Robert Smith

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• MA PhD
• Professor at University of Staffordshire

This paper explores the morality associated with entrepreneurship. It has been argued that there is no moral space in entrepreneurship, but such instrumental views may miss out much of the nature of enterprise and how it is understood. Consequently we propose that a sociallyconstructed perspective, based upon the meanings of entrepreneurship, may h...

Purpose Many “Divas” despite possessing destructive character traits ironically become successful entrepreneurs thus illustrating an alternative “storied” social construction of entrepreneurship. This influences how female entrepreneurs are perceived in the popular press and can be manipulated as an alternative entrepreneurial reality. The purpose...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to focus upon organized criminals as an enterprising community and as enterprising people. Organized crime is a global phenomenon that concentrates upon the development of both sustainable personal prosperity and criminal culture as they define it. Such criminal businesses and the business of criminality go far...

The storytelling in textual and visual re‐constructions of Bill Gates and Richard Branson by their organizations produces entrepreneurial identities bound into particular social power–knowledge relations. Our purpose is to examine how these organizations, and their critics, mobilize storytelling in acts of re‐storying (enlivening) or re‐narrating (...

The accepted social construction of the rural criminal is that of the (alien) urban marauder. In this social script the farmer is presented as the victim of crime. Traditionally, farmers enjoy high levels of social esteem and rarely are they vilified. This case story examines alternative income generating strategies from the margins of agriculture...

This presentation explains the work stream of the author in relation to the creation of zines relating to entrepreneurial identity.

This presentation relates to the conference paper of the same name presented at the conference relating to organised crime businesses [OCBs] operating in the rural.

This presentation introduces and discusses the contemporary topic of Organised Crime Businesses [OCBs] as an extension of the Organised Crime Group [OCGs] concept.

This presentation explains the paper of the same name relating to how Bakhtin's theory of the grotesque is used to analyse cartoon images of Steve Jobs.

Organized Rural Crime and Organized Rural Criminality are not taken seriously in practice, or in the academic literature. Indeed, the criminological literature positions Organised Crime as being an urban based phenomenon despite a growing Grey Enterprise literature suggesting that much rural crime is both organised and entrepreneurial in nature. Th...

This chapter conducts a narrative overview of the extant literature on counter-terrorism and crime control strategies in the United Kingdom, specifically examining where they intersect with organised crime and violence reduction and community policing models. From this review, several points of crossover and tension emerge which is important becaus...

This chapter explores a contemporary road traffic and criminal phenomenon-namely the use of electronic bikes (e-bikes) of various capacities by urban youths and organised crime groups [OCGs] but particularly electric motor cycles. We introduce and define the issues in play before discussing the methodological issues and in particular the documentar...

Purpose This study builds on the extant research of the authors on illegal rural enterprise (IRE). However, instead of taking a single or micro case approach within specific sections of the farming and food industries we examine the concept holistically from a macro case perspective. Many IRE crimes simply could not be committed without insider kno...

This paper explores the influence of cultural constraints on entrepreneurial motivations for women-entrepreneurs of Muslim faith. A qualitative approach is taken by drawing from extraordinarily rare interviews with 17 women entrepreneurs who run businesses in the open market in the Northwest region of Pakistan. Push and pull factors were examined i...

Purpose The stereotypes of the dodgy businessman and businessman gangster are established typologies in both the criminology and family business literature, but nevertheless, there is still an evident dearth of substantive studies on the topic. Family business scholars have begun to acknowledge the limited nature of such explorations of criminality...

Explaining the content of the ISBE paper on Entrepreneurial Intuition.

This note presents a fresh perspective on Entrepreneurial Intuition, which developed between the main author, a serial entrepreneur-doctoral student and his supervisor, an experienced entrepreneurship professor. Using their combined knowledge, they utilise their personal experiences and entrepreneurial logic to draft a practical conceptual model. T...

