Prof Simon Down

Prof Simon Down

Professor of Management,
Director of the Institute for International Management Practice (IIMP)

Location: Lord Ashcroft Building, Cambridge
Room: LAB119

UK: 0845 196 5673
International: +44 (0)1245 493131 ext. 5673
Email: simon.down@anglia.ac.uk
Simon Down is Professor of Management and Director of the Institute for International Management Practice. He is also a member of CEDAR (Centre for Enterprise Development and Research). His previous post was as Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University, where he worked for eight years, following periods working as an academic at Wollongong University, Australia, and Plymouth University. In recent years he has been the co-director of an innovation and enterprise research centre and co-subject group head.

He began his working life as an entrepreneur in the independent music sector before working for London Underground. In his late twenties he went to the London School of Economics, studying an undergraduate degree in history, and after living for a year teaching English in Berlin, completed an MA in Industrial Relations at Warwick.

He is the author of two books: Narratives of Enterprise: Crafting Entrepreneurial Self-identity in a Small Firm (Edward Elgar, 2006), an ethnographic study of a small firm in the UK, and a textbook, Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Small Business (Sage, 2010). He has published articles and book chapters on small firm policy, entrepreneurial and organizational self-identity, indigenous entrepreneurship, management history and ethnographic methodology in journals such as Human Relations, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Organization and the International Small Business Journal (see list of publications below). He recently stepped down as Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research after a number of years as part of the editorial team. He is also on the editorial boards of Personnel Review; International Small Business Journal; Asia Matters: Business, Culture and Theory; and the International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

His current research is focused on leading a project entitled 'Situating small business regulation: A longitudinal study of how regulation is received, understood and used'. This £238k ESRC funded study begun in November 2009 and the fieldwork was completed in June 2012. The project team consists of Dr Jane Pollard (Newcastle), Prof Monder Ram (De Montfort), and Paul Richter (Newcastle). The team is currently focused on preparing a number of high quality research publications and on disseminating findings from the research to practitioners in the environmental service, bio-tech, security and film and media sectors, and to regulators and policy-makers.

Books

  • Down, S. (2010) Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Small Business. London: Sage.
  • Down, S. (2006) Narratives of Enterprise: Crafting Entrepreneurial Self-identity in a Small Firm. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Publications

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  • Kautonen, T., S. Down and M. Minniti. (2013) 'Ageing and entrepreneurial preferences', Small Business Economics, dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11187-013-9489-5. (ABS 3*)
  • Swail, J., Down, S. and Kautonen, T. (2013) 'Examining the effect of entre-tainment as a cultural influence on entrepreneurial intentions', International Small Business Journal, in press.
  • Down, S. (2012) 'Evaluating the impacts of government policy through the long view of life history', Entrepreneurship and Regional Development 24(7-8): 619-639.
  • Down, S. (2012) 'A historiographical account of workplace and organizational ethnography', Journal of Organizational Ethnography 1(1): 72 - 82.
  • Kautonen, T., S. Down, F. Welter, K. Althoff, J. Kantola, S. Kolb and P. Vainio (2011). Involuntary entrepreneurship. In L.-P. Dana (Ed.), World Encyclopaedia of Entrepreneurship. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, US: Edward Elgar, pp. 288-292.
  • Badham, R. Claydon, R. and Down, S. (2011) 'The ambiguity paradox in cultural change' in D. Boje, B. Burnes and J. Hassard (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Change Management, London: Routledge.
  • Kautonen, T., Down, S., Welter, F., Vainio, P., Althoff, K., Kantola, J. and Kolb, S. (2010) 'Involuntary Self-employment' as a public policy issue: A cross-country EU comparison', International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research 16(2): 112-129.
  • Down, S. and Reveley, J. (2009) 'Between narration and interaction: Situating first-line supervisor identity work', Human Relations 62(3): 379?401.
  • Down, S. and Hughes, M. (2009) 'When the 'subject' and the 'researcher' speak together: Co-producing organizational ethnography', in S. Ybema, D. Yanow, H. Wels, F. Kamsteeg (Eds.), Organizational Ethnography: Studying the Complexity of Everyday Life, London: Sage.
  • Reveley. J. and Down, S. (2009) 'Stigmatization and self-presentation in Australian entrepreneurial identity formation', in Hjorth, D, and Steyaert, C. (eds.) The Politics and Aesthetics of Entrepreneurship. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
  • Down, S. and Warren, L. (2008) 'Constructing narratives of enterprise: Clichés and entrepreneurial self-identity', International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research 14(1):4-23.
  • Kautonen, T., Down, S. and South, L. (2008) 'Enterprise support for older entrepreneurs: the case of PRIME in the UK', International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research 14(2): 85-101.
  • Engel, D., T.K. Bauer, K. Brink, S. Down, J. Hartmann, L. Jacobi, T. Kautonen, L. Trettin, F. Welter und J. Wiklund (2007) 'Unternehmensdynamik und alternde Bevölkerung (Firm dynamics and population ageing)', RWI : Schriften, Heft 80, Duncker & Humblot: Berlin.
  • Down, S., Garrety, K., and Badham, R. (2006) 'Fear and loathing in the field: Emotional dissonance and identity work in ethnographic research' M@n@gement 9(3): 87-107.
  • Reveley, J., Down, S. and Taylor, S. (2004) 'Beyond the boundaries: An ethnographic analysis of spatially diffuse control in a small firm' , International Small Business Journal 22(4): 349-367.
  • Down, S. and Reveley, J. (2004) 'Generational encounters and the social formation of entrepreneurial identity - "young guns" and "old farts" ', Organization 11(2): 233-250.
  • Taylor, S., Thorpe, R. and Down, S. (2002) 'Negotiating managerial legitimacsmaller2organizations:Management education, technical skill and situated competence', Journal of Management Education 26(5): 550-573.
  • Down, S. (2001) 'The return of popular social science?' Human Relations 54(12): 1639-1662.
  • Down, S. (2001) 'The use of history in business and management, and some implications for management learning.' Management Learning 32(3): 395-417.
  • Sadler-Smith, E., Down, S. and Lean, J. (2000) '"Modern" learning methods: rhetoric and reality', Personnel Review 29(4): 474-490.
  • Down, S. (1999) '(Yet) another side of HRM?', Organization 6(3): 543-560.
  • Down, S. (1999) 'Owner-manager learning in small firms', Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 6(3): 1-14.
  • Lean, J., Down, S. and Sadler-Smith, E. (1999) 'The nature of the client-Personal Business Advisor relationship within Business Link', Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development 6(1): 80-88.
  • Lean, J., Down, S. and Sadler-Smith, E. (1999) 'An examination of the developing role of PBAs within Business Link', Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy 17: 609-619.
  • Sadler-Smith, E., Down, S. and Field, J. (1999) 'Adding value to HRD: evaluation, Investors in People and small firm training', Human Resource Development International 2(4): 369-390.
  • Down, S. and Smith, D. (1998) 'It pays to be nice to people: Investors in People; The search for measurable benefits', Personnel Review 27(2): 143-155. (Also published in summary form in Personnel Review Select (1999), 2(3): 146-57).
  • Down, S. and Bresnen, M. (1997) 'The impact of Training Enterprise Councils on the provision of small business support: Case studies in London and the Midlands' , Local Economy 11(4): 317-332.

