Dr Anna Spadavecchia

Anna's research interests are in the fields of entrepreneurship, small business management and innovation from a regional perspective. She has worked on various historical and contemporary facets of these topics. One facet concerns the role of national and regional policies in promoting the development of SMEs and clusters in Italy from 1951 to 1991. An additional angle is the impact of external economies on the innovation activity of independent inventors, SMEs and large corporations. A further perspective concerns the use of patents by independent inventors and corporations in their attempts to control markets in the early 20th century.

Previously she was Associate Professor in the department of Leadership, Organisation and Behaviour at Henley Business School. She holds a PhD in Economic History from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her dissertation was awarded the European Business History Association Prize (2004) and the Krooss Prize (2005).

Anna held visiting fellowships at the Centre for Business History, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark (March-April 2017), the department of Political Economy and Statistics, Università di Siena, Italy (January-February 2017), Rutgers Business School, Newark, USA (October 2009), and the department of Economics, University of Tübingen, Germany (August 2003). She is a member of the British Academy of Management, the Business History Conference and the European Business History Association.