This presentation explains the work stream of the authors relating to what they refer to as EntreSemiotics whereby semiotic aspects of entrepreneurial identity are objectified and presented as art.

The topic of entrepreneurship has increasingly gained the attentions of a wide community of scholars. The significance of the entrepreneurial role in economic development has been the subject of many studies whilst the defining characteristics of entrepreneurs' traits have proved more than two debate of discussion. One newer area of entrepreneurial...

Defining rogue farmers in a rural context The concept of the ‘rogue farmer’ was first coined in 2004 by Robert Smith (see suggested readings) in a United Kingdom context in his study into the illegal halal trade/ smokies to refer to farmers who knowingly and willingly engaged in criminal entrepreneurship in its many forms, including immoral, amoral...

Purpose Despite the healthy growth in studies and publications in recent years in relation to the expanding paradigm of gender and entrepreneurship, and notwithstanding the success of this very journal, from the perspective of the author, the field remains overly dominated by a focus on female and women's entrepreneurship. Conversely, there are few...

The article introduces the papers in this Festscricht in honour of the founding editor Professor Gerrard McElwee.

There is a growing appreciation of the ‘aesthetic’ dimensions of enterprise culture and the power of artisanal entrepreneurship as a driving force in local economies and enterprise cultures, but despite a growing body of research on the topic, there is little research on how ‘artisans’ operationalise their business models to extract value from thei...

The treatment of gender issues in entrepreneurship and civil society generates contradictory feelings of discrimination and inequality centered around the dominance of the heroic male entrepreneur which crowds out alternative gendered stereotypes and role models. In literature and in practice, the stereotypical entrepreneur is assumed to be male, s...

In the last four decades, the food industry in the United Kingdom has been subject to a considerable number of so-called “food-fraud scandals”. These incidents mainly relate to actual, or alleged fraudulent activity which has resulted in public outcries about the criminality and industry malpractices which may underpin them. An analysis of these ‘s...

Abstract: Seldom are entrepreneurs considered as a collective phenomenon, although they form a privileged socio-economic elite with material resources and clout. From an organisational perspective, we know little about how successful entrepreneurs organise themselves to leverage collective legitimacy, nor the societal mechanisms used to achieve thi...

Seldom are entrepreneurs considered as a collective phenomenon, although they form a privileged socio-economic elite with material resources and clout. From an organisational perspective, we know little about how successful entrepreneurs organise themselves to leverage collective legitimacy, nor the societal mechanisms used to achieve this. To oper...

Topic: Entrepreneurship is a critical economic driver as well as being a maturing field of scholarly inquiry. As well as having theoretical, conceptual, and methodological value, it also possesses a practical utility. Early entrepreneurship research focused on fixed and recognizable traits and behaviours. Outside of scholarly discussion, there are...

Topic: In the family business literature the research focus is traditionally 'inward looking' and centered upon the 'family' and the 'family-business' to identify salient factors. Often the focus is upon case studies and single cases to illustrate conceptual and theoretical elements considered of importance. Seldom do studies consider external aspe...

Topic: In contemporary entrepreneurship literature there is growing interest in both rural entrepreneurship and the emerging concept of the ‘Animateur’ in developing entrepreneurial ideas into realities. Traditionally, the ‘Animateur’ or ‘Animator’ has been considered to be like the entrepreneur, typically a lone individual who works with and assis...

The farming Industry and rural locations are increasingly being targeted by predatory environmental criminals but as will be demonstrated there is also an insider element to environmental crimes. Such criminal activities pose an environmental challenge and require creative solutions. Indeed, the notion of the farmer as an environmental criminal is...

In the last four decades, the food industry in the United Kingdom has been subject to a considerable number of so-called “food fraud scandals”. These incidents mainly relate to fraudulent activity which has resulted in public outcries about the criminality and industry malpractices which underpin them. An analysis of these scandals reveals that the...

