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Dr. Dirk Libaers - Director of Entrepreneurship

Dr. Dirk Libaers is the Director of the Entrepreneurship concentration in the MS program in Global Sustainability, the John and Beverley Grant Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Muma College of Business, and Director of the Nault Center for Entrepreneurship. 

He has extensive experience in new product development and technology-based entrepreneurship, and he has provided mentorship to numerous student and professional technology ventures. Dr. Libaers teaches courses in New Product Development, Creativity & Design, Global Entrepreneurship, and Strategies for Technology Ventures. He has over thirteen years of industry experience working in the construction and consumer electronics industries in Europe, South East Asia, and China. He has led Study Abroad programs focused on sustainability in Costa Rica, Italy, and Ireland.

Dr. Libaers is an author or co-author of over 25 peer-reviewed papers and more than 50 conference papers. His research interests include technology commercialization, new product and service development, and the role of the CEO and Top Management team in creating new innovations. He has a keen interest in the sustainable development of new products and services and has published in various peer-reviewed journals such as the Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Research Policy, Journal of Business Venturing, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Journal of Technology Transfer, and R&D Management.

He has served as a Visiting Professor at the Universities of Kent, Sussex, and Aberdeen in the UK, the University of Queensland in Australia, and is currently serving as Visiting Professor at the University of Vaasa in Finland. He earned a Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology, an MS in Technology & Innovation Management from the University of Sussex, an MBA from The George Washington University, and an MS in Electrical Engineering from the Free University of Brussels in Belgium. He previously served as Associate Professor at Northeastern University in Boston and the University of Missouri.

Courses taught:

ENT 6606:  New Product Development

This course is designed to prepare both business and engineering students to contribute to the development of strategies and tasks relevant to new product introductions. The skills developed will enable students to analyze and develop product strategies.

ENT 6706: Global Entrepreneurship

Provides knowledge and skills to create, fund, launch, and grow a new international enterprise.

ENT 6619: Creativity & Design (spring)

This course presents a broad framework of creativity and its applications in business.

ENT 6126: Strategies in Technology Entrepreneurship

Students will learn that entrepreneurial opportunities are both identified in the existing socioeconomic environment and created through innovation. Students will learn theory based models and their application through case studies and a final project.

Research Articles and Publications:

• Pervun, K., Libaers, D, & Sutton, N (2024) From athletes to entrepreneurs: Participation in youth sports as a precursor to future business endeavors. Journal of Small Business Management, 62(1): 521-562.
• Canavati, S., Libaers, D, Wang, T., Sarooghi, H, & Hooshangi, S. (2021) The relationship between human capital, new venture ideas and opportunity beliefs: A meta-analysis. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 15(3), 454-477.
• Kiss, A.N., Libaers, D, Barr, P., Wang, T, Zachary, M. (2020) CEO cognitive flexibility, information search behaviors and organizational ambidexterity. Strategic Management Journal, 41(12): 2200-2233.
• Meyer, M., Cassis, J., Osiyevskyy, O., Libaers, D. (2020) Implementing Product Platforms in a Global Enterprise: Lessons from a LED Industry Leader. Business Horizons, 63(4): 421-434.
• Meyer, M., Osiyevskyy, O., Libaers, D., Van der Vught, M. (2018) Does product platforming pay off? Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(1): 66-87.
• Weckowska, D., Mordi-Gallas, J., Tang, P., Twigg, D., Castro-Martinez, E., Kijenska-Dabrowska, I., Libaers, D., Meyer, M., De Backere, K. (2018). University Patenting and Technology Commercialization – Legal Frameworks and the Importance of Local Practice. R&D Management, 48(1): 88-108.
• Wang, T., Libaers, D., Park, HD. (2017) The paradox of openness: How product and patenting experience affect external R&D sourcing in China. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 34(3): 250-268.
• Libaers, D. (2017). Time allocations across collaborations of academic scientists and their impact on efforts to commercialize novel technologies: is more always better? R&D Management, 47(2): 180-197.
• Wang, T., Libaers, D. (2016) Non-imitative knowledge and innovation performance: Empirical evidence from new ventures in developing countries. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 33(5): 570-588.
• Libaers, D., Hicks, D., Porter, A.L. (2016). A taxonomy of small firm technology commercialization. Industrial and Corporate Change, 25(3), 371-405.
• Wang, T., Libaers, D, Jiao, H. (2015). Opening the Black Box of Upper Echelons in China: TMT attributes and Strategic Flexibility. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32(5), 685-703.
• Zhao, Y.L., Libaers, D., Song, M. (2015). First product performance: A mediated moderating model of entrepreneurial resources, founding team startup experience and product positioning strategy. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 32(3), 441-458.
• Sarooghi, H., Libaers, D., Burkemper, A. (2015). Examining the relationship between creativity and innovation: A meta-analysis of organizational, cultural and environmental factors. Journal of Business Venturing, 30(5), 714-731.
• Libaers, D (2014). Foreign-born academic scientists and their interactions with industry: Implications for university technology commercialization and corporate innovation management. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(2), 346-360.
• Libaers, D (2012). Time allocation decisions of academic scientists and their impact on technology commercialization. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 59(4), 705-716.
• Libaers, D., Wang, T. (2012). Foreign-born academic scientists: Entrepreneurial academics or academic entrepreneurs?. R&D Management, 42(3), 254-272.
• Libaers, D., Meyer, M. (2011). Highly innovative small technology firms, industrial clusters, and firm internationalization. Research Policy, 40(10), 1426-1437.