Dr CLAIRE
SEAMAN
‘My inspiration
has been sheer
curiosity about
the subject!’
READER, BUSINESS, ENTERPRISE AND MANAGEMENT
I’m Dr Claire Seaman and I’m a Reader in Enterprise and Family
Business. I’m interested in the way in which family businesses develop
parallel strategies for the business, the family and the individual family
members. This is particularly apparent in smaller businesses which are
under-represented in research but economically important.
The development of
theory within the fields of
entrepreneurship and strategy
that accommodates these
multiple rationalities of family
and business is a key part of
my current research, linking to
the management, sharing and
creation of knowledge in
a family business context.
O
E
R A T I N G
L
B
WOMEN
RESEARCHERS
INSPIRING
RESEARCH CAREER
JOURNEYS
My research also considers the manner in which families
act as a platform for entrepreneurial individuals and families
who develop lots of different businesses over the years.
My inspiration has been sheer curiosity about the subject!
My initial research was in agri-business, but farms are often
run by families. Later work involved small business, but
again one factor was the family. Families were the driving
force behind business but overlooked in research where
family were regarded as something to be ‘professionalised’
out of the business, despite family businesses forming the
economic bedrock of Scotland.