Research and publication on entrepreneurship by faculty members in UNC Charlotte’s Belk College of Business has led to the University’s designation among the top 10 institutions on Texas Christian University’s 2022 Global University Entrepreneurship Productivity Rankings.
TCU’s list focused on 350 university programs worldwide, tracking publication in the field’s premier scholarly journals during the past five years: the Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice and Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal. These journals typically accept only 5% to 10% of submissions, including only the most novel and interesting research.
“The Belk College of Business has assembled elite faculty in entrepreneurship, who are conducting high-quality, relevant research in this highly specialized area of focus,” said Jennifer Troyer, dean of the Belk College of Business. “This allows us not only to provide our students with the latest knowledge and understanding of how to be effective entrepreneurs — but to offer more in entrepreneurship expertise, according to the new TCU rankings, than other business schools in the state.”
Faculty members from the Belk College of Business whose research and publications focus on entrepreneurship include Franz Kellermanns, the Reese Endowed Chair in International Business and professor of management, who is ranked 13th among leading authors of entrepreneurship research by the Journal of Small Business Management; Torsten Pieper, associate professor of management and president of the International Family Enterprise Research Academy; and Laura Stanley, associate professor of management, all who focus a significant portion of their research activity on family-owned businesses; and Justin Webb, the Belk Distinguished Professor of Business Innovation, whose research expertise includes influences on the entrepreneurship process and other topics. In addition, scholarly articles by Victor Chen, former associate professor of international management, contributed to the University's TCU numbers.
Contributing to the entrepreneurship ecosystem
As North Carolina ascends in innovation rankings — particularly with Charlotte and Raleigh named last year by Lending Tree as top-five metros for starting a business — and its recent recognition by CNBC as the No. 1 state for business – UNC Charlotte faculty and staff from across the University as well as highly motivated students and entrepreneurial alumni continue to influence and support the region’s robust startup environment.
- This fall, the Belk College of Business introduces an Undergraduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship, designed to teach the skills essential for turning their ideas into action – and provide the talent to support this growing area of the state’s economy. The college also offers a Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, a series of courses that emphasize experiential exercises and engagement with Charlotte's broader entrepreneurship community.
- 30-plus business partners are currently engaged with PORTAL, the region’s premier business, innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem-supporting incubator.
- During the past five years, faculty and student inventors have received 98 new patents and launched l7 startups.
- Ventureprise, UNC Charlotte’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center, works with students, faculty and community members to elevate their ideas, commercialize their research and incorporate entrepreneurial thinking into the campus academic experience.