Francesco Barbera

Dr Francesco Barbera

Senior Lecturer

Adelaide Business School

Faculty of the Professions

Frank is a Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of the Family Business Education & Research Group at the Adelaide Business School. His research interests encompass a wide range of issues applied to family business, entrepreneurship, small business management, and family business education.

In 2014 Frank received his Ph.D. in Economics from Bond University while working at the Australian Centre for Family Business. His thesis received the Family Firm Institute’s prestigious ‘Best Doctoral Dissertation Award’ in 2014. Frank’s research has also been published in high-level journals such as the Family Business Review, Small Business Economics, and the Academy of Management Learning and Education journal, and is regularly presented at international conferences and workshops.

Frank’s expertise in the family business field also includes being the former Director of the Family Enterprise Centre at Stetson University in Florida, USA, designing and delivering various family business curricula in the USA and Australia, a coach for the global Family Enterprise Case Competition in Vermont, USA, a Team Leader for Babson College’s Successful Transgenerational Entrepreneurship Practices (STEP) Project, and serving on the Editorial Board of the Family Business Review.

As family business research is inherently cross-disciplinary, my research agenda covers a wide variety of topics/issues, including:

  • Entrepreneurship
  • Business management and performance
  • Leadership development
  • Organizational culture and behaviour

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2016 Senior Lecturer University of Adelaide, Adelaide
    2016 Visiting Research Scholar Stetson University, DeLand
    2014 - 2016 Director of the Family Enterprise Center Stetson University, DeLand
    2013 - 2016 Assistant Professor Stetson University, DeLand
    2013 GEN Faculty Member Family Firm Institute
    2011 - 2013 Lecturer Bond University, Robina

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    2014 Bond University Australia PhD
    2009 Bond University Australia MCom (Hons)

  • Certifications
    Date Title Institution name Country
    — Certificate in Family Business Advising (CFBA) Family Firm Institute —

  • Research Interests
    Business and Management Entrepreneurship Organisational Behaviour Small Business Management
  • The Family Business Survey and Report (2017) - Commissioned by KPMG and Family Business Australia (with Chris Graves & Jill Thomas).
  • Management Program Renewal (2017) - University of Adelaide, Australia (with Henry Shi)
  • The Power of Transition Planning Report (2016) - Commissioned by Wilmington Trust and M&T Bank, USA (with Thomas Schwarz & Matt Allan).
  • Family Owned Business Institute Research Scholar (2014 & 2010) Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States
  • The Family Business Wealth and Knowledge Transfer Report (2013) - Commissioned by the BDO Australia (with Justin Craig & Manuel Eberhard).
  • International Postgraduate Research Scholarship (2009) - Australian Government, Department of Education

Currently teaching:

  • Family Business Perspectives (postgraduate) 
  • Introduction to Management (undergraduate)

  • Memberships
    Date Role Membership Country
    2013 - ongoing — Family Firm Institute —

  • Consulting/Advisories
    Date Institution Department Organisation Type Country
    2013 - 2016 Family Enterprise Case Competition (University of Vermont) — — —

  • Editorial Boards
    Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
    2017 - ongoing Board Member Family Business Review — —
  • Position: Senior Lecturer
  • Phone: 83139091
  • Email: francesco.barbera@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Nexus 10 Tower, floor 10
  • Org Unit: Marketing and Management
Connect With Me
External Profiles