Professor Catherine Wang
Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Catherine Wang (BA, MSc, PCTHE, PhD) is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, and a Co-Editor of the European Journal of Innovation Management. Her research and teaching interests are in the areas of entrepreneurship, innovation and strategic management. Using primarily quantitative methods (e.g. exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modelling, and regression analysis) as well as mixed methods, she is particularly interested in how firms’ strategic and entrepreneurial resources can be translated into bottom-line performance. Her work has been published/accepted for publication in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Research, International Small Business Journal, European Journal of Information Systems, International Journal of Management Reviews, International Journal of Technology Management, Journal of Strategic Marketing, Service Industries Journal, International Journal of Service Industry Management and European Journal of Innovation Management. She has received the MCB Best Paper Award and the Norbert Wiener Award for Outstanding Paper.

Catherine has given several invited seminars and workshops, and also presented at national and international conferences, including the Academy of Management Annual Meeting (USA), the Strategic Management Society Special Conference on Entrepreneurship and British Academy of Management Conferences. Catherine is an Executive Committee Member of the European Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation and organised a mini-track on “Innovation in Emerging Market Economies” for the conference in 2009. She is also an Associate Editor of International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy and serves as an Editorial Board Member of International Journal of Management Practice. Previously, Catherine held academic posts at Brunel Business School, Brunel University and Oxford Brookes University Business School where she was awarded the University Researcher Fellowship funded by HEFCE. Prior to joining academia, Catherine worked in industry for over seven years in the UK and China, in the areas of small business support and consultancy, and international trade and investment.

Currently, Catherine is a Principal Investigator of an ESRC-funded project (March 2008-August 2010) on entrepreneurial orientation and innovation in UK and Chinese high-tech firms. The project aims to understand how UK and Chinese high-tech firms can enhance their entrepreneurial capacity of identifying technological and business opportunities and improve new product success rate either single-handedly or through international collaboration. The project findings have important implications on what UK and Chinese high-tech firms can learn from each other, and the potential for collaborative innovation. Previously, Catherine was a Co-Investigator of another ESRC-funded project (2006-2008) on ethnic entrepreneurship in small firms in London. In a number of research projects, Catherine has worked with government support agencies, community leaders, media and industry partners in both private and public sectors. Additionally, Catherine is currently supervising four doctoral students and has worked with several research assistants on a number of research projects.

Research Interests

• Corporate entrepreneurship and innovation;
• Entrepreneurial learning and feedback;
• Entrepreneurial orientation in different organisational contexts such as small firms; family businesses, medium to large organisations, and technology-based firms;
• Organisational ambidexterity (opportunity exploration and exploitation);
• Ethnic entrepreneurship, particularly Chinese ethnic minority small businesses;
• The relationship between dynamic capabilities and entrepreneurship;
• The role of knowledge and absorptive capacity in innovation;
• Entrepreneurship in emerging market economies;
• International comparative studies of entrepreneurship;

Research Grants

2005-2006. Researcher Fellowship funded by HEFCE and Oxford Brookes University. The project investigates how the current outsourcing practice (in particular, the PFI scheme in the NHS hospitals) influences employee commitment and citizenship behaviour.

September 2006-August 2008. ESRC grants (Co-investigator). Project title:  "Socio-cultural factors, entrepreneurial orientation and firm growth: A comparative study of Turkish and Chinese entrepreneurs in London".

May 2007-December 2008. Monash University research grants (Co-investigator). The project compares the organisational factors that influence UK and Malaysian high-tech firms’ entrepreneurial capacity to identify new opportunities and convert new ideas into new products and services.

March 2008-February 2010. ESRC grants (Principal investigator). Project title: “Entrepreneurial capacity to exploit opportunities, new product development and firm performance: A comparative study of UK and Chinese high-tech firms”. » Project details

Journal Editorial Board Member

European Journal of Innovation Management
International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy
International Journal of Management Practice

Current Doctoral Students

Prabhashwara Chaminda Senaratne: “Dynamic Capabilities, Entrepreneurship, and Firm Performance: An Empirical Examination of UK Technology-Based Small and Medium Sized Firms”

Seyed Navid Nasirpourosqoei:  “The Role of Prior Knowledge and Absorptive Capacity in the New Product Development Process in Iranian Automotive Industry”

Bamidele Wale-Oshinowo: “Family Involvement and Firm Performance: The Mediating Effects of Entrepreneurial Orientation and Small Business Orientation in Nigerian Small Firms”

Claudio Rotta: “The Effects of R&D on Firm Performance through Dynamic Capabilities: An Empirical Analysis of Short-Term Strategy and Long-Term Vision in Brazilian Chemical Sector” (Visiting doctoral researcher from the University of the Sinos Valley (Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos) (UNISINOS), Brazil.