Dr Alex Nicholls MBA is the first lecturer in social entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship

Social entrepreneurship is the work of social entrepreneurs. A social entrepreneur recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture to achieve social change . While a business entrepreneur typically measures performance in profit and return, a...

 appointed at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 and was the first staff member of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship

Skoll centre for social entrepreneurship

In November 2003, the Skoll Foundation donated £4.4m to the Saïd Business School for the creation of The Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship in order to promote the advancement of social entrepreneurship worldwide...

.

Nicholls’ research interests range across several key areas within social entrepreneurship, including: the interface between the public and social sectors; organisational legitimacy and governance; the development of social finance markets; and impact measurement and innovation. Nicholls is widely published in peer reviewed journals and has done consultancy work for not-for-profits, social enterprises, and the UK government. He is the co-author of a major research book on Fair Trade

Fair trade

Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach that aims to help producers in developing countries make better trading conditions and promote sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a higher price to producers as well as higher social and environmental standards...

 (with Charlotte Opal, Sage, 2005). His ground-breaking 2006 edition of a collection of key papers on the state of the art of social entrepreneurship globally was published in paperback edition by Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press

Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...

 in 2008. Nicholls is currently working on a new book on social investment. Nicholls has held lectureships at a wide variety of academic institutions including: University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, Canada; Leeds Metropolitan University

Leeds Metropolitan University

Leeds Metropolitan University is a British University with three campuses. Two are situated in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England while the third is situated in Bhopal, India...

; University of Surrey

University of Surrey

The University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology...

; Aston Business School

Aston Business School

Aston Business School is the business school of Aston University in Birmingham, England. Founded in 1967 it offered its first MBA programme in 1968. In 2006 it opened a new £22m extension including new study rooms and two new lecture theatres....

.

He has been a Fellow of the Academy of Marketing Science

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science

The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science is a scholarly journal in marketing. JAMS has been ranked as #5 in perceptual journal ranking studies in marketing in 1987, 1997, and 2009...

 and Member of the Institute of Learning and Teaching. Nicholls also sat on the regional social enterprise expert group for the South East of England and is a non Executive Director of a major Fair Trade company.

Peer-reviewed journal articles

• Nicholls, A (2002), ‘Strategic Options in Fair Trade Retailing', International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management (2002), 30.1, pp. 6–17
• Nicholls, A., and Cullen, P. (2004) ‘The Child-Parent Purchase Relationship: Pester Power, Human Rights and Retail Ethics', Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 11, pp. 75–86
• Nicholls, A. (2004), ‘Fair Trade New Product Development’, Service Industries Journal, 24.2, pp. 102–117
• Nicholls, A., and Watson, A. (2005) ‘Implementing E-Value Strategies in UK Retailing', International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 33.6, pp. 426–443
• Nicholls, A. (2006), ‘Playing the Field: A New Approach to the Meaning of Social Entrepreneurship’, Social Enterprise Journal, 2.1, pp. 1–5
• Nicholls, A., and Alexander, A. (2007) ‘ Rediscovering Consumer-Producer Involvement: A Network Perspective on Fair Trade Marketing in the UK ', European Journal of Marketing, 40.11-12, pp.1236–1253
• Nicholls, A., and Lee N. (2007) ‘Purchase Decision-Making in Fair Trade and the “Ethical Gap”', Journal of Strategic Marketing, 14, pp. 369–386

Books

• Nicholls, A., and Opal, C. (2005), Fair Trade: Market-Driven Ethical Consumption, London: Sage
• Nicholls, A. (ed) (2008), Social Entrepreneurship: New Models of Sustainable Social Change, Paperback Edition, Oxford University Press

Book chapters

• Nicholls, A. (2004), ‘Social Entrepreneurship: The Emerging Landscape', in Financial Times Handbook of Management: Third Edition (2004), pp. 636–43
• Nicholls, A. (2006), ‘Introduction: The Nature of Social Entrepreneurship', in Nicholls, A. (ed.), Social Entrepreneurship: New Models of Sustainable Social Change, Oxford University Press, pp. 1–35
• Nicholls, A., and Cho, A. (2006), ‘Social Entrepreneurship: The Structuration of a Field’, in Nicholls, A. (ed), Social Entrepreneurship: New Models of Sustainable Social Change, Oxford University Press, pp. 99–118
• Nicholls, A. (2006), ‘Social Entrepreneurship', in Carter, S. and Evans-Jones, D. (eds.), Enterprise and Small Business: Principles, Practice and Policy. 2nd Edition, FT Prentice Hall, pp. 220–242
• Nicholls, A. (2008), ‘Capturing the Performance of the Socially Entrepreneurial Organisation (SEO): An Organisational Legitimacy Approach’, in Robinson, J., Mair, J., and Hockerts, K. (eds), International Perspectives on Social Entrepreneurship Research, Palgrave MacMillan (forthcoming)
• Nicholls, A., and Young, R. (2008), ‘Introduction: The Changing Landscape of Social Entrepreneurship', in Nicholls, A. (ed.), Social Entrepreneurship: New Models of Sustainable Social Change, Paperback Edition, Oxford University Press

Other publications

• Nicholls, A. (2007), What is the Future of Social Enterprise in Ethical Markets?, London, Office of The Third Sector.
• Nicholls, A., and Pharoah, C. (2007), The Landscape of Social Finance, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship Research Paper.