I am a Reader (US eqv. Professor) of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Loughborough University London.   My original research examines inter- and intra-firm corporate governance processes, and in particular, how institutional environments, ownership networks and structures, board structures, firm transparency, executive compensation and social capital influence a firm’s investment behaviour and outcomes. I am increasingly active in the field of state capitalism, that is a system where the government takes on an active role as an investor in the economy. I am also interested in research in innovation and entrepreneurship. Prior to my academic career, I worked for Georgia-Pacific/ Koch Industries as a Director of Corporate Development and M&A in the international division for four years. Prior to that, I worked for six years in investment banking and corporate finance for CIBC World Markets, Citigroup and Close Brothers.

The main streams of my research can be organized as follows:

State capitalism. I am interested in new organizational forms manifesting following decades of privatization and globalization in these markets. In particular, I study the variation and evolution of state control, ranging from direct ownership to more sophisticated and subtle means of state involvement, such as sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), government loans, appointments of state officials to board or top management positions, veto regulation, and business-government networks. A review of these emerging forms and developments was published in the Journal of Economic Issues.

The review of state control and corporate governance in China, Russia and other transition economies over the last 25 years was published in Corporate Governance: An International Review, and is my most cited publication to date.

Further, I was a co-editor of a special issue in the Journal of World Business on State Capitalism in International Context. This special issue contains an editorial article which frames the varieties of state capitalism for 59 countries. I am also a co-editor of the Oxford University Press Handbook on State Capitalism and the Firm.

I am also interested in the emergence of state influence (bailouts, political connections, cronyism) in the liberal market economies and have published on state capitalism in the UK in the Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space.

Relatedly, I was the main organizer of an SMS Conference extension on State Capitalism that took place on September 20-21, 2018. I was also co-organizer of a conference on State Capitalism and the Firm at Northeastern University, Boston, on 11 August 2019.

Russia. My original PhD research was dealing with complex phenomena impacting Russian firm investment behaviour and performance – from transparency and disclosure,  oligarch-state networks, to board composition, independence and social capital. I received an award for best paper (runner up) in Corporate Governance at the 2nd Young Finance Scholars’ Conference in 2015. A paper entitled ‘Lost in translation? Corporate governance, independent boards and blockholder appropriation’, co-authored with Professors Ruth V. Aguilera and Mike Wright, was published in 2019 in the Journal of World Business. Another paper on Organizational Transparency and Power in Firm Ownership Networks, co-authored with Professor Aija Leiponen, was published in 2018 in the Journal of Comparative Economics. An article on Russian investment and transparency was published in 2022 in the Journal of East European Management Studies. I continue to research Russia with a project investigating CEO-induced strategic change, together with Professors Tomasz Mickiewicz, Xiaohui Lui and Dr Ekaterina Aleksandrova.

Corporate finance. I am interested in the dynamics of pay-outs such as dividends and share buy-backs. The first project, undertaken with co-authors Professors Ciaran Driver and Pasquale Scaramozzino at SOAS (University of London) studies what drives the decisions of paying out dividends in the UK, published in the Economic Modelling.  This is one of the most downloaded articles in the journal. The second project extends this line of work on dividends and applies it to South Africa, in partnership with SOAS, South African Reserve Bank and South African Treasury.

Finally, I am engaged in research on IPO firms and their valuation and published on how law and its perception influence IPOs around the world in the British Journal of Management.

On the topic of corporate crowdfunding, I wrote a piece on IBM in “Crowdfunding: The Corporate Era“, published by Elliott & Thomson.

Other. I am also interested in Business Model Innovation, especially in the context of sports.

PhD supervision. I am currently supervising eight PhD students in the fields of innovation, entrepreneurship, corporate finance and corporate governance.

My latest CV can be found here: Anna Grosman CV