Prof Gary Packham

Prof Gary Packham is Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of our Faculty of Business and Law.

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Background

Gary is currently Pro Vice Chancellor (PVC) of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at Anglia Ruskin University.

He was previously Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law, leading a team of over 100 academic and 35 administrative staff responsible for delivering world class business, management, leadership and finance research and education to 3,000 on campus students and a further 2,500 students studying at one of the Faculty’s UK or international Associate Colleges.

During his leadership, the Faculty enjoyed significant success, securing world leading research status in the REF in 2021 and 2014. In addition, Prof Packham oversaw the successful reorganisation and rebranding of the Faculty of Business and Law, and the introduction of new undergraduate and postgraduate curricula, and returned the Faculty back to a healthy financial surplus position.

The Faculty also successfully delivered a suite of leading work based learning and degree apprenticeship programmes for organisations such as Barclays, The Co-operative, Harrods, Tri-Services (MoD), UPS and Wilmot Dixon.

As part of his PVC role, Gary has responsibility for international development and employability, entrepreneurship and innovation across the institution. During this period, Anglia Ruskin University received two awards for entrepreneurship – the Times Higher Education Award for Entrepreneurial University of the Year (2014) and the Duke of York University Entrepreneurship Award (2016) as part of the Lloyds Bank National Business Awards.

Previously, he led the research, third stream and engagement agenda for the Faculty as Deputy Dean (Research and Enterprise) leading the dramatic transformation of the Business School’s research and external engagement activities over the previous two years.

Prior to joining Anglia Ruskin University, Gary was Head of the Glamorgan Business School and Head of Research for the Faculty of Business and Society at the University of Glamorgan (now University of South Wales). He also acted as director of the Centre for Enterprise.

He has led and managed a wide range of research and business engagement projects working for organisations such as the European Commission, Belgian Science and Policy Office, Welsh Government, Sector Skills Council and the Federation of Small Businesses.

He has published widely in international peer reviewed journals in subjects such as economic development policy, small business management and strategy, technology transfer and commercialisation.

Research interests

• Small business management and growth
• Enterprise and entrepreneurship education
• Knowledge transfer and exchange
• IP commercialisation
• E-commerce and SMEs
• Internationalisation and SMEs
• Construction management
• E-learning and e-moderation
• Peer assisted learning and support

Gary's main research interests concern small business development and growth, examining the role of entrepreneurs in developing organisations as well as the impact of entrepreneurship education on graduate start-ups and small business survival and growth.

Other work has focused on peer-assisted learning and online learning in relation to effective moderation, pedagogy and student engagement.

Areas of research supervision

Current

• Internationalisation and cultural characteristics of SMEs in the EU
• Entrepreneurship Education
• Success factors related to the incubation and start-up of fast growing medical enterprises

Previous

• Entrepreneurial universities and commercialisation
• Role of entrepreneurship education in developing entrepreneurial graduates
• Meta-cognitive analysis of key entrepreneurial traits and behaviours
• Effective use of strategic information in technology SMEs
• Identification and measurement of key success factors of growth SMEs
• E-commerce adoption in micro-enterprises
• Management development in fast growing small firms

Teaching

Small business management, entrepreneurship and strategy

Qualifications

• PhD Small Business Management, The University of Glamorgan, South Wales, 2001
• BA Business Studies (1st) with Hons, The University of Glamorgan, South Wales, 1997

Memberships, editorial boards

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• Fellow of the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (FIoEE)
• Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (FCMI)
• Member of the Institute of Leadership and Management (MInstLM)
• Member of the European Council for Small Business (ECSB)
• Member of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE)
• Member of the Academy of Management (Entrepreneurship Division)
• Member of the British Academy of Management
• Member of the Advisory Council – Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (SFEDI – UK Sector Body for Enterprise)
• Board Member - National Centre for Entrepreneurship Education
• Board Member - Leadership East
• Member of the X-Forces Steering Group

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

• Innovation and Impact Measurement Project (2013) Essex County Council, £73,000 (with Little, J and Selmanovic, S)
• Social Return on Investment Measurement – Veterans Project (2013), Ixion £30,000 (with Willis, R and MacDonald, P)
• IP commercialisation and social enterprises – knowledge exchange pilot (2012), Intellectual Property Office £60,000 (with Willis, R and Arkel, D)
• Women Adding Value to the Economy (WAVE), (2012), European Structural Funds (ESF), £5m (with Atkinson C, Cardiff University and the Women’s Workshop)
• Elevate Cymru (2011), European Structural Funds (ESF), £6m (with Colebourne, D, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Newport University, Swansea University and Trinity St David’s University)
• Business Enterprise Pathways (2010), European Structural Funds (ESF), circa £1.3m (with Colebourne, D, Jones, W.P and Newport University)

Selected recent publications

Taylor, D. and Packham, G. (2016) 'Social inclusion through ICT; identifying and overcoming barriers to ICT use', Strategic Change, 25(1), pp. 45-60.

Bakos, A., Miller, C., Packham, G., Pickernell, D. and Thomas, B. (2016) 'Internal electronic information as a competitiveness enhancing resource in German automotive suppliers', Strategic Change, 25(1), pp. 61-180.

Pickernell, D., Jones, P., Thompson, P. and Packham, G. (2016) 'Determinants of SME exporting: insights and implications', International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 7(1), pp. 31-42.

Beynon, M., Jones, P., Pickernell, D. and Packham, G. (2015) 'A NCaRBS Analysis of SME Intended Innovation: Learning about the Don’t Knows', Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, 59(A), pp. 97-112.

Beynon, M., Jones, P., Pickernell, D. and Packham, G. (2014) 'Investigating the impact of training influence on employee retention in small and medium enterprises: a regression-type classification and ranking believe simplex analysis on sparse data', Expert Systems, 32(1). pp. 141-154. ISSN 1468-0394

Jones, P., Scherle, J., Pickernell, D., Packham, G., Skinner, H. and Peisl, T. (2014) 'Fool's Gold? The value of business awards to small business', International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 15(2), pp. 89-100.

Book Chapters and Monographs

McCathy, S. D, Packham, G. A and Pickernell D. G (2014) 'The potential of and framework for promoting a business angel university and intellectual property exploitation: a case study from Wales'. In: Fayolle, A. and Redford, D. T. (Eds.) (2014) The Handbook on the Entrepreneurial University. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Recent presentations and conferences

Prof. Gary Packham has presented over 60 papers at UK and International conferences in the field of entrepreneurship and small business management. In addition he has undertaken many key note addresses, presentations and/or chaired tracks at leading international conferences in the UK and Europe.

Media experience

To date Prof. Gary Packham has provided expert comment on small business policy, entrepreneurship, economic development, IP commercialisation and small business management for local and national media (TV, Radio and Newspapers). He has also written several academic/business articles for the media reporting on growth firms in UK regions and entrepreneurship more generally.