Associate Professor
Paul Steffens

This person does not currently hold a position at QUT.
Biography
BackgroundProfessor Paul Steffens (Associate Professor, School of Management - Faculty of Business) is Deputy Director of ACE (The Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research. His core areas of expertise are entrepreneurship and diffusion of innovations. Paul has been a lead investigator for research projects totalling more than AUD 1.5 million and has published over fifty academic publications, including journal articles in leading entrepreneurship, marketing and technology management journals.
Previous appointments include Director of the Technology and Innovation Management Centre, University of Queensland, academic positions at University of Queensland and Monash University and visiting positions at University of Kiel, Penn State University and Southern Illinois University. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours I) and a PhD in diffusion of innovations, both from the University of Queensland.
Paul has also consulted for a wide variety of both business and public agencies. His clients include Energex, Waitrose (UK), Agribuys (USA), IPAA, Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Monsanto, Bunge, Franklins, Solutions Research and the Meat Research Corporation.
Research interests
- Nascent entrepreneurship
- Diffusion of innovations
- Managing product life cycles
- Managing new product development.
- Managing intellectual property in government
Major Grants
2010: ARC Discovery Grant : $122,500
2007: ARC Linkage Grant : ARC $262,746 + Partners $190,000
2006: ARC Discovery Grant : CAUSEE $455,000
1998: ARC Linage Grant : $653,000
Current research activities
- Nascent Entrepreneurship and Young Firm Development
Paul is joint chief investigator (with Per Davidsson) on the CAUSEE research program with total finding of over AUD $1 million. The Comprehensive Australian Study of Entrepreneurial Emergence research project, or CAUSEE, is Australia’s largest nascent entrepreneurship research project. The project provides an exciting opportunity to fundamentally improve our understanding of independent entrepreneurship in Australia. It is the largest study of business start-ups ever undertaken in Australia and the only large-scale study to track particular ventures over time. CAUSEE has identified a large sample of approximately 800 emerging (but not yet operating) business start-ups and is tracking them over four years. CAUSEE is focused on following start-up businesses from their inception. The project has also identified a sample of approximately 800 newly established young firms that have commenced trading. In addition, high potential, high growth firms have been sought as a separate sample.
Diffusion of Innovation and the Product Life Cycle
The primary focus of Paul’s early career research has been the area of aggregate sales modelling, including diffusion models and models of the product life cycle. This research stream has developed from Paul's doctoral research. He has contributed to this area with a number of new models, including models of time varying replacement, multiple purchases and the product life cycle. Since 2006 Paul has been collaborating with colleagues for University of Kiel, Germany on a large scale empirical study that investigates diffusion of electronic products in Germany.
Personal details
Keywords
Diffusion of innovation, Entrepreneurship, Firm Growth, Innovation management, Intellectual property management, Marketing new technologies, New product development, Product life cycles, Strategic management of innovation
Discipline
Business and Management
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD (University of Queensland)
Professional memberships and associations
Selected publications
- Steffens P, Terjesen S, Davidsson P, (2012) Birds of a feather get lost together: new venture team composition and performance, Small Business Economics, 39 (3), pp. 727-743.
- Davidsson P, Gordon S, Steffens P, (2012) Early stage start-ups: Evidence from the Comprehensive Australian Study of Entrepreneurial Emergence (CAUSEE), Australian Small Business - Key Statistics and Analysis, 2012 edition, pp. 4-17.
- Steffens P, Stuetzer M, Davidsson P, James N, (2012) ACE research briefing paper 005: Global entrepreneurship monitor: National entrepreneurial assessment for Australia - GEM Australia - 2011 National Report.
- Davidsson P, Steffens P, Gordon S, (2011) Comprehensive Australian Study of Entrepreneurial Emergence (CAUSEE): Design, data collection and descriptive results. In K Hindle & K Klyver, Handbook Of Research On New Venture Creation, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 216-250.
- Davidsson P, Steffens P, (2011) Comprehensive Australian Study of Entrepreneurial Emergence (CAUSEE): Project presentation and early results. In RT Curtin & PD Reynolds, New Business Creation: An International Overview, Springer, pp. 27-51.
- Davidsson P, Steffens P, Fitzsimmons J, (2009) Growing profitable or growing from profits: Putting the horse in front of the cart?, Journal of Business Venturing, 24 (4), pp. 388-406.
- Steffens P, Davidsson P, Fitzsimmons J, (2009) Performance configurations over time: implications for growth- and profit-oriented strategies, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33 (1), pp. 125-148.
- Steffens P, Douglas E, (2007) Valuing Technology Investments: Use Real Options Thinking but Forget Real Options Valuation, International Journal of Technoentrepreneurship, 1 (1), pp. 58-77.
- Steffens P, (2003) A model of multiple-unit ownership as a diffusion process, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 70 (9), pp. 901-917.
- Steffens P, (2001) An Aggregate Sales Model for Consumer Durables Incorporating a Time-varying Mean Replacement Age, Journal of Forecasting, 20 (1), pp. 63-77.
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Paul, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2011
- Details
- Member of Editorial Board of Review for Journal of Business Venturing
- Type
- Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2006
- Details
- Editorial Board Member: International Journal of Technoentrepreneurship. Inderscience UK
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2005
- Details
- Neeley Entrepreneurship Program Best High Potential / Fast Growth Paper Award, Entrepreneurship Division, Academy of Management Conference (Honolulu), August 2005.For Paper: Davidsson, P., Steffens, P. R., and Fitzsimmons, J.R. (2005). Growing Profitable or Growing from Profits: Putting the Horse in Front of the Cart?
Research projects
- Title
- Comprehensive Australian Study of Entrepreneurial Emergence (CAUSEE)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP0666616
- Start year
- 2006
- Keywords
- Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Organizational Emergence; Start up process; Multidisciplinary
- Title
- Firm Early Development and Performance (FEDP): A Panel Study
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP0776845
- Start year
- 2007
- Keywords
- Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Organizational Emergence; Multidisciplinary; Start up Process
- Title
- What Facilitates or Hinders the Discovery and Exploitation of Entrepreneurial Opportunities? A Systematic Comparison of the Independent and Corporate Contexts
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP1096477
- Start year
- 2010
- Keywords
- Opportunity Discovery and Exploitation; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation