Richard T. Harrison

Queen's University Belfast | QUB · Queen's Management School

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The co-author's name Caren Crowley and Richard T. Harrison were missing in the published paper.

With the focus on events and outcomes shaping most of the existing family business research on intra-family succession, the subtleties of the incumbent–successor relationship and the dynamic nature of succession as a process of becoming is somewhat neglected. In particular, we have limited understanding of how successor identities are constructed a...

The extent to which women participate in the angel investment market has become an important topic of research and policy interest. Based on UK survey data, we demonstrate that there are systematic but not unequivocal differences between women and men investors on a number of key investor and investment characteristics. We also report indicative ev...

In this article, we argue that entrepreneurship is a socio-spatial embedded activity and that the social construction of gender, time, space, economy and culture is manifest in the masculinities that are ascribed a normative role in entrepreneurship development policies. Drawing on feminist approaches to articulate and perform resistance to the heg...

This paper examines the emergence of digital entrepreneurship in the context of emerging economies. Given that these economies generally lack a well-developed institutional framework, we draw on the concept of institutional voids as our theoretical lens. We argue that digital entrepreneurship facilitates the navigation and bridging of socio-cultura...

Women are under-represented in successful entrepreneurial ecosystems and the creation of women-only entrepreneurial networks has been a widespread policy response. We examine the entrepreneurial ecosystem construct and suggest that it, and the role networks play in entrepreneurial ecosystems, can be analysed in terms of Bourdieu’s socio-analysis as...

This paper reviews the circumstances surrounding the launch of Venture Capital: An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance in 1999. It highlights a number of significant changes in the structure of the entrepreneurial finance market over the past 20 years, notably the decline of “classic” venture capital, the effective closure of the small...

The debate on patient capital, particularly in the varieties of capitalism literature, concentrates on institutions and public markets. In this paper, we take an entrepreneurial finance perspective to examine the investment attitudes and behaviours of business angels. These represent the biggest source of external risk capital for new and young gro...

This paper reviews the current status of research into entrepreneurial identity. Identities – individual and organizational – can potentially serve as powerful elements that both drive and are shaped by entrepreneurial actions. Identity is, of course, a complex construct with multidisciplinary roots and consequentially a range of conceptual meaning...

There are two principal sources of venture capital for entrepreneurial companies. The institutional venture capital market, comprising professional venture capital firms, if the more familiar. However, despite its high profile it actually finances only a small number of businesses. Moreover, its investment focus favours larger, established business...

Purpose – This exploratory study aims to examine how knowledge acquired via guanxi (networks and connections) is enabling women in China to overcome a number of significant barriers and challenges in order to start and grow successful businesses. Design/methodology/approach – The authors undertook two in-depth interviews to qualitatively investiga...

This paper contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial leadership development. Leadership studies are characterized by an increasing emphasis given to an individual leader's social and organizational domain. Within the context of human capital and social capital theory, the paper reflects on the emergence of a social capital theory of leadersh...

Business angel investing – a key source of finance for entrepreneurial businesses – is evolving from a fragmented and largely anonymous activity dominated by individuals investing on their own to one that is increasingly characterised by groups of investors investing together through managed angel syndicates. The implications of this change have be...

It is now recognised that many businesses are unsuccessful in raising equity finance because they are not investment ready. This has prompted various small business support organisations in the UK to develop investment ready programmes. However, their emphasis is on information transmission, diagnostics and presentational skills. These are necessar...

Within the field of entrepreneurial learning research, there is growing recognition of the need to consider the influence of power on the learning process itself (Harrison and Leitch 2008). However, there has been little attempt to develop these issues in the family business context specifically. While family business studies have examined various...

The nature and extent of complementarities between the informal and formal venture capital markets has been the subject of limited research. This paper explores systematically the nature and extent of complementarities between the formal and informal venture capital markets in the UK, and identifies the opportunities for additional collaboration. E...

The existence of an equity gap in the provision of venture capital has prompted a range of initiatives by public sector bodies to stimulate the venture capital market. This paper reviews the rationale for public sponsorship of venture capital and summarizes the four papers which comprise this special issue on regional venture capital.

