Professor Stephen Roper in profile
Features18 January 2008
Professor Stephen Roper joined WBS in the Enterprise Teaching Group and Centre for SMEs at the start of the year. We asked him to introduce himself and describe what he will be doing at WBS . . .
"In terms of research, my plans are to focus on two key areas - diversity and its role in shaping enterprise performance and innovation. My background is economics so I tend to approach both topics using quantitative and econometric techniques. Both areas are also of policy interest, of course, so we anticipate considerable external interest.
In terms of teaching, I am planning to work with other members of the group to develop and complete an undergraduate pathway in enterprise studies and to develop a related MSc programme. As part of this we have developed a new second year module - International Perspectives on Enterprise - which will be taught for the first time next year. I will be leading this module as well as undertaking some teaching on the MSc programmes."
Stephen's last post was as Professor of Business Innovation at Aston Business School and prior to that he was Assistant Director of the Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre in Belfast.
Alongside his post here at WBS, Stephen is a Director of InnovationLab (Ireland) Ltd, an academic spin-out company which focuses on innovation policy and related issues. He has carried out consultancy work for the OECD, the DTI, the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform, the UK government's Small Business Service, East Midlands Development Agency, Advantage West Midlands, the Scottish Executive, Invest Northern Ireland, Forfas (Dublin), Enterprise Ireland, Northern Bank, InterTradeIreland, the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (Belfast), and the Department of Education and Learning (Belfast). Stephen is also a member of the ESRC Strategic Priorities Board and the UK Committee of the Regional Science Association. He is a consulting editor of the International Journal of Small Business.
His major research interests are in enterprise growth and development, diversity and business performance, innovation, regional development, and industrial policy evaluation. His ongoing research focuses on women in business leadership, diversity and its role in shaping firms' innovation performance and growth, enterprise and innovation policy in the UK and elsewhere, and the role of absorptive capacity in enabling firms to innovate more effectively.
