David Storey

Honoured: David Storey was awarded an OBE for services to business in 2010

Warwick Business School has paid tribute to David Storey, former Director of the school’s Centre for Small and Medium Enterprises (CSME).

A leading researcher in small businesses and entrepreneurship, Professor Storey helped establish WBS as an influential player in Government policy for small business, with the school’s Enterprise Research Centre building on his work.

While at WBS Professor Storey was awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours in 2010 for services to business and in 2022 was elected as Fellow of the British Academy, the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences, for his contribution to business and management studies.

By then Professor Storey had moved to the University of Sussex where he was Emeritus Professor for the Department of Strategy and Marketing at his death.

Andy Lockett, Dean of WBS and Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy, said: “This is very sad news and a great loss to the entrepreneurship and small business research and policy community in the UK. David was a wonderful researcher and academic, whose work has been hugely influential not just in academia but for the UK Government and many governments around the world.

“Indeed, in 2012 Research Policy reported that David was the highest ranked non-US scholar in entrepreneurship. His book Understanding the Small Business Sector, published in 1994, remains one of the most frequently cited works on small business according to Google Scholar.

“David leaves behind many friends in the field and at WBS and I would like to not only pass on my condolences to his family but also gratitude for the hard work and intelligence David brought to academia.”

Professor Storey, who gained a first-class degree in Economics, a Diploma in Applied Statistics, and a PhD in Economics, held two honorary Doctorates and was Visiting Professor at the Universities of Manchester, Reading and Durham, as well as being an International Fellow at Sydney University in 2009.

Between 2001 and 2005 he was appointed by the UK Secretary of State for Trade and Industry a Member of the Small Business Council, advising the Government on making policies for small business.

In 1998 he received the International Award for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research from the Swedish Council and a decade later was awarded a Wilford White fellowship from the International Council for Small Business (ICSB). He was also a Fellow of the Institute of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE).

As well as advising the UK Government, Professor Storey consulted for governments in Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Mexico, Sweden and collaborated with the World Bank in producing an enterprise plan for Malaysia. He also worked for the OECD in 2008 in producing a Handbook on SME policy evaluation and was co-author of a report on enterprise in the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region in 2013. In 2016 he advised Eurofound in their review Start-up support for young people in the EU.

Stephen Roper, Professor of Enterprise at WBS and Director of the Enterprise Research Centre, said: “David founded and led the CSME at Warwick with great distinction. His research inspired, and continues to inspire, generations of small business researchers.

“Personally, he was a charming and witty companion and colleague. Truly a ‘Change Maker’ in the best traditions of Warwick Business School - he will be much missed.”