Dr Umberto Lanzano

Umberto is a Lecturer in International Business at Anglia Ruskin University. His research explores how regulatory frameworks impact small and medium enterprises (SMEs), focusing on institutional theory, inspectors, and policy implementation. He also investigates criminal entrepreneurship and digital entrepreneurship on streaming platforms.

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Background

Umberto's expertise lies in regulatory frameworks and their impact on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Using institutional theory, he analyses how these frameworks influence inspectors' approaches to SMEs, particularly in how policy implementation affects compliance and business growth.

Umberto's PhD, titled Implementing Regulatory Policy: A Study of Frontline Inspectors and SMEs, forms the basis of ongoing research, and he is currently developing a series of publications and presenting his findings at conferences to provide new insights into the regulatory challenges and opportunities faced by SMEs. Umberto is also expanding new areas of research, including the study of criminal entrepreneurship, which explores how informal and illicit enterprises operate on a global scale, and entrepreneurship on streaming platforms, where digital content creators navigate international business opportunities. These emerging areas complement his broader interest in how entrepreneurship evolves within diverse regulatory and global business environments.

Currently, Umberto leads the International Business module and has previously led the Global Business Environment module. Additionally, he has co-delivered modules such as Contemporary Issues in Work and Society and Business Research Methods, and is currently developing a new module on criminal entrepreneurship, introducing students to the complexities of informal enterprises within a global context.

Umberto regularly supervises both undergraduate and postgraduate students, and is open to supervising PhD students interested in the areas of expertise noted below.

At ARU, Umberto serves as the Associate Course Director for the BSc (Hons) International Business Management and has previously directed various courses, including MSc International Business, MSc Marketing, MSc Human Resource Management, and MSc Supply Chain Management. In these roles, Umberto has shaped forward-thinking curricula that prepare students for the complexities of global business.

Spoken Languages

• English
• Italian

Research interests

• Impact of regulatory frameworks on small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
• Institutional theory and regulatory policy implementation
• Role of inspectors in SME compliance and business growth
• Criminal entrepreneurship and illicit enterprises
• Digital entrepreneurship on streaming platforms

Areas of research supervision

• Regulation and SMEs
• Criminal enterprises
• Digital entrepreneurship

Teaching

• BSc (Hons) International Business Management
• International Business (module)

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
• PG Cert Teaching and Learning, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
• MBA International Business, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen
• MSc International Business, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
• BSc (Hons) Economics and Healthcare Management, Università Leonardo da Vinci – Università degli Studi Gabriele D’Annunzio, Chieti

Memberships, editorial boards

• Fellow, Higher Education Academy (FHEA)