Dr Alexandra Dawson
Associate Professor, Management
CIBC Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Business
Director, Concordia Small Business Consulting Bureau
| Office: |
S-MB 14363 John Molson Building, 1450 Guy |
| Phone: | (514) 848-2424 ext. 2144 |
| Email: | alexandra.dawson@concordia.ca |
| Website(s): |
LinkedIn Concordia Small Business Consulting Bureau |
Alexandra Dawson joined the John Molson School of Business in 2009 after obtaining a PhD in Management and Business Administration from Bocconi University (Milan, Italy), where she was also a post-doctoral fellow, and an MSc Econ from the London School of Economics (London, UK). As of April 2018 she holds Concordia University's CIBC Distinguished Professorship in Entrepreneurship and Family Business. In 2015-16 she was a visiting scholar in the Department of Strategy and General Management at ESADE (Barcelona, Spain). She received a Dean's Award for Distinguished Scholarship in 2014. She is an Associate Editor for Journal of Family Business Strategy and is on the Review Board for Family Business Review.
Alexandra's research interests are at the intersection of entrepreneurship and family business. She is interested in how individual decision making and behaviour drive firm-level outcomes. In family businesses she studies entrepreneurial decision making as it relates to succession, with organizational commitment, history, trust and communication playing key roles, as well as to opening up to private equity investors, who can help the family transition whilst funding business growth. Her recent research is also about the role that founders continue to play in young public firms and the effect of gender in entrepreneurship and top management teams.
As the director of the Concordia Small Business Consulting Bureau, Alexandra coordinates a group of select MBA students offering business consulting services to entrepreneurs and business owners. In 2014-17 she was the founding director of the National Bank Initiative in Entrepreneurship and Family Business. She was responsible for setting up and running the Initiative, providing research funding to faculty and students in the areas of entrepreneurship and family business, organizing speaker events, and working with JMSB's Entrepreneurs in residence.
Prior to academia, Alexandra was a manager with a strategy consulting firm in London, UK. In that role, she oversaw projects providing strategy advice to corporate clients and investment support (strategic due diligence) to private equity firms evaluating the commercial viability of potential investments.
Education
PhD, Universita' Bocconi
MSc, London School of Economics
'Laurea' (equivalent to Master's), Università degli Studi di Palermo
Areas of expertise
- Entrepreneurship
- Family Business
- Private Equity
Teaching activities
MANA 480
Entrepreneurial Family Business (UG)
MANA 482
Financing Entrepreneurial Ventures (UG)
MANA 499
Special Topics in Management: Developing the next generation of family business leaders.
JMSB International Summer School, recipient of the 2017 Premio Venezia, Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada (academic category)
MANA 683
Entrepreneurship (MBA)
MBA 660
Small Business Consulting Bureau (MBA)
Publications
Refereed Journal Articles
Parada, M.J. & Dawson, A. (2017). Building family business identity through transgenerational narratives. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 30(3): 344-356.
Sharma, P., Debicki B.J., Dawson, A. & Kellermanns, F.W. (2017). Editorial: Behavioural issues in family enterprises. International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, 16(1/2): 1-12.
