School of Entrepreneurship & Business
Centre for Entrepreneurship Research
The Centre for Entrepreneurship Research (CER) provides a focus for research activity in the area of Enterprise and Innovation, a key area of the University’s development in Southend-on-Sea. The Centre’s main aim is to develop a forum for excellence in entrepreneurship research and dissemination, focusing on varied aspects of new venture creation (in and for business, nongovernmental organisations, large enterprises and social enterprise),
innovative growth, and the impact of entrepreneurship on regional and local economic development.
The Centre builds on the research portfolio of all academic staff, and supports the work of research students and a group of Enterprise Fellows. CER has already established working links with similar centres in the UK and in India, China, USA, Poland, France and Italy. It houses the well-established International Entrepreneurship Forum and has close working links with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and its Local Employment and Economic Development (LEED) Programme.
The School and the Centre has now received funding to set up two unique Research and Development groups, one from Shandong Weigao Group Company Ltd in China, and the other with Zensar Technolgies Ltd, a leading software house in India. The R&D groups will focus on China-European business connections and technology based entrepreneurship respectively.
Research activities
Current research activity within the School includes:
- The internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
- Entrepreneurship policy development;
- Business networks and clusters;
- The behaviour of SMEs; and
- The development of policies for entrepreneurship and economic development.