Research Interests 

• Entrepreneurship (opportunity emergence, relational perspectives, business start up, copreneurship, internationalization and organizational change of small firms)
• Family business (family discourses, family business in the television media, growth, organizational culture, family heritage, sustainability, succession and strategic renewal of family firms)

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Denise Fletcher completed her PhD degree in 1997 at The Nottingham Trent University, UK.  She was a lecturer in European Business at Nottingham Trent (1990-2004) becoming a Principal Lecturer in Entrepreneurship in 1998 and Director of Entrepreneurship Research in Centre for Growing Businesses in 2004. From 2006, she moved to a Senior Lecturer role at University of Sheffield becoming a Reader in Entrepreneurship and Family Business in February 2011. Since April 2011, Denise Fletcher has been Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Luxembourg.

Last updated on: Tuesday, 14 July 2015

CV Denise FLETCHER

Short CV

Current appointments and responsabilities

• Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Luxembourg
• Academic Head of the Management Group, CREA
• Academic Head of the partnership with the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce
• Study Director, Master in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Luxembourg
• Director of the Studies for Master Programme in Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Visiting Professor

• Visiting Professor, Family Business Research Centre, Jonkoping Business School, Jonkoping, Sweden (May 2012-13)
• External examiner, University of Manchester, Enterprise Centre, Manchester, UK (Since Feb 2010-14)

Memberships

• Member of Family Firm Institute
• Member of International Family Enterprise Research Academy
• Member of Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Doctoral supervision

Eleven PhD completions, plus five ongoing

Last updated on: 20 Jun 2017

Current undergraduate and post graduate teaching (all  ongoing)

• Entrepreneurship and Business Models, Processes and Planning, Master level
• Small Business Management, Research Methodology courses
• Research methodology/thesis development, Master Level

Teaching

I am committed to creating an environment in which students can practice and extend their entrepreneurial skills, confidence and abilities in order to transform theirs and other peoples’ lives. Research and scholarly activity underpins my teaching and ensures currency of curricula where I strive to achieve an integration of theory and practice.

Drawing upon personal experiences in running a business I demonstrate how entrepreneurs use their local contexts/resources to negotiate institutional boundaries and realise market opportunities.  Using entrepreneurs as guest speakers, video clips and live case studies, I also practice a process-pedagogy in my classroom work by emphasising the relationship(s) between formulation and implementation, recognition and realisation, intentionality and actualisation in the construction of business opportunities.

Please visit Curriculum Vitae  for complete information

Link to MEI

Last updated on: 20 Jun 2017

Current and on-going Activities

2011                Director of Luxembourg Business Academy, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg City.

2011                Academic study director, MA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITIES

University of Sheffield

2010                Head of Division for Management department

                        (Responsible for management of 15 members of staff, work load allocations, resourcing issues).

2010                Principal Investigator for research project (ACIEW, see under research funding).

2009                Member of University Court for University of Sheffield 

2009                Project Coordinator Energy2b.

2009                Module Leader: Creating Entrepreneurial Ventures (MSC)..

2008                Director of MA Management Research programme

2007                Director of Research, Centre for Regional Enterprise and Economic Development

2008                Member of Management School’s doctoral committee

2006+              Personal tutor to undergraduate students at Sheffield University Management School

2006+              Module leader: Management Inquiry (MBA).

2008                part of the UoS Enterprise Review (chaired by Prof. P. White)

2008                Postgraduate dissertation Manager

2007-9             Undergraduate Moderator for City College, Thessaloniki, Greece.

2006+              Module leader: Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, Research methods on MBA.

The Nottingham Trent University

2004-06           Director of Entrepreneurship Research, Centre for Growing Businesses, Nottingham Business School, the Nottingham Trent University.

2002-06           Route Leader Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Nottingham Business School (BA Business Studies programme) and Strategic Entrepreneurship (Full time MSc).

2003                External validation of MSc in Enterprise at Portsmouth University.

2003-05           Advisor on Humanities Research Degrees Committee, The Nottingham Trent University, Humanities Faculty (September 2000 to 2003).

2004                External examiner on validation panel for new MSc course in Entrepreneurship, Portsmouth University.

1998-2001       Internal validation of MSc in marketing; MBA programme and new undergraduate business degree programme.

Module leader Research Methods, full time Masters programme.

1998-2001       Module Leader International Strategic Management.

