Dr Louise Scholes
Reader in Entrepreneurship
Dr Louise Scholes joined Loughborough University London from Durham University as a Reader in Entrepreneurship. She is on the editorial board of the International Small Business Journal and has a specialist research focus on entrepreneurship and family firms.
Louise Scholes is on the editorial board of the International Small Business Journal and is the Director of the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Loughborough University London.
Louise's main research interests include family firms and their characteristics, and management buyouts and their consequences. Her teaching and research covers corporate entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship in established organisations including family firms.
Academic background
After completing a PhD in Radiation Chemistry from Brunel University, Louise joined DiverseyLever and spent 10 years in research and development creating new animal medicines. Following an MBA at Nottingham University she rejoined the education sector and has since worked for Nottingham, Durham and Loughborough business Schools. At Durham and Nottingham Louise taught a diverse range of business-related topics such as corporate entrepreneurship, corporate governance, venture capital and private equity, business statistics, and Information Technology to undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Current research and collaborations
Louise's main research interest is family firms. This form of business makes up a majority of firms in the world and is fascinating because family involvement in the ownership and governance of the firm influences the path the firm takes, and ultimately determines the longevity of the business. The family and their desires have a huge impact on the firm, something that is, of course, absent from non-family firms. The influence of family is often positive but not always and my focus is to understand more about the impact of family on outcomes such as entrepreneurship, innovation, performance in general, and even longer term-survival.
Current PhD / research supervisions
- Ye Zhang, ‘An exploratory study of business angel groups in China: the characteristics and activity, investment processes, impact and development trends.’
Interests and activities
Louise is affiliated to the Enterprise Research Centre and the Centre for Management Buy-out Research. She is also a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Stoke Woods Action Group, a commuinty project set up to care for and maintain a small wood in Nottinghamshire.
Louise has also been a consulting editor for the International Small Business Journal and is now on their editorial board.