Dr. Aki Harima
Postdoctoral Researcher
Contact:
Enrique-Schmidt-Straße 1
D-28359 Bremen
WiWi 1, Room A 2170
Phone: +49 (0)421 218 - 66876
harima(at)uni-bremen.de
Research Interest:
• Transnational Entrepreneurship
• Business Incubators & Accelerators
• Entrepreneurial Ecosystems
• Entrepreneurship in Emerging Countries
• Entrepreneurship Education
Introduction
Dr. Aki Harima is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Chair in Small Business & Entrepreneurship of the University of Bremen. Dr. Aki Harima acquired her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at Kobe University (Japan) and her master’s degree in Management at the University of Mannheim (Germany). She also studied at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany) for one year as an exchange student. Aki Harima joined the team LEMEX in 2013 and completed her Ph.D. study in Entrepreneurship in 2016. Her Ph.D. thesis, “Exploring Characteristics of Descending Diaspora Entrepreneurship” (supervised by Prof. Dr. Jörg Freiling), was awarded “summa cum laude.”
Her research focuses lie on transnational entrepreneurship, accelerators & business incubators, and entrepreneurship in emerging countries. Her research projects have been conducted in different countries such as the Philippines, Chile, Argentina, Namibia, South Africa, Tajikistan, and Germany. Her currently ongoing research topics are, for instance:
- The entrepreneurial potential of refugee entrepreneurs in Europe
- Business incubators for refugee entrepreneurs in Europe
- Transnational migrant entrepreneurs in times of Covid-19 pandemic
- Entrepreneurial ecosystems in emerging countries (e.g., Chile and Namibia)
- Refugee-camp entrepreneurial ecosystems in Africa
- The embeddedness of student entrepreneurship in Germany
At the University of Bremen, she teaches mainly master students in business administration in Organizational Theory, research methodologies such as qualitative research methods, grounded theory, and systematic literature review. Furthermore, Aki Harima has teaching experiences at international institutes such as Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo (Mexico), University of the Free State (South Africa), Namibia University of Science and Technology (Namibia), and École de management de Normandie (UK/France).
Dr. Aki Harima is a member of international academic networks such as ECSB and ICSB and regularly participates in international academic conferences, including the Academy of Management Annual Meetings, RENT, and the Babson Entrepreneurship Conference. As one of the initiators and main organizers of the International Conference on Migration and diaspora Entrepreneurship (MDE), Aki Harima engages in building a global network of researchers and practitioners who work for transnational entrepreneurship. Her research has been published oin internationally well-acknowledged journals such as Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior and Research, International Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. Dr. Aki Harima is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies. She also acts as an ad-hoc reviewer for international journals such as the Journal of World Business and European Management Review.
Based on academic knowledge and experience, Aki Harima has actively been involved in knowledge transfer activities. From 2017 to 2020, Dr. Aki Harima was involved in an Erasmus+ Project to develop a virtual business incubator for refugee entrepreneurs in Europe. In 2018, in close collaboration with Namibia University of Science and Technology and the University of the Free State, she organized a transnational student project where business students tackled practical challenges that entrepreneurs in Namibia face and develop solutions and prototypes, for which she won the Berninghausen Prize 2019. Dr. Aki Harima has consulted both regional and international practical projects supporting entrepreneurial activities of specific groups such as migrant, refugee, and township entrepreneurs.
Background
Since 08/2016 | Postdoctoral Researcher At Chair in Small Business & Entrepreneurship (LEMEX) University of Bremen (Germany) |
08/2013 – 07/2016 | Research Assistant & Ph.D. Candidate Ph.D. in Economics and Social Sciences At Chair in Small Business & Entrepreneurship (LEMEX) University of Bremen (Germany) Title of the dissertation: Exploring Characteristics of Descending Diaspora Entrepreneurship (Summa cum laude) |
10/2010 – 06/2013 | Mannheim Master in Management University of Mannheim (Germany) |
| 08/2008 - 07/2009 | Exchange Year WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany) |
04/2005 – 09/2009 | Bachelor's programme in Business Administration Kobe University (Japan) |
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