013.870235

Summers, J. Eikhof, D. and Carter, S. (2014) Opting Out of Corporate Careers: Portraits from a Women's Magazine Employee Relations, Vol. 36 No.1, pp.33 - 48

Eikhof, D. Summers, J. and Carter, S. (2013) ‘Women Doing Their Own Thing’: Media Representations of Female Entrepreneurship International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 19, No.5, pp.547 – 564.