In the minds of many, entrepreneurship is an inherently capitalist activity – an entrepreneur starts a business and, all going well, it grows and they make money. Yet how does this explain the concept of “social entrepreneurship” and all that it entails? To explore this further it is a pleasure to welcome Professor Sheila Cannon to the Brain for Business podcast.

About our guest…

Sheila Cannon is Associate Professor in Social Innovation at Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin. She conducts research on and teaches about social enterprises, nonprofits, and civil society organisations. Her research contributes to knowledge on how organisations influence and respond to socio-cultural change. So far, she has studied contexts including peacebuilding, LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, digital disruption, just transition, rural development, and nature based enterprises.

You can find out more about Sheila and her research at this page:

• https://www.tcd.ie/business/people/faculty-professors/cannonsh/

More information on some of the organisations discussed in the podcast is available on their websites:

• https://moyeecoffee.ie/
• https://food.cloud/
• https://shuttleknit.ie/

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When it comes to innovation, decision making and other organisational processes, managing idea selection and maximising the outcomes in this selection process is critical, affecting both organisational performance and employee morale. So how do organisations select ideas? And how might they do this differently?

To explore this in more detail I am delighted to speak to Professor Dmitry Sharapov of Imperial College London.

About our guest…

Dmitry Sharapov is Associate Professor of Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategy, and MRes/PhD Director for the Management & Entrepreneurship department.

Dmitry's research interests lie at the intersections of the literatures on competitive strategy, innovation management, and decision-making under uncertainty. His research, which has been published in journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, and Research Policy, aims to improve our understanding of (1) the antecedents, processes, and consequences of organizations imitating one another, (2) the inventive process and how organizations select which novel ideas to support, and (3) strategy in business ecosystems. Empirical settings for exploring these questions include large multinational technology companies, startup accelerators, the US movie industry, and the America's Cup World Series sailing competition.

The article discussed in the interview – Selection Regimes and Selection Errors – is available open access here: https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/full/10.1287/orsc.2023.17482

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A recent paper, co-authored by our guest today, Professor Kristie Neff, addresses the question of how social class origin influences entrepreneurial performance most particularly in terms of individual-level risk-taking, and under what social network conditions the relationship between social class origin and entrepreneurial performance is most pronounced.

About our guest…

Kristie Neff is an Assistant Professor in the Ivy College of Business (Department of Management & Entrepreneurship) at Iowa State University.

At a broad level, Kristie’s research centers on the role of organizations in addressing pressing societal issues. Her main research investigates inclusive work, with a focus on social class within and around organizations. She is especially interested in the interpersonal interactions and organizational policies and processes that facilitate mobility. In 2025, Kristie received the Southern Management Association (SMA) Ascendant Scholar Award for early career academics.

You can find out more about Kristie and her work here:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristieneff/
• https://www.kristiemoergen.com/

The paper discussed in the interview - Founders’ Social Class Origin, Risk-Taking, and Venture Performance: A Bourdieusian Lens - is available here: https://midus.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3093.pdf

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