Academic biography

COLM O’GORMAN is Professor of Entrepreneurship at Dublin City University Business School. He has been a visiting professor at Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Finland, NEOMA Business School, France, and ESADE Business School, Barcelona.

RESEARCH FOCUS: His research focuses on entrepreneurship, necessity entrepreneurship, innovation, and growth in new firms and in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Specifically, he has studied the growth strategies of SMEs, the nature of managerial work in high growth SMEs, mission statements in SMEs, and internationalisation processes in International New Ventures, and in SMEs. He has explored the emergence of high-tech firms in the context of cluster dynamics, including a study of the factors that led to the rapid emergence of the software industry in Ireland.

Recent work has explored the digital readiness of towns with colleagues in the Irish Institute for Digital Business (IIDB), at Dublin City University Business School; resilience in family businesses, with colleagues in the National Centre for Family Business, at Dublin City University Business School.

PUBLICATIONS: He has published extensively in leading, high impact, international peer-reviewed journals such as Academy of Management Review, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, European Planning Studies, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of World Business, International Marketing Review, Organisational Dynamics, R&D Management, Small Business Economics, and Venture Capital.

EU FUNDED RESEARCH. He is currently Management Committee member of EU COST Action - A European forum for revitalisation of marginalised mountain areas (CA21125). He has completed European Union funded research projects.

POLICY IMPACT: His research informs entrepreneurship policy and practice. He has co-authored the annual Irish Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, which reports on the extent and nature of entrepreneurship in Ireland (as part of the largest international academic study of entrepreneurship). He advises on entrepreneurship and industrial development for policy makers and industrial development and enterprise promotion agencies.

TEACHING: His teaching is in the areas of Entrepreneurship. He has co-authored eight teaching cases studies on entrepreneurship published by the European Case Centre, including several award-winning cases, and ‘Enterprise in Action’, a textbook on entrepreneurship for Irish students.

MANGEMENT ROLES: He was Executive Dean (2 year interim role, 2021 to 2022, Associate Dean for Research (6 year term), and Director of the MBA programme at DCU Business School. He was formerly Department Chair (Management) (UCD School of Business). He has a PhD from Trinity College, a Masters of Business Studies (Enterprise Development) (UCD), and a B.Comm (UCD).