Frances Bowen

Dr. Frances Bowen is an Associate Professor and Director of the International Resource Industries and Sustainability Centre (IRIS) at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford. She holds a PhD (2001) University of Bath, England, an MA in Economics (1995) Northeastern University, and a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (1994) University of Oxford. Before joining Haskayne in 2003, Frances held appointments at both Sheffield University Management School (1999-2003) and at the University of Bath (1995-1999).

Frances’ research focuses on the environmental and sustainability strategies of large natural resource and energy companies, with a particular emphasis on the discrepancy between symbolic and substantive environmental strategies. Given the presence of energy companies and oilsands HQs in Calgary, this is a rich research site for understanding how firms cope with conflicting and dynamic environmental demands. Frances has raised over $1m in the last two years to support her team’s research. Recently funded research projects focus on how firms with good environmental reputations can recover from regulatory failures, community engagement strategy and corporate adoption of carbon capture and storage. For more details, see her research webpages (http://web.me.com/francesbowen/Frances_Bowens_Personal_Pages/Research.html ).

Frances’ primary teaching assignments are the core MBA course SGMA 601 Corporate Strategy, and MBA elective Strategies for Sustainable Development (BSEN 751). She has led directed studies and special topic classes on a variety of topics in the enterprise, environment and energy industry space. She supervises a number of PhD students interested in the environmental strategies of energy companies.
Frances maintains an active presence on energy and environment issues, both in Calgary and beyond. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Pembina Institute and is a member of the Environment Committee at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
Frances has published widely on environmental and social strategy in journals such as the Journal of Management Studies, British Journal of Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Production and Operations Management and International Journal of Operations and Production Management. Illustrative recent publications include:

Bowen, F. E., Newenham-Kahindi, A. and Herremans, I. (in press), “When suits meet roots: The antecedents and consequences of community engagement”, Journal of Business Ethics, DOI: 10.1007/s10551-009-0360-1

Bowen, F. E., Rostami, M. and Steel, P., (in press), “Timing is everything: A meta-analysis of organizational innovation and performance”, Journal of Business Research, DOI:10.1016/j.jbusres.2009.10.014

Bowen, F. E. (2010) “Barriers to carbon capture and storage may not be obvious” Nature, 464, 160-160, 10 March 2010, doi:10.1038/464160c.

Dewald, J. and Bowen, F. E. (2010), “Cognitive resilience: Storm clouds and silver linings”, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 34(1): 197-218

Bowen, F. E. (2007) “Corporate social strategy: competing views from two theories of the firm”, Journal of Business Ethics, 75(1): 97-113

For more on Frances’ research, teaching and professional activities, see her personal webpages: http://web.me.com/francesbowen/Frances_Bowens_Personal_Pages/Home.html

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