vCardDr Simon Down

Dr Simon Down
Senior Lecturer in Management

  • Email: simon.down@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0)191 243 0799
  • Address: Centre for Knowledge, Innovation, Technology and Enterprise (KITE)
    Newcastle University Business School
    1st Floor, CityWall, CityGate, St James Boulevard, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 4JH

Simon Down is Senior Lecturer in Management. He is the author of two books: Narratives of Enterprise: Crafting Entrepreneurial Self-identity in a Small Firm (2006) and Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Small Business (2010).

His current research is focused on leading a £240k ESRC project entitled ‘Situating small business regulation’.

Simon is keen to encourage applications from prospective PhD students, and is interested in topics such as small firms regulation, small firm failure, indigenous, military and criminal enterprise, entre-tainment (i.e. enterprise and popular culture), and issues relating to the history of enterprise.

Research Interests

Enterprise from organisational studies, employee relations and sociological perspectives
Entrepreneurial history
Entrepreneurial identity
Organisational ethnography

Simon Down is Senior Lecturer in Management at the University of Newcastle. After beginning his working life as an entrepreneur in the independent music sector (you can read about this at http://www.twee.net/labels/pink.html) he has been a writer and academic in the UK and Australia. He is the author of two books, Narratives of Enterprise: Crafting Entrepreneurial Self-identity and Enterprise (2006 Edward Elgar) and Enterprise, Entrepreneurship and Small Business (2010 Sage).
He is Principal Investigator on a £238k ESRC study begun in November 2009 entitled 'Situating small business regulation: A longitudinal study of how regulation is received, understood and used.’ The project team includes Dr Jane Pollard (CURDS), Prof. Monder Ram (De Montfort), Paul Richter and Sarah Walsh (KITE).

Simon is keen to encourage applications from prospective PhD students, and in addition to the topics mentioned above, he is especially interested in enterprise topics such as small firm regulation and failing small firms, indigenous, military and criminal enterprise, involuntary and older entrepreneurship, entre-tainment (i.e. enterprise and popular culture; 'Dragons Den', 'The Apprentice'), and issues relating to the history of enterprise and entrepreneurialism.

Selected Publications

More Publications

Research Roles

Co-editor of International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research
Editorial Board of International Small Business Journal

Postgraduate Supervision

PhD Supervisor of:
Ben Whiston, ESRC CASE studentship entitled 'Entrepreneurial Intentions in an Entrepreneurially Lagging Region: An analysis of the reasons for relative under-performance in North East England', sponsored by The Entrepreneurs Forum.
Brian Hardy, Enterprise and further education.
Christine Chifamba, Enterprise education in Zimbabwe
Stuart Anderson, Graduate experience of micro firm employment

Funding

ESRC standard grant proposal: ‘Situating small business regulation: A longitudinal study of how regulation is received, understood and used.’ Principal Investigator with Dr Jane Pollard (Newcastle, geography), Prof. Monder Ram (De Montfort), and Paul Richter (Newcastle) £238,000.
2006 ‘Involuntary’ entrepreneurship project. The project is a joint effort of the Univerisity of Vaasa (Finland, coordinating university), the University of Newcastle (UK) and the University of Siegen (Germany), and it is funded by the Finnish Ministry of Labour (€60,000).
2006 Managing and Understanding the System Integration Challenge (MUSIC), Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the UK Higher Education Funding Councils. £90K Co-investigator with special responsibility for qualitative elements of the research.
2005 Contract research report: Kautonen, T. and Down, S. (2005) 'Entrepreneurship, enterprise policy and the ageing population in the UK', report for the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit (Federal Ministry of Economics and Labour). Sponsored by and in collaboration with the Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research, Essen, Germany. This contract desk research attracted a fee of EUR 5.200
2004 University of Wollongong Unvirsity Grant of $17000 to investigate ‘Aboriginal Entrepreneurs: Relationships Between Indigenous Self-identity and Small Business Start-ups’.
2003 University of Wollongong Faculty Grant of $3000 and $7000 to investigate ‘Self-identity and organizational change’.

Qualifications

2002 Ph.D. University of Wollongong, Australia. Thesis title: ‘Clichés, generations, space and friendship: the self-identity narratives of two entrepreneurs’, examined by Prof Tony Watson (Nottingham) and Prof David Goss (Surrey).
1995-1996 Cert. in Teaching and Learning in HE and Accreditation as a Teacher in HE, from the Staff and Educational Development Association (SEDA).
1994 – 1995 MA in Industrial Relations University of Warwick.
1990 - 1993 B.Sc. (Econ) International History, London School of Economics.

Previous Positions

April 2004 – 2008 Lecturer in Management, Newcastle University Business School.
2007-2010 Co-Director and Deputy Director of KITE Research Centre.
2004-2007 DPD MSc Innovation, Creativity and Enterprise Management (ICEm).
2000 – 2004 Senior Lecturer in Organisation Studies, University of Wollongong, Australia.
1995 - 2000 Lecturer in Human Resources, University of Plymouth, UK.
1986 - 1990 London Underground Ltd. Station Foreman.
1981 - 1988 The Pink Label Ltd. Entrepreneur and owner-manager of independent record company.

Memberships

European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS).
Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE).