Dr Winifred's research is in the area of entrepreneurial finance and investigates how entrepreneurs can use their intellectual capital and social media while leveraging on collaboration capabilities and entrepreneurial orientation they possess to successfully access external finance.  A theoretical lens is adopted to examine core components of intellectual capital namely social capital, human capital, and structural capital whereby social capital represents a founders network both weak and strong ties. Human capital relates to expertise within the firm or founding team and its ability to develop innovative products and services.  Structural capital refers to the processes in place within the organisation that stimulate innovation and can also be described as organisational culture.

Seeking external finance is more of a subjective process than it is objective and entails founder/founding teams ensuring that their intellectual capital components are effectively set up in such a way that time has been taken to build social networks which may not be extensive at first but have the potential to grow. Essential expertise in the product or service core area of delivery is another factor that is non-negotiable; the founder of founding team must continually reassess their skills to ensure it can help them achieve their goals.  The culture within the organisation must be one that encourages trial and error to remain innovative, puts structures and processes in place that ensure IP is protected and systems are dynamic to ensure rapid reaction to change.

The effectiveness of a firm's intellectual capital does not  guarantee a positive outcome when seeking external finance, rather their creative capability with regards to how these assets are employed goes a long way to ensure its success. It is therefore of paramount importance that entrepreneurs harness the power of collaborative tools such as social media, think innovatively and capitalise on location advantages to raise finance.  Hopefully, you would come to see that raising external finance is more of an art than a science, it's the reason why some very weak products go on to raise millions and strong products/services struggle. The subjective nature of this process should be taken into utmost consideration to ensure optimal success.

Dr Winifred's research published in the US and UK media

Title: Project Aims to Elevate Pierce County’s Entrepreneurial Support System.

Dr Winifred is part of the BEE project team which is aims to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Tacoma. (South Sound Business is a Washington state based news outlet).

PhD student highlights ways to encourage regional investment in Bedfordshire UK. You can read my post by clicking on the image below.