Despite the recent proliferation of articles on entrepreneurial identity in the last decade, little consideration has been given to the semiotics and aesthetics of how such identity formation is operationalised via the adoption of artefacts of success and sartorial signifiers of such success to construct, fashion and influence such identities. Usin...

Professor Gerard McElwee-g.mcelwee@yorksj.ac.uk Purpose: This conference paper builds upon the extant studies of the authors Robert Smith and Gerard McElwee on Illegal Rural Enterprise [IRE] crimes. This stream of research has resulted in a considerable publication output. However, instead of taking a single or micro case approach within specific s...

Much emphasis is placed on the “male centric” ideology of entrepreneurship; and on the heroic male entrepreneur when entrepreneurs patently operate within long-term relationships. Their wives play a central part in their unfolding entrepreneurial identity and narrative. We examine academic literature and media representations and in particular gend...

Purpose Humour and, in particular, jokes have received little serious academic scrutiny in the entrepreneurship literature to date. To address this, the purpose of this paper is to examine publicly available jokes about entrepreneurs to establish what such jokes tell us about how humour, particularly entrepreneur jokes shapes public perceptions of...

Context, including social class is an emerging topic of interest in entrepreneurship studies. According to prevailing orthodoxy, to be upper-class is to be anti-enterprise. Aristocrats are defined through their ownership of land and rentier status and portrayed as conservative being focused on stewardship of their estates, rather than engaging with...

Entrepreneurship and more, particularly ecopreneurship, are essential to drive the sustainable transitions needed in food supply chains. Existing pedagogic frameworks should address these academic disciplines and they should be embedded in the educational curricula. Even when ideas are formed that can drive sustainable change, the process from idea...

This case study reports on a 5-year project which has been running in Hawkhill, a deprived area in central Scotland where violent crime was also of concern. It highlights the steps necessary to move from theory to implementation: the process and impact of change of a unique, innovative police/partnership policy within the framework of Scottish Poli...

This article analyses contemporary media representations of female entrepreneurs in the daily UK broadsheet ‘The Times’. While existing research shows how the media ignores or trivialises entrepreneurship of women, our focus is on the emergence of the successful female entrepreneur, an increasingly prominent, heroic media genre. We suggest that thi...

Topic: The literature's of entrepreneurship and gender suggest that the stereotypical representation of the entrepreneur is often (though not exclusively) that of a successful, charismatic, usually middle-aged businessman. Thus, entrepreneurship is said to be ‘male-stream’. The characteristics of heroism and hedonism oft associated with this constr...

We develop a nuanced understanding of masculine storytelling structures and motifs used to socially construct entrepreneur stories. We focus on the interplay of stories around the infamous Nicholas Van Hoogstraten to examine how contested identity emerges from the stories. Hoogstraten has been eulogized, lionized and demonized in the UK Press as an...

Objectives: In the early literature on gender and entrepreneurship the female-entrepreneur was said to be ‘invisible’, ‘silent’ and ‘overshadowed’ by the exploits of heroic, masculine entrepreneurs. After a decade of feminist inspired scholarship the now ubiquitous female-entrepreneur has a more visible presence. Yet, post Baumol it is now accepted...

Topic: This paper examines the gendered social construction of both entrepreneurial identities and narratives relating to over 100 well known UK entrepreneurs through the novel lens of concentrating on stories their ‘significant others’ or long-term life partners. From the collected data the analysis concentrates on the impact of the ‘significant o...

This ethnographic presentation was presented to doctoral students at the ISBE conference in 2015

This ppt accompanied the presentation of a paper of the same title.

This ppt accompanied the presentation of the conference paper with the same title.

This ppt accompanied the presentation of a paper with the same title

Purpose This paper aims to examine the concepts of gendered, entrepreneurial identity and fetishism through an analysis of images of Barbie entrepreneur. It draws on the literature of entrepreneurial identity and fetishism to examine how such identity is socially constructed from childhood and how exposure to such dolls can shape and influence perc...

