Biography

Paul was appointed to a Professorship of Entrepreneurship and Strategy at Royal Holloway, University of London in January 2011, after a short spell as Professor of Entrepreneurship at Kingston University. Prior to that he worked for four years as a Reader in Entrepreneurship at Durham Business School, Durham University. He spent the period 2001-2005 in Aberdeen, Scotland. He started his career working as a Research Fellow at the Centre for Business Research, Cambridge University over the period 1996-2000.

His co-authored article with Professor Bob Bennett (Cambridge University, England) which was published in Entrepreneurship and Regional Development (1999), The Use of External Business Advice by SMEs in Britain was republished in 2005 in Keystones of Entrepreneurship Knowledge. This book celebrated the 50th anniversary of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) and brought together in their opinion the 20 best articles ever published about entrepreneurship and small business.

His research has looked at business advice, networking, innovation, exporting, growth, finance, and entrepreneurial learning.  Recent research has focussed upon the UK, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, China, Colombia, Nepal and Chile.  Examples include looking at social enterprises in the UK, family business in Saudi Arabia, and fast growth businesses in the UK. The relevance of his work is reflected in the fact that his writings have been widely published in journals including Journal of Management Studies, British Journal of Management, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Regional Studies, Urban Studies, Applied Economics, Policy Studies, Small Business Economics, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, and International Small Business Journal.

His work is widely cited - an h-index of 29 and over 2,800 citations on Scopus, and an h-index of 37 and over 7,000 citations on Google Scholar.

He is on the editorial boards of Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Family Business Review, and Leadership. He is an Associate of the Policy Research Group at St Chads College, Durham University. 

Paul is interested in supervising doctoral work which looks at themes in entrepreneurship or small business.