Research projects

Misum Affiliated Researchers are involved in several ongoing research projects, both within their platform and in collaboration with other research institutes or industry partners. A selection of projects involving affiliates from the Sustainable Business Development through Entrepreneurship and Innovation Platform can be found below.

RECIRCULATE

Recirculate is a partnership-based approach to generating solution-focused research and eco-innovation in Africa. Researchers, policymakers and industry practitioners from Africa and the UK are building capacity for a safe, circular water economy across the African continent. The Entrepreneurship and Innovation work package aims to achieve the following objectives: 1) co-create scalable programmes that contribute to international research and knowledge exchange through workshops; 2) disseminate knowledge to improve community-research interactions through connecting entrepreneurs; 3) build capacity with, in and for communities through long term engagement during residency periods in the UK, to address societal-environmental needs.

The project is funded by UK Research and Innovation through the Global Challenge Research Fund (GRCF). Recirculate is an international collaboration, led by the Centre for Global Eco-Innovation (CGE) at Lancaster University with partners in Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and Kenya. More about the project here. Image from Pexels.

Researchers:
Kathleen Burke, PhD Student at the Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology, SSE
Sarah Jack, Misum Platform Director and Professor at the Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology, SSE

Sustainability and entrepreneurship in family businesses

This project focuses on sustainability and entrepreneurship in different types of family business settings. One part of the project looks at how large, multigenerational business family groups (e.g., the Wallenberg family) organize for sustainability in the companies in which they are engaged as owners - either directly or through the Wallenberg foundations. As well as how they integrate sustainability as a core part of their strategies for the companies. The other part of the project looks at how entrepreneurial families can build engagement with entrepreneurship by developing or investing in new sustainable ventures, and stay close to their core values of long-term orientation and the importance of sustainable business practices. Image from Pexels.

Researchers:
Mattias Nordqvist, Misum Affiliated Researcher and Professor at the Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology, SSE
Sarah Jack, Misum Platform Director and Professor at the Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology, SSE
Marcela Ramírez-Pasillas, Jönköping International Business School

International Family Enterprise

In the International Family Enterprise project, funded by the Academy of Finland, we focus on exploring the specific features of family firms in their internationalization process over time. Our studies are based on archival data, case studies, and survey/panel data, with a special focus on the building and development of network ties - and the heterogeneity of family firms amongst themselves - within the internationalization process. Our dataset covers even 150-years long internationalization paths over time from the Finnish forest industry and also other types of manufacturing firms from the later historical contexts.

This project is part of a programme coordinated by the International Association for Accounting Education & Research (IAAER) with funding from KPMG. More about the project here. Image from Pexels.

Researchers:
Tanja Leppäaho, Misum Affiliated Researcher and Professor at LUT University, Finland

Public Procurement of Functions – A Stepping Stone Towards A More Sustainable Future!

The project aims to examine and explain how to design innovative, competitive and sustainable procurement models capable of meeting climate, resource and environmental challenges. Public procurement processes account for one-third of public spending in OECD countries, and can therefore play a key role in efforts to achieve sustainability. Until now, public procurement has essentially been rooted in the prevailing business model, i.e. buying and selling goods and services. But a trend has recently developed towards another type of transaction, known as ‘functional sales’, in which the purchaser pays for a function – a result – instead of a good. This means it is in the seller’s interest to make sure that the function lasts as long as possible. The project, which is interdisciplinary, brings together leading researchers in law, economics, social sciences and engineering from Stockholm School of Economics and Linköping University. The aim is to study and explain how innovative, competitive and sustainable public procurement models can be designed in relation to regulatory frameworks and organizational requirements so they help to promote prosperity for customers, businesses and communities. Image from Unsplash.

Researchers:
Sarah Jack, Misum Platform Director and Professor at the Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology, SSE
Margo Enthoven, Misum Affiliated Researcher and Postdoc Fellow at the Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology

Targeted-MPI

TARGETED-MPI responds directly to the Horizon H2020-SwafS-09-2018-2019 call under the topic support to Higher Education and Research Organisations to implement Gender Equality Plans (GEPs). The project focuses specifically on institutional changes through the development and effective implementation of Gender Equality Plans (GEPs) in Business and Management (B&M) schools to drive more inclusive, sustainable and transparent academic cultures. In this endeavour, a number of substantial challenges arise which can be classified into three main categories: i) overall role of women in academia, ii) Gender Equality in B&M schools and iii) the TARGETED-MPI project context.

More information about the project here. Image from Pexels.

Researcher:
Sarah Jack, Misum Platform Director and Professor at the Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology, SSE

From rural poverty to Smart Villages

The overall objective of this research project is to understand and explain how different stakeholders, including government, start-ups, medium and large companies, universities, and rural villagers in emerging countries, can be orchestrated to uplift poor rural communities. The project employs ethnographic field research methods and explores the emergence of the Smart Village Movement (SVM) in India, an initiative from the University of California at Berkeley to empower poor rural communities through digital technologies and co-innovation platforms and give them access to global markets and networks, bringing new knowledge, capabilities, and wealth flows in a responsible manner. The SVM focuses on eight areas it aims to improve in the rural communities: agriculture, connectivity, education, energy, health care, livelihood, sanitation, and water. Hence, this research builds on the assumption that rather than pursuing individual bottom of the pyramid initiatives, the broader social embeddedness of poor communities needs to be co-created with them to facilitate bridging social capital, while preserving their existing bonding social capital.

This interdisciplinary project operates in cooperation with the Center for Growth Markets and the Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, USA. Individual projects are pursued in collaboration with leading scholars in the fields of entrepreneurship, information systems, and innovation. Image by Werner Fischer.

Researchers:
Jan Pfister, Misum Affiliated Researcher and Senior Lecturer, Department of Accounting and Finance at the University of Turku
Sarah Jack, Misum Platform Director and Professor at the Department of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology, SSE

Collective entrepreneurship, innovation and internationalization of the Spanish service industry (1900-2017) (CEIISSI)

Over the last decades, the EU has become a “service economy” as far as service sectors have developed faster than manufacturing sectors, and services account for some 70 per cent of the EU economy. This research project focuses on three of the traditional activities within the services industries: tourism, healthcare, and transport. According to the UNWTO, tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon that entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. By health industries, we consider the various activities in manufacturing (drugs, biotechnology, medical devices, etc.), infrastructure (hospital design and construction) and services (nurse care, insurances, hospital management, etc.) in relation to healthcare. Finally, transport services refer to the movement of goods or people using inland, air or maritime transport on a given network.

This project is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Image from Unsplash.

Researchers:
Paloma Fernández, Universidad de Barcelona
Elena San Román, Misum Affiliated Researcher and Associate Professor at Universidad Complutense de Madrid