Personal profile

Personal Statement

Sarah's research focuses on the impact of socio-cultural factors on the nature, quality and quantity of entrepreneurship, including socio-economic marginality, social ties, religion, politics, and the family. She has a special interest in alternative, or inclusive, small business start-up and growth, including punk rock, craft beer, and social innovation. Sarah has also studied social capital and networking, growth strategies, family business, entrepreneurship education, and cross-cultural conceptualizations of the entrepreneur. An additional research stream includes the relationships between theology, religion and entrepreneurship. Sarah's research has been published in leading entrepreneurship and management journals, including the Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Management Decision, the Scandinavian Journal of Management, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, the International Small Business Journal, the Family Business Review, and the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. 

Sarah teaches and trains in the areas of entrepreneurship and society, corporate venturing, new venture creation and growth, family business, organizational behaviour, and international business management. She also teaches qualitative methods to graduate students.

Professor Dodd’s previous posts include Professor of Enterprise and Small Business at Middlesex University, and academic positions with ALBA Graduate School of Business (Athens, Greece), the American College of Greece, Robert Gordon University (Aberdeen), and the University of Aberdeen. She holds a visiting positions at the University of Lancaster.

 

Professor. Dodd has considerable experience of marketing, training, and business development, including several years spent managing Aberdeen University's executive development programmes for areas ranging from engineering to philosophy, and from forestry to management. Professor Dodd also founded and directed AHEAD, the Alba Hub for Enterprise and Development, Greece’s first University centre for entrepreneurship, which bridges the gap between the worlds of higher education and enterprise.

Current engagement and research projects include Transforming Entrepreneurship Education, The Ink Way (writing and walking workshops), and Every Tree Tells a Story

Teaching Interests

Sarah is committed to creating new, relevant knowledge about the entrepreneurial process, and sharing this in a highly practical fashion with students, entrepreneurs and policy makers. She believes that we learn best through guided experiences, and through coached interactions with our peers, and this is reflected in her interactive teaching style. Sarah founded and directed AHEAD, Greece’s first University centre for entrepreneurship, bridging the gap between the worlds of higher education and enterprise. She served as a long-time member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Greek Entrepreneurs Association.

Sarah has more than 25 years of experience in the teaching and training of new venture creation and growth, and family business. She also teaches in the area of embedding and encouraging entrepreneurship within larger organizations, including corporate venturing, entrepreneurial management and leadership. Sarah has also taught qualitative methodologies, most especially metaphor methods, to a range of PhD students around Europe. Her teaching portfolio includes organizational behaviour, and international business management.

Expertise & Capabilities

 

Sarah has 25 years of hands-on work training, developing and supporting entrepreneurs in a range of international settings. Prior to her academic career, Sarah developed considerable practical experience working in marketing, training, and business development. This included several years spent managing all of Aberdeen University's executive development programmes for areas ranging from engineering to philosophy, and from forestry to management. In this role, and in others since, she has worked with a broad variety of private and public sector organisations, including high tech start-ups, community businesses, large corporations and local governments.

Sarah has a special interest in working with small, independent ventures that focus on a social, or creative mission. Recent research and engagement projects are in the world of craft beer, of punk rock, and of civic place making (urban forestry, active scholarship).

 

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 1 - No Poverty
  • SDG 4 - Quality Education
  • SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action
  • SDG 15 - Life on Land
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
  • SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals

Education/Academic qualification

Doctor of Philosophy, Religious Influences on the Thatcherite Enterprise Culture, University of Stirling

Award Date: 1 Jan 1996

Master of Science, Entrepreneurship, University of Stirling

Award Date: 1 Jan 1989

Bachelor of Arts, Theological and Religious Studies, University of Cambridge

Award Date: 1 Jan 1986

Keywords

  • Entrepreneurship
  • Family Business
  • social construction
  • Venture Start-up and Growth
  • Enterprise Education
  • Enterprise Policy

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