Harrison R. T. and Leitch C. Voodoo institution or entrepreneurial university? Spin-off companies, the entrepreneurial system and regional development in the UK, Regional Studies. University spin-off companies occupy a prominent position in both government and university policies and aspirations for the commercialization of university research for...

Contents: 1. Introduction Sandra L. Fielden and Marilyn J. Davidson 2. Australia Glenice Wood 3. Brazil Andrea Smith- Hunter 4. Canada Karen D. Hughes 5. China Jonathan M. Scott, Javad Hussain, Richard T. Harrison and Cindy Millman 6. Denmark Suna LA we Nielsen, Kim Klyver and Majbritt Rostgaard Evald 7. Fiji Gurmeet Singh, Raghuvar Dutt Pathak and...

In this paper we provide a detailed profile and analysis of the regional risk capital market in Scotland, using an innovative methodology and specially developed databases which cover risk capital investment in young companies in the periods 2000–04 and 2005–07. This identifies the investment activity of all actors in the market and provides estima...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to gauge the extent to which public enterprises in Malaysia demonstrate entrepreneurial orientation. Design/methodology/approach – A face-to-face survey was initiated to obtain data directly from top management of public enterprises. Findings – The results of the investigation reveal that public enterprises se...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to gauge the extent to which government-linked companies in Malaysia demonstrate corporate entrepreneurship activities. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the objectives of the study, data was solicited directly from top management through face to face survey. Findings – The findings on nature of corpora...

Purpose – The purpose of this exploratory paper is to theorise and examine gender differences in the impact of financial capital on Chinese firms' growth, and investigate the role of guanxi (connections and networks) in the process of obtaining finance. Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire is used to collect comprehensive financ...

This paper extends the literature on the investment decision-making of business angels. Using insights from entrepreneurial learning theory we explore whether angels learn from experience, how they learn and what they learn. These issues are addressed using Verbal Protocol Analysis, a methodology for examining decision-making in real time, on three...

In this paper we evaluate an action learning-based, leadership development programme designed for founders and leaders of growth-oriented, entrepreneurial small to medium-sized enterprises. Based on in-depth, qualitative interviews with participants on one cohort, undertaken two years after completion of the seven-month programme, we demonstrate th...

In a meritocratic society it is assumed that the chance of achieving occupational mobility (OM) is not strongly influenced by one's starting position in terms of class or ethnicity. This paper seeks to explain the drivers of the high levels of OM achieved by one ethnically defined group: the Scots. Educational attainment is shown to be particularly...

Business angels play a critical role in the creation of an entrepreneurial climate. However, measuring business angel investment activity on either a cross-sectional or time series basis is extremely problematic. This paper reviews various approaches to measuring business angel investment activity: simple extrapolations, supply-side approaches, dem...

Something new is happening to reverse the historical trend of skilled Scots moving to London for career progression. The Scottish population of London and the South East is falling and this despite Scots enjoying continued occupational success within the South East labour market. The authors ask why Scots are leaving the UK’s main escalator region...

Attracting in-migration of the creative class has been argued by Florida (2002) to be a route to higher economic growth in the era of the knowledge economy. This paper critically evaluates this proposition in relation to old industrial regions using the example of Scotland. The paper presents an assessment of, in the first instance, to what extent...

There is a substantial literature on the relationship between gender and access to finance. However, most studies have been concerned with access to debt finance. More recently, the focus of this research has broadened to examine women and venture capital. This article extends the focus further by examining the role of women in the business angel m...

The study reported here addresses some issues on gender, entrepreneurship and finance that have been identified as problematic in the literature. For example, much of the research to date is based on the assumption of entrepreneurship as male entrepreneurship; few studies have controlled for structural characteristics that may impact on the relatio...

Most studies of the impact of mergers and acquisitions suggest they have a detrimental impact on economic development in peripheral regions over the longer-term. However, such assessments fail to consider the post-acquisition behaviour of the cashed-out entrepreneurs. It is argued here that acquisition triggers a process of 'entrepreneurial recycli...