Purpose In the past decade, the concept and theory of “Entrepreneurial Policing” has emerged in academic and policing circles, particularly in a UK context. The purpose of this paper is to collect salient articles from extant but diverse literatures such as policing and criminology to synthesise a literature on it, focussing upon conceptual, theore...

This conceptual paper explores and develops a holistic, contemporary model of crime prevention, namely the ‘Fortress Farm’ concept as introduced by the National Farmers Union in the UK. This novel idea is underpinned by the criminological theory of defensible space as posited by Oscar Newman, and by other theories of crime prevention. A holistic mo...

From a crime prevention perspective, food crime remains a challenge. Whilst opportunity for crime can be reduced by implementing situational measures and addressing the potential perpetrators, their possible actions and criminal behaviour, the trade-offs which occur in the food supply chain that motivate such activity still remains complex. These h...

This chapter offers a much-needed summary of how to identify what is collectively referred to as ‘crimino-entrepreneurial behaviour’ due to its spanning of two disparate human efficacies—crime and entrepreneurship. Given that it is a theoretically unexplored territory, the chapter provides a behavioural matrix from which politicians, policy makers,...

Abstract Purpose: Food supply chain theory and practice generally assumes that the business practices and processes involved are ethical, legal and value adding when this is not always so, as demonstrated by the ongoing 2013 Horsemeat Scandal. Although it is ostensibly a UK based affair it encompasses the meat processing industry across Europe. We...

This chapter relates to a specific series of competitive annual enterprise educational events collectively known as ‘the Enterprise Challenge’. The importance of experiencing a real insight into what it means to be a practising entrepreneur is highlighted whereby students are encouraged to consider the possibilities of developing new business ideas...

An evaluation of the Police Scotland 'Prevention First' scheme in Ayrshire.

Prac&&oner Fellowship Research: was developed in rela.on to one of SIPR's aims-to promote, through prac.ce-based research, the dissemina.on of policing policy and prac.ce in partnership with academic staff. The Violence Reduc.on Unit (VRU) have adopted an asset-based approach in a small community in central Scotland. It is a community that falls in...

This paper introduces and discusses the concept of animatorship in relation to rural enterprise and development. At its simplest level, animatorship is the art of animating others to achieve their objectives. We develop and apply this concept to understanding community development and community enterprise, with a specific emphasis on rural communit...

Affirmative action by rural communities and representative bodies is the only answer to ensure rural policing does not fall off the edge of the agenda. We have covered some of ways in which Local Authorities, rural communities and businesses can continue to work with police forces and PCCs to deliver new models of rural policing. It also raises the...

Abstract: The European Horsemeat Scandal of 2013 is a recent manifestation of the problem of ‘Food-Fraud’. It is important from a criminological perspective because it exists at the nexus between organized crime and bad business practice and is a contemporary example of criminal-entrepreneurship. From a practical perspective it is a pernicious crim...

Illegal diversification strategies in farming contexts are neglected in research terms. There are endogenous and exogenous factors that influence the potential strategic capability and activity of illegal entrepreneurs and criminal farmers. Internal factors include the personal characteristics of the farmer–qualities and skills. External factors, o...

Purpose The literature of entrepreneurship has an urban focus and despite the emergence of the rural entrepreneurship literature, we know little about the characteristics, philosophies, operating practices and growth strategies of ordinary village entrepreneurs’ in a UK context. As a concept, the “village entrepreneur” is contentious as theoretical...

The storytelling and visual constructions of Bill Gates and Richard Branson by their organizations produce entrepreneurial identities bound into particular social power-knowledge relations. Our purpose is to examine how these organizations, and their critics, mobilize narrative and visuality practices using Internet technologies to invite viewers t...

This article draws upon inductive research to explore the complex liminal and temporal dimensionality of storytelling in a family-business context, uncovering alternative social constructions of family-business stories as ‘Public-Narrative’ and ‘Business-Romance’. It develops theoretical insights, advancing our understanding of how narrative device...

