Small Business Research Centre

The Small Business Research Centre (SBRC) is one of the longest established research groups in the UK in the field of small business and entrepreneurship, consistently producing research of a high quality and relevance. Established in 1987, over the last 20 years, the SBRC has developed a growing international reputation for its work, based on an extensive portfolio of research and consultancy related to small business and entrepreneurship, both in the UK and overseas. Current and recent research projects undertaken by the Centre are summarised in our Annual Report for 2009. Previous Annual Reports for 2008, 2006-2007 and for 2005 are also available. The SBRC is also home of the International Small Business Journal, one of the most reputable academic journals in the world on small business and entrepreneurship.

With four Professors and a strong team of experienced researchers, the SBRC has become one of the UK’s most respected and prolific research groups in the field. SBRC staff are experienced in the use of a variety of qualitative and quantitative approaches, which are rigorously applied to investigations of small firms and entrepreneurship in a wide variety of contexts throughout the world and in public policy evaluation.

SBRC research includes both grant-based work, financed by funding bodies such as the ESRC and NESTA; and contract research, undertaken for a variety of national and international organisations. The applied nature of SBRC research is reflected in the variety of organisations that sponsor it. The SBRC has received substantial long-term external support from HSBC Bank. SBRC has also regularly undertaken research for a wide range of UK government departments and agencies, including:

The Enterprise and Regional Economics Directorates of the new Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) (previously the DTI)
Her Majesty’s Treasury
Department for Education and Skills (now the Department for Children, Schools and Families)
Department for Culture Media and Sport
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Department for International Development
Scottish Executive
The Welsh Assembly
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (Northern Ireland)
London Development Agency

Members of the research team are regularly invited to contribute expert views on small business issues, by the media and by a variety of organizations including:

The Bank of England
The European Commission
OECD
OSCE
Government departments, such as the Cabinet Office and the DTI
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

The SBRC is also embedded in a variety of international research networks, including the European Network for Social Research (ENSR) and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). In addition, SBRC staff have long established co-operation with universities and research institutes in the USA, Australia, Japan, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, the Russian Federation and China, reflected in a variety of international collaborative research projects.

SBRC staff are also actively involved on the Boards of international professional bodies, including the European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ECSB), the International Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ICSB) and the Regional Studies Association. Professor Blackburn is involved in a conference in Valencia in 2010, with other editors of major journals across business and management. This gives participants a unique opportunity to present papers and meet journal editors. The main theme of the conference will be innovation, although, as you can see, there are variations around this according to the journal. Details of the conference can be found on the website at www.inbam.net.

Overseas academics come to work at the SBRC for periods of up to a year, to undertake collaborative research with SBRC staff. In recent years, visiting academics have come from Japan, Australia, Poland and China. SBRC researchers regularly conduct workshops and present papers at national and international conferences, including RENT, ICSB, Babson, ISBE, Regional Studies Association, and European Regional Science Association. In 2008 it has a visiting Professor from Japan and visiting researchers from Poland.

SBRC has organised seminars for the Small Business Service (now the Enterprise Directorate of BERR) designed to bring together policy makers and leading academics. The Centre also actively disseminates research findings to business practitioners.

The SBRC is a vibrant research environment for both experienced and developing researchers. Staff are engaged in supervising students at undergraduate and masters levels but are particularly experienced at supervising and examining students at doctorate level. The Director welcomes enquiries from organizations interested in commissioning research, as well as from prospective PhD students wishing to undertake studies in the area.

Brief biographies of the research team are available on these pages, together with details of current and recently completed research projects, student dissertations and a list of publications by SBRC researchers.

For further information about the SBRC please contact: Professor Robert Blackburn.