Over the last 20 years, network-based models of innovation-led economic development have grown increasingly popular to both the polity and the academy. In contrast to earlier linear conceptions, innovation is viewed as a systemic phenomenon in which interactive learning and cooperative entrepreneurship are fundamental. The way that systems and, in...

The context for the research presented in this article arises from increasing interest, by academics and practitioners, in the importance of learning and knowledge in the knowledge-based economy. In particular, we consider the scope for applying concepts of learning within the field of entrepreneurship. While it has gained currency within the field...

This paper examines the dynamics of university spin-out company development, based on an in-depth, longitudinal case study of some of the spin-out activities of one of the longest established technology transfer organisations in the UK. The different types of resource flows between this organisation and some of the companies in which it has a stake...

There is a widespread concern in both the UK and in the European Union that technology-based firms encounter difficulties in raising venture capital at their start-up and early growth stages. This, in turn, reflects the perception amongst investors that investments in technology-based firms involve greater uncertainty (in terms of market and techno...

Access to finance has been identified as a significant constraint on the development of technology-based businesses. Although important, institutional venture capital and business angel finance are used by only a small proportion of new and growing ventures. The role of boot-strapping – defined here as access to resources not owned or controlled by...

Relatively little attention has been given to the role of entrepreneurial dynamics in the origin and growth of technology clusters. To the extent that the role of entrepreneurship is considered at all, the emphasis is on the locally embedded nature of the process and on the characteristics of the incubator organisation—the immediate past employer o...

It is now recognised that many businesses are unsuccessful in raising equity finance because they are not investment ready. This has prompted enterprise support organisations in various countries to develop investment ready programmes. In the UK, the emphasis of these programmes is on providing information on sources of finance and how to access th...

Considers the role and practices of total quality management in China. After a brief overview, considers the evolution of quality practices and the links to economic reform in China. From the quality literature, develops a measuring instrument to assess the extent and pervasion of quality practices in China. Then applies this instrument to 428 Nort...

This paper reports on an ongoing, multiphase, project-based action learning and research project. In particular, it summarizes some aspects of the learning climate and outcomes for a case-study company in the software industry. Using a participatory action research approach, the learning company framework developed by Pedler et al. (1997) is used t...

This paper provides an exploration of the concept and content of agile manufacturing (AM). It describes the nature of the content of AM and synthesises the literature to propose a comprehensive definition of purpose and process. Real agile manufacturing (RAM) is viewed as a strategic process; it is about surviving and prospering in the competitive...

Many businesses fail to raise external equity finance because they are not "investment ready". One of the key aspects of being investment ready is the ability to effectively present their opportunity to investors. This paper examines the role of impression management skills on investor decisions by means of a case study of a presentation by an entr...

The UK Labour Government has provided support for the establishment of regional venture capital funds in each of the English regions as part of its drive to create an entrepreneurially led knowledge-based economy. This initiative is a response to persistent gaps in the provision of start-up and early stage venture capital. In this paper we question...

The role of venture capital in economic development increasingly is recognized as central to the development of an entrepreneurial economy. However, the supply of venture capital is not distributed evenly across the space economy. In the UK, evidence for the 1980s demonstrated that venture capital investments were highly concentrated in Greater Lon...

Much of the government intervention into the marke gap' for start-up and early-stage equity ® nance in the UK is based on the belief that the problem is on the supply side. Based on an analysis of the informal venture capital market this paper argues that there is no shortage of ® nance available. A survey of business angels reveals that many are w...

Research and development at the nanoscale requires a large degree of integration, from convergence of research disciplines in new fields of enquiry to new linkages between start-ups, regional actors and research facilities. Based on the analysis of two clusters in nanotechnologies (MESA+ (Twente) and other centres in The Netherlands and Minatec in...

The business angel market is usually identified as a local market, and the proximity of an investment has been shown to be key in the angel's investment preferences and an important filter at the screening stage of the investment decision. This is generally explained by the personal and localized networks used to identify potential investments, the...

Intervention to address the equity gap has traditionally concentrated on supply-side initiatives. However, it is now recognized that demand side deficiencies are a significant reason why small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are unsuccessful in raising venture capital. This reinterpretation is reflected in recent documents from the UK government - mo...

