Professor Stephanie Decker
Expertise
Historical research approaches for management and business studies, with a focus on the business history of sub-Saharan Africa.
Current positions
PhD Supervisor
Centre for Innovation
Contact
Press and media
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Biography
Stephanie is Professor of History and Strategy at the University of Bristol Management School, and head of the academic group for Strategy, International Management & Business, and Entrepreneurship. She is also a visiting professor in African Business History at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Previously, she worked at Aston Business School, Birmingham, from 2010 to 2019, where she was the Associate Dean for Research since 2016. After completing her PhD in history at the University of Liverpool in 2006, she held postdoctoral appointments at the London School of Economics and Harvard Business School, before joining the University of Liverpool Management School in 2007/8. She was a visiting researcher at the University of Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, in 2019, and at Copenhagen Business School in 2015.
Editorial and professional roles
Co-Vice Chair for Research & Publications, British Academy of Management (2022-24)
Joint editor-in-chief Business History since 2019
Co-Editor Business History 2013 - 2019
Editorial Board Organization Studies since 2018
British Academy of Management council member 2019-2020
Teaching
Units taught:
- Strategy & Organizations (Executive MSc)
- Critical Issues in Strategy (Executive MSc)
- Strategic Management (Masters in Management)
- Strategy (Third-year undergraduate)
Doctoral supervision
I am currently supervising students four students and have supervised another two to completion on topics such as organizational corruption at Enron, bottom-of-pyramid businesses in Ghana, corporate entrepreneurship in Ghana, ethnography of CSR in an Indian garment factory, and women entrepreneurs in Uganda.
I would be happy to hear from prospective students in the following areas:
Historical methods and approaches in strategy and organization studies
Bottom-of-Pyramid and sustainable business models in sub-Saharan Africa
Organizational Corruption
Use of computer-aided qualitative discourse analysis (corpus linguistics) in strategy and organization studies
I currently completing supervision of 2 PhD students at my previous institution:
Julia Fernando, "Female Entrepreneurship in Uganda"
Suad Al-Bulushi, "Institutional Constraints facing Entrepreneurs in Oman"
Doctoral students who have completed:
Patricia Afful-Kwaw, "Corporate Entrepreneurship in Ghana"
Divya Jyoti, "Where is the Worker in CSR in the Indian Textile Industry"
Adam Nix, "Organizational Corruption at Enron"
George Obeng, "MNCs and Bottom of Pyramid entrepreneurs in Ghana"