1994-97           4^th Year Tutor, BA European Business Degree.

1991-94           2^nd Year Tutor, BA European Business Degree.

1990-91           1^st Year Tutor, BA European Business Degree.

1994                Katholieke University of Leuven, Belgium (management of international students’ presentations – MA in European Business Communications).

1992-94           IPAG, Nice, France (organisation and supervision of language course for English European Business Students on exchange programme).

Last updated on: 14 Jul 2015

Outlined below are almost 30 contributions to, and participations in, national and international events, conferences or advisory/editorial groups as visiting professor, invited speaker, plenary speaker or board member.

Visiting Professor (+ indicates on-going or shortly to be taken up)

May 2012+     Visiting Professor, Family Business Research Centre, Jonkoping Business School, Jonkoping, Sweden.

Feb 2010+       External examiner, University of Manchester, Enterprise Centre, Manchester, UK.

Fellowship work

June 2010        Invitation to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in acknowledgment for work on the ISBE board as Vice President for Practice (see below under board membership).           

Sept 2002        Visiting fellow Scandinavian Institute for Entrepreneurship Research, Vaxjo University, Sweden, invited by Prof. Bengt Johannisson (extend expertise with doctoral students on application of qualitative methodologies and plenary presentation at Entrepreneurship conference in Sweden).

Board membership

Nov 2009        Re-elected to ISBE (Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship) as board member and Vice President for Practice for second 3-year term. ISBE is the UK’s leading think tank, research and policy forum supporting small businesses in the UK. (Until 2011, I was a member of executive committee of the Institute and board member responsible for strategic development of the ‘practice’ work of the Institute and translating research findings of the institute into activities that can be usefully applied to support small businesses). Stepped down in Nov. 2011.

Nov 2006        Elected to Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship as trustee and board member.

June 2005        Editorial board member for journal, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (listed as ABS 3* journal with 5 year impact factor of 1.904).

Conference hosting/leadership

Nov 2011        Secured University of Sheffield as host/location for and international Annual Research/Policy and Practice conference to be hosted by the Institute for Small Business & Entrepreneurship’s. 

Jul 2010          Track Chair for Family Business Research track at Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Annual Conference in 2010.  I have introduced a dedicated track at the conference for international work on family business.  (Plan and organise the blind reviewing process of conference submissions and track planning).

Membership of Advisory boards

Sept. 2010       Invitation to join the Advisory board for Handbook of Family Business Research (edited collection published by Edward Elgar, due out in 2011). This is the second international monograph showcasing leading edge research in the global family business field.

July 2010        Chair of Research Committee for International Family Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) annual conference to be held at Centre for Family Business, University of Lancaster (organising the double-blind reviewing process for 124 articles and planning of research conference programme, selection of best paper awards/prizes.

Guest editorship/special issues

July 2010        Leading an international special issue on ‘Culture and Values in family firms’ for Journal of Family Business Strategy (guest editor with Prof. Leif Melin, University of Jonkoping, Sweden; Prof. Carole Howarth, University of Lancaster, UK, Alberto Gimeno, ESADE Business School, Barcelona, Spain).

Sept 2009        Invitation to guest edit a special issue in (3*) Entrepreneurship and Regional Development on Entrepreneurship and Institutional Change, for publication in 2011 (with Prof. Christos Kalantiriadis, University of Salford); call for papers, reviewing articles and planning special issue, forthcoming in 2012.

Plenary/keynote presentations

June 2010        Plenary presentation at ESRC Seminar entitled: Family Firms and Strategic Thinking, University of West England, Bristol, ‘From domestic to transgenerational contexts: the distinctiveness of family business organisational forms’.

Nov 2009        Organised and chaired plenary session at ISBE Annual Conference, Liverpool University invited speakers: Prof. David Storey, University of Warwick; Prof. Alistair Anderson, Federation of Small Business; Mike Taylor from Liverpool Vision; John Leake from Daresbury Science & Innovation Campus; Frank McKenna, Downtown Liverpool.

Nov. 2009       Plenary speech ‘Recession coping strategies of SMEs’ at ISBE Annual Conference opening plenary session, Liverpool  University.

June 2008        Invited plenary presentation as part of  ESRC funded seminar, local economic development in an era of peak oil and climate change’, June 5th 2008, Foresight Centre, University of Liverpool part of the ESRC series, ‘The social situatedness of enterprise and entrepreneurship’

Oct 2007         Invited presentation of a ‘think piece’ at Lancaster University on ‘Strategic issues facing family firms’, Family Business Workshop (workshop combining practitioners and academics).

June 1998        Practitioner seminar presented to BDO Stoy Hayward Family Business Network ‘Friends and neighbours: organisational networking and culture in family firms’, Nottingham, UK (workshop for family business owners).

May 1997       Invited talk at research seminar ‘Qualitative research methods in SME research’ (invited by Prof. David Smallbone), Middlesex University (presentation for staff and doctoral students on qualitative methods).

Jan 1995          Invited plenary talk at research forum, ‘Once upon a time…..telling tales of network constructions’, on Methodological Issues in Network Research, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark (research workshop debating alternative methodological approaches to the study of entrepreneurship).

Invited speaker

Spring 2011     Researching couples in business: Invited to undertake a research seminar at the Witten Institute for Family Business, Germany (seminar ‘between rigour and relevance’).

Jan 2011          Invited speaker at policy seminar organised by Institute for Family Business: ‘A critical review of the educational and policy support infrastructure for family businesses in the UK’, London.

Dec 2010         Invitation to present at a British Academy of Management Research seminar to be hosted at University of Sheffield as part of the Management School’s Research Methods cluster, ‘Auto-ethnography: undertaking research as a situated actor’.

Oct 2009         Invited talk on ‘Narrative inquiry in entrepreneurship research’ at British Academy of Management annual conference (speaker at workshop on narrative methods in entrepreneurship, University of Brighton).

Nov 2008        Facilitating doctoral training workshop on entrepreneurship/small business/enterprise at Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Annual Conference, Belfast, N. Ireland (see also teaching activities in section 2.5 above).

Feb 2004         Invited to publication workshop by Prof. W.J. Gartner, on Narrative approaches to entrepreneurship ‘University of Southern California, Los Angeles’ (publication workshop to plan a special issue in top, world ranking 4* Journal of Business Venturing).

July 2003        Cass Business School, City University, London Research seminar on ‘Narrative aspects of entrepreneurship research’ (presentation with Prof T. JWatson),

June, 2003       Vaxjo University, Sweden research seminar on ‘Drama, dialogue and entrepreneurial learning’ (presentation at a research seminar with Prof T.J. Watson).

Aug 1991-       ‘Comparative review of policy support for SMEs in Europe’ (EU Tempus Project Co-ordination meetings of European partners, Brno Business School, The Czech Republic).

Last updated on: 18 Nov 2011

Her research focuses on the roles and responsibilities small businesses, entrepreneurial ventures and family organizations have in effecting a more equitable society that respects and protects human rights.

Approaching this topic from the perspective of responsible entrepreneurship, business ethics and organizational theory, her research focuses on:

(i) how the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights are being construed by organizations, and
(ii) how organizations endeavor to perform their economic activities in a responsible manner that avoids human rights violations.

Please visit Curriculum Vitae for complete information

Last updated on: 12 Nov 2019

2015

LSC Spring Awards 2015:

Julien Sudre (MEI student) was given an award for best student of MEI 2014.

2014

The EIASM/ECSB Research in Entrepreneurship 2014 conference was hosted by the University of Luxembourg.
(http://www.rent-research.org/upcoming-rent-conference)

2013

• Denise Fletcher was awarded the "Prix du Professeur" on March 21st, 2013 at the LSC Spring Awards.
  She was chosen for this award for her efforts and commitment, and in particular:

1. 1.  Mastering of the academic teaching (in the present case: entrepreneurial teaching)
   2. Excellent Project Manager skills
   3. Strong interaction with the students and the Chamber of Commerce 
   4. Declared will to develop the training offer with the Luxembourg Business Academy (LBA)
      (http://www.paperjam.lu/communique-de-presse)

• Publication of ‘UNDERSTANDING LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIPS IN THE SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED BUSINESS SECTOR  (with Professor Jane Frecknall-Hughes and Dr Stephen Williams), supported with funding from the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.(http://www.icaew.com/~/media)
• Publication of Gender Diversity in Business (produced with the support of FEDIL in conjuction with Mrs Michèle Detaille, Mr Raymond Schadeck, Monika Kmochova and Ana Schoen). (http://www.fedil.lu/fileadmin/)

Last updated on: 02 Jun 2015