Book Reviews & Editorials

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  • Down, S. (2013) 'The distinctiveness of the European tradition in entrepreneurship research', 25(1-2): 1-4 (editorial).
  • Down, S. (forthcoming) 'Special issue editorial: The distinctiveness of the European tradition in entrepreneurship research', Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, accepted, in press.
  • Kautonen, T., S. Down, F. Welter, K. Althoff, J. Kantola, S. Kolb and P. Vainio (2011). Involuntary entrepreneurship. In L.-P. Dana (Ed.), World Encyclopaedia of Entrepreneurship. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, US: Edward Elgar, pp. 288-292.
  • Letter published in The London Review of Books 2011, 33(4), 'The Raging Peloton'
  • Editorial (2010) for International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 17(1)
  • Obituary (2010) for Dr Jason Cope, 1972-2010, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, 17(1)
  • Review of P. Reedy (2010) 'The Manager's Tale: Stories of Managerial Identity', Ashgate: Farnham', in International Small Business Journal 28(6): 631-633.
  • Review of M. Dibben (2000), Exploring Interpersonal Trust in the Entrepreneurial Venture in Journal of Management Studies 38(5): 753-756.
  • Review of C. Gray (1998) Enterprise Culture, London: Routledge, in International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research 5(2).
  • Review of G. Burrell (1997) Pandemonium: Towards a Retro-Organization Theory, London: Sage, in International Small Business Journal 17(1): 118-122.
  • Review of T. R. Gourvish and E. Abe (1997) Japanese Success? British Failure? Comparison in Business Performance since 1945, Oxford: OUP, Journal of Management Studies 36(1): 150-154.
  • Review of Michael Rowlinson (1997) Organisations and Institutions, London: Macmillan, in Work, Employment and Society 11(3): 587-589.
  • Review of Paul Burns and Jim Dewhurst (Eds.) (1996) Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Macmillan Business, in Small Business and Enterprise Development 4: 155-7.
  • Review of Christian Lahusen (1996) The Rhetoric of Moral Protest; Public Campaigns, Celebrity Endorsement and Political Mobilisation, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, in Reviewing Sociology 10(3).
  • Review of R. Holliday (1995) Small Firms: Nice Work? London: Routledge, in Small Business and Enterprise Development 3(2): 102.
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