Despite its undoubted importance to the financing of entrepreneurial ventures, there are few reliable measures of the size of the informal venture capital market. This paper reviews three methods used to generate such estimates--market-based approaches, firm-based approaches and the capture-recapture approach--and develops an alternative approach t...

A variety of factors in the early 1990s engendered interest in informal investment as a financial solution for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Great Britain. Because of recession, a gap had emerged in the provision of both debt and equity financing to SMEs. Banks' attempts to rebuild capital bases meant that SMEs could no longer rely a...

COLIN MASON IS PROFESSOR OF Economic Geography at the University of Southampton, England; Richard Harrison is Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship and Professor of Management, University of Aberdeen, Scotland. The need to increase the availability of small-scale early stage venture capital has been recognised as a key factor in the developme...

There has been a significant reawakening of interest in the applicability of action learning as a paradigm for management development, particularly as a pedagogical device in both classroom and executive development contexts. This development has occurred against a background of a wider re-examination of the theory and practice of management educat...

This paper investigates the possibility of combining the fields of organisational learning and total quality to produce combined concepts, methodologies, tools and techniques, which will give increased business benefits and employee emancipation. To focus the study the field of organisational learning is primarily limited to that of the learning or...

Almost by definition, growing firms not only outstrip their internally generated capital from retained earnings, but also the willingness and ability of their owner-managers to incur greater risk by increasing their equity investment from their own personal capital. Growth on a secure footing therefore requires an investment of ‘permanent’ capital,...

Business angel networks (BANs) provide a channel of communication between private venture capital investors (business angels) and entrepreneurs seeking risk capital. Most operate locally on a not-for-profit basis with their costs underwritten by the public sector. However, the recent establishment of BANs by private sector organisations in the U.K....

Concern about the equity gap in the UK has existed for more than 60 years. Despite various government measures and institutional responses (e.g. the development of a venture capital industry) an equity gap still persists. Current debate has recognized the role of the informal venture capital market as a source of risk capital for SMEs. Argues that...

Although research on the informal venture capital market has expanded in recent years our current knowledge and understanding remains deficient in a number of respects. This paper examines three aspects of the operation of the informal venture capital market where information is either lacking or based on anecdotal or impressionistic evidence: the...

Changes in the macroeconomy, combined with changes in bank lending practices, have created a more difficult financing environment for small businesses in the UK in the 1990s. Notes increasing encouragement for small businesses to seek venture capital as an alternative, but points out evidence both of a lack of venture capital for firms seeking less...

While the concept of the learning company has now become a fairly well-established idea within academic and practitioner circles, it is still a concept which is in emergence and thus a certain amount of ambiguity and confusion surrounds it. It is, therefore, necessary not only to develop an understanding of the concept to the point at which it is p...

This paper summarizes the key findings from the Final Review and Evaluation of Five Informal Investment Demonstra-tion Projects, Department of Trade and Industry. Crown copyright is reproduced with the permission of theController of HMSO.

Research and development at the nanoscale requires a large degree of integration, from convergence of research disciplines in new fields of enquiry to new linkages between start-ups, regional actors and research facilities. Based on the analysis of two clusters in nanotechnologies (MESA+ (Twente) and other centres in The Netherlands and Minatec in...

DR. COLIN MASON IS SENIOR LECTURER IN economic geography at the University of Southampton, England, and Richard Harrison is professor of management development in the Ulster Business School, Northern Ireland. Research in a number of countries has established that informal venture capital is a major source of risk capital for entrepreneurial compani...

This paper presents the results of the first study of the informal venture capital market in the United Kingdom, and compares the characteristics and behaviour of informal investors in the U.K. and North America. Although similar to their U.S. counterparts in demographics (with the exception of age, as U.K. informal investors are significantly olde...

Developments in the supply of equity capital during the 1980s have reduced the size of the equity gap in the UK. However, such developments have not adequately met the need for smaller amounts of venture capital, especially for firms seeking to raise seed and start-up capital. Moreover, recent initiatives to develop seed capital funds and regionall...