The focus of this chapter is the collective research efficacy of Scottish Centres-for-Entrepreneurship and not upon an individual centre per se. However, the focus is not on the parochial but on the collective global reach of Scottish entrepreneurship scholars. There has been a reduction in the number and presence of active Centres and individually...

Food Supply chain theory and practice assumes that the processes involved are legal and value adding. In this paper, using examples from the UK halal (sheep) meat supply chain, we outline a value extracting value chain through a mixed methods qualitative approach consisting of face-to-face-interviews and a documentary research strategy underpinned...

Purpose The contemporary rustler is a shrewd businessman, or rogue farmer exploiting food supply chain anomalies. Indeed, the first conviction in the UK for 20 years was a farmer stealing from neighbouring farmers. The theft of sheep in the UK is an expanding criminal enterprise which remains under researched. The purpose of this paper is to examin...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore some key factors that influences ethnic entrepreneur’s decision in starting-up a new business in Aberdeen, Scotland. Design/methodology/approach The authors set out to investigate the motives, drivers and attitudes of ethnic minorities in seeking entrepreneurial opportunities. The authors conduct in-...

This study arose from a knowledge exchange project whereby business support and knowledge exchange opportunities were provided to rural small businesses as an academic outreach programme. We review how academic support to small businesses in rural Southwest Scotland was delivered. Academic support for micro-business in Southwest Scotland is an unde...

This viewpoint article discusses the contemporary yet hidden issue of ‘Farming with Dyslexia’. Of interest to policy analysts, researchers, and practitioners, the purpose of this discussion is to raise awareness of dyslexia at a time when there is increasing bureaucratisation of official farming support services. We discuss the issue from the persp...

Purpose – In small-business-communities trust is important inter/intra family particularly in relation to familial dynamics. Seldom is mistrust or distrust examined in an academic context. In business families “Black-Sheep” often rebel against familial expectations by engaging in criminal activity. This is important because entrepreneurs are eulogi...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the changing practices of cattle rustling in Kenya from a relatively small isolated and opportunistic activity to a much more planned and systematic entrepreneurial business involving collusion and corruption. Design/methodology/approach – This paper provides a conceptual approach us...

The European Horsemeat Scandal of 2013 highlighted the increasing organization and sophistication of the contemporary food criminal. This study aims to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the typology of the food criminal in terms of their modus operandi and how individuals and organized crime groups develop criminal business models and n...

This is a commissioned report assessing the extent of community policing in Glasgow and in particular the three thriving places project.

This is a conference poster relating to a 2015 publication of the same name at a research seminar

This is a conference poster relating to a publication

Purpose – This paper aims to consider the challenges facing small rural businesses in Mexico in their efforts to be enterprising and sustainable when confronted with severe exogenous pressures. Extant literature on farm diversification has a developed economy focus (Pyysiäinen et al. , 2006; McElwee, 2008; McElwee and Smith, 2013), but relatively l...

It can be difficult to interest students in academic topics if they have no prior exposure to or experience of the subject. The authors introduce and discuss a pedagogic innovation designed to trigger interest in entrepreneurship and 'enterprise culture'. They use fiction in the form of Gothic context and the vampire motif to move the student throu...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the aesthetic dimension of entrepreneur poems. The notion of the entrepreneur as storyteller, and the entrepreneur story as cultural genres have become so firmly entrenched in the collective social consciousness that little consideration is given to the existence of other narrative genres, such...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine and explore why “Small-Businesses” resist employing outside the immediate family and investigate the employee as an outsider and entrepreneurial resource. Design/methodology/approach – The authors review the literature on barriers to small-business growth concentrating on key empirical and theoreti...

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the “Fellowship-Tale” as an alternative tale type for narrating entrepreneur stories. The authors illustrate this by telling the Pilgrim business story. It is common for the deeds of men who founded businesses to be narrated as heroic entrepreneur stories. Such fairy tales are dominant narratives in Western cult...