Our research focuses upon small and medium size enterprise (SME) development, entrepreneurship, innovation and local/regional economic development, Adopting a strong applied policy studies approach, we adopt economic, political, sociological and geographical perspectives to investigate barriers and opportunities to SME growth and entrepreneurship.
These include issues of diversity, social enterprise and social value, geographical context and innovation across social, financial, organisational and technological dimensions.
Research work in this area is led by the Centre for Enterprise and Economic Development Research (CEEDR)
If you would like to know more about our work, please email Professor Fergus Lyon.
As a hotbed of social enterprise, the UK is home to thousands of thoughtful and successful businesses that reinvest profits into social problems, communities, the environment and bettering people's life chances.
Our researchers have worked at the forefront of research into this thriving sector in the UK and internationally.
In addition to influential projects for various government departments, CEEDR staff previously led research on social enterprise within the ESRC’s Third Sector Research Centre and now lead a stream of work on alternative enterprise and investment for the ESRC Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP).
Social enterprises as hybrid organizations: A review and research agenda International Journal of Management Reviews 16(4): 417–436.doi:10.1111/ijmr.12028
Beyond green niches? Growth strategies of environmentally-motivated social enterprises. International Small Business Journal 32(4): 449– 470.DOI:10.1177/0266242612457700
Public service innovation and multiple institutional logics: The case of hybrid social enterprises providers of health and wellbeing. Research Policy 46(10): 1755-1768. DOI:10.1016/j.respol.2017.08.003
Senior Research Fellow in Sustainable Business
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurial Finance
Senior Research Fellow
Senior Lecturer in Business and Management
Deputy Dean: Research & Knowledge Exchange
Senior Research Fellow
Director of CEEDR
Associate Professor in Socioeconomic Development
