Enterprise and Diversity

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 吃瓜tv, 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 鈥淓nterprise & Diversity鈥� workstream at the UK鈥檚 Enterprise Research Centre and co-Chair of the British Bankers Association Diversity & Inclusion Business Council. She was a member of the UK Government鈥檚 Women鈥檚 Enterprise Task Force (2007 - 2009), recipient of the Prowess 鈥榃omen鈥檚 Enterprise Researcher of the Year鈥� Prize, and awarded OBE for services to women entrepreneurs in 2008.
Sara Carter and Eleanor Shaw have studied women鈥檚 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鈥檚 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鈥檚鈥淒iversity and SMEs in the Emerging Economy鈥� work package. His main research interests are in drivers of firm start-up, firm performance and growth 鈥搃n 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, Strategy and Innovation 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鈥檚 PhD thesis focuses on the formation and development of top management teams in peripheral region high technology ventures
Carolyn McMillan鈥檚 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 鈥� 48

Hughes, K.D., Jennings, J.E., Brush, C., Carter, S., and Welter, F. (2012) 鈥楨xtending Women鈥檚 Entrepreneurship Research In New Directions鈥� 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鈥檚 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鈥� 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, International Review of Entrepreneurship Vol 7, No. 4, (2009)

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

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 鈥淩oots Radical - The Social Construction of Punk Entrepreneurship鈥� 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) 鈥淭he Impact of Regional Entrepreneurial Contexts Upon Enterprise Education Entrepreneurship and Regional Development 24, 9-10,741-766

Ferri Paul, Moyes David, Whittam Geoff, Local Economy Vol 27, No. 2, pp. 136-151 (2012)

Perchard Andrew, MacKenzie Niall, Northern Scotland Vol 4, pp. 3-22 (2013)

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

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) 鈥榃omen Doing Their Own Thing鈥�: Media Representations of Female Entrepreneurship International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 19, No.5, pp.547 鈥� 564.