Technology and Economic Development: The Dynamics of Local, Regional and National Change E. J. MALECKI, Longman, London (1991). xvi + 495 pp. £14.99 (pbk). ISBN 0582 01758 0. Global Financial Integration: The End of Geography, R. O'BRIEN, Council on Foreign Relations Press, New York (1992). 120 pp. US$14.95. ISBN 0 87609 123 0. Industrialization, E...

This paper reviews the nature of the equity gap facing new and growing ventures in the UK, and assesses the contribution of both demand-related and supply-related explanations of this gap. The use of informal equity investment (sources of risk capital other than professionally managed venture funds, institutional investors and public equity markets...

HARRISON R. T. and HART M. (1990) The nature and extent of innovative activity in a peripheral fegional economy, Reg. Studies 24, 383–393. This paper examines the impact of technology policy at the regional scale in the United Kingdom, with particular reference to Northern Ireland. Analysis of the size and industrial structure of high technology em...

Regional Policy at the Crossroads: European Perspectives, L. ALBRECHTS, F. MOULAERT, P. ROBERTS and E. SWYNGEDOUW; Kingsley, London (1989). 208 pp. £15.00 (hbk). £7.95 (pbk). ISBN 1 85302 021 4 (hbk). ISBN 1 85302 024 9 (pbk). Regional Development in Europe: Recent Initiatives and Experiences, Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on S...

In 1983 the United Kingdom Government introduced the Business Expansion Scheme to close a perceived equity gap for new and small business ventures. This scheme provides investors with tax relief on their investment in unquoted companies. To date, over £700 million has been invested in over 2500 businesses. New ventures have been the main beneficia...

Recent studies of industrial policy in the UK have suggested that there may be a conflict between the operation of regional policy on the one hand and the differential regional impact of nationally developed and applied policies on the other. Previous research has shown that take-up rates for various small business support schemes are not uniform b...

This paper summarises some results from a study of innovation in the small firm sector in Northern Ireland. Following a discussion of the nature and extent of innovative activity, and of the motives for innovation, the paper focuses on the relationship between performance, as measured by changes in turnover and export market development, and innova...

The severity of the recession in Britain in the late 1970s and 1980s had stimulated considerable interest in the analysis of the spatial and sectoral incidence of redundancy. In this paper two separate approaches to this topic are identified. In the labour-market - manpower analysis approach detailed empirical case studies were used to assess the l...

There can be little doubt that Northern Ireland has experienced, and continues to experience, severe economic and social disadvantages within the United Kingdom context. These are manifested most noticeably in high and persistent levels of unemployment. In this paper the nature of the regional problems in Northern Ireland is outlined, and the devel...

Harrison R. T. and Mason C. M. (1986) The regional impact of the small firms loan guarantee scheme in the United Kingdom, Reg. Studies 20, 535--550. The small business Loan Guarantee Scheme was introduced in the UK in 1981 in response to long-standing concern about the problems encountered by small businesses in raising external finance. Although t...

This paper examines some of the factors which influence the creation of small businesses and the development of entrepreneurship in Northern Ireland. Particular attention is given to the investigation of the macroeconomic constraints on the process of new-business formation, which influence the decision of individuals to establish businesses themse...

Harrison R. T. (1982) Assisted industry, employment stability and industrial decline: some evidence from Northern Ireland, Reg. Studies 16, 267--85. This paper analyses the stability of employment created in manufacturing projects which have received industrial development assistance in Northern Ireland since 1945. The tacit assumption of previous...

ABSTRACT The role of imagination in geographical philosophy and theory is demonstrated by an examination of the function of analogical thinking in scientific investigation. Specifically, the interrelationships between metaphorical usage and mythic understanding and the development of models is elucidated through an analysis of the metaphor-myth-mod...

Research into the post-investment relationship between informal investors (business angels) and the businesses in which they invest concludes that investors make a contribution by acting as a sounding board/mentor for the entrepreneur and in strategy development and execution, and that this contribution is generally valued by the entrepreneur. Howe...

This paper reports an investigation of women’s perceptions of the experience of raising finance for the start-up and growth of their businesses, designed to address a number of conceptual and methodological shortcomings identified in existing research. At the conceptual level much of the research to date is based on the assumption of entrepreneursh...