Dawson, A., Sharma, P., Irving, P.G., Marcus, J., & Chirico, F. (2015) Predictors of later generation family members’ commitment to family enterprises. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(3), 545-569. http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/978746/1/Dawson_et_al_ETP_in_press.pdf
Dawson, A., Irving, P.G., Sharma, P., Chirico, F., & Marcus, J. (2014) Behavioral outcomes of next generation family members' commitment to their firm. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 23(4): 570-581. http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/978747/1/Dawson_et_al_EJWOP_2014.pdf
Dawson, A & Mussolino, D (2014) Exploring what makes family firms different: Discrete or overlapping constructs in the literature? Journal of Family Business Strategy, 5(2): 169-183. http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/978750/1/Dawson_and_Mussolino_JFBS_2014.pdf
Dawson, A. & Hjorth, D. (2012) Advancing family business research through narrative analysis, Family Business Review, 25(3): 339-355. http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/974637/4/Dawson_%26_Hjorth_FBR_2012.pdf
Dawson, A. (2012) Human capital in family businesses: Focusing on the individual level. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 3(1): 3-11. http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/973655/1/Dawson_JFBS_2012.pdf
Dawson, A. (2011) Private equity investment decisions in family firms: The role of human resources and agency costs. Journal of Business Venturing, 26(2): 189-199. http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/977300/1/Dawson_JBV_2011.pdf
Book Chapters
Chadwick, I. & Dawson, A. (2018) Women in leadership and family firm performance, in D’Allura, G.M. & Faraci, R. (Eds.) Governance delle Imprese Familiarie e Traiettorie di Crescita. Internazionalizzazione, Innovazione e Contesti Istituzionali (pp. 99-105), Franco Angeli, Italy (in Italian). http://ojs.francoangeli.it/_omp/index.php/oa/catalog/book/301.
Parada, M.J. & Dawson, A. (2017) Exploring institutional entrepreneurship in developing countries. Co-preneurs in the tourism industry: A Bolivian case, in Ramirez-Pasillas, M., Brundin, E., & Markowska, M. (Eds.), Contextualizing Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies and Developing Economies (pp. 194-210), Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK.
Dawson, A. & Valentini, G. (2013) Acquisition and diversification behaviour in large family firms, in Smyrnios, K.X., Poutziouris, P.Z., & Goel, S. (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Family Business (pp. 719-733), 2nd Edition, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK.
Corbetta, G. & Dawson, A. (2011) Innovation and R&D policies in Italy. In Mian, S. (Ed.), Science and Technology Based Regional Entrepreneurship: Global Experience in Policy and Program Development (pp. 125-142), Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK.
Valentini, G. & Dawson, A. (2010) Beyond knowledge bases: Towards a better understanding of the effects of M&A on technological performance. In Finkelstein, S. & Cooper, C.L. (Eds.), Advances in Mergers and Acquisitions (pp. 177-197), Volume 9, Emerald Books, Bingley, UK.
Corbetta, G. & Dawson, A. (2007) Relationship-based and market-based models of interaction between private equity and family firms. In Cafferata, R. (Ed.), Industria e Finanza in Italia (pp. 247-261), Il Mulino (in Italian).
Dawson, A. & Lassini, U. (2005) External environment and growth of family firms. In Corbetta, G. (Ed.), Capaci di Crescere (pp. 227-253), Egea, Milan (in Italian).
Participation activities
Recent Conference Presentations
Media interviews
Thinking Out Loud Live event (2017, 1 March), Concordia University's public engagement series in collaboration with The Globe and Mail. http://www.concordia.ca/cuevents/main/2017/04/13/business-ownership-now.html
Family Business: Succession Planning (2015, 18-24 May), Canal Savoir. http://www.canalsavoir.tv/videos_sur_demande/family_business_sucession_planning
Montreal makes the most of its creative resources (2015, 3 Apr), in Montreal Gazette. http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/montreal-re-imagined/montreal-makes-the-most-of-its-creative-resources
Montreal’s small businesses struggling to survive (2015, 23 Mar), in Montreal Gazette. http://montrealgazette.com/news/montreals-small-businesses-are-failing-at-an-alarming-rate
Passer le flambeau,une opération delicate (2014, 28 Oct), in Le Devoir. http://www.ledevoir.com/economie/actualites-economiques/422251/entretiens-concordia-economie-et-innovation-passer-le-flambeau-une-operation-delicate
L’entrepreneuriat québécois au tournant d’une generation (2014, 7 May), in Découvrir, Association francophone pour le savoir. http://www.acfas.ca/publications/decouvrir/2014/05/l-entrepreneuriat-quebecois-tournant-generation
Other
Concordia news
JMSB's first international school receives an award
CSBCB collaborates with theatre
The entrepreneur's b-school
Why Quebec needs more entrepreneurs
http://www.concordia.ca/cunews/main/stories/2014/05/07/why-quebec-needsmoreentrepreneurs.html
