Dr Masoud Karami

Room 4.34 Otago Business School
Tel +64 3 479 8159
Email m.karami@otago.ac.nz

I am a tenured lecturer in the Department of Marketing with a focus on entrepreneurship and small firms. As an undergraduate at Allameh Tabatabai University in Iran I earned a B.A. in Business Administration, and followed immediately into the Master's program, earning an M.S. in International Business at the Institute for Education and Research in Management and Planning.

My first two degrees left me with research questions about culture and consumers which needed time and academic guidance to answer, so I joined the doctoral program at the University of Tehran. There I earned my first PhD, with a dissertation focusing on Iranian modern and traditional cultural values and their influence on consumers' buying behaviours. Enjoying both the academic and practical sides of business, I proceeded to split my time between lecturing at the University of Tehran, and working as a marketing consultant and a sales manager. The combination helped me better understand and appreciate small businesses. At the same time, the experience generated more questions, especially about how small businesses grow and expand internationally.

In 2014 I joined the Marketing department at the University of Otago to pursue my second PhD. My thesis investigated the entrepreneurial internationalisation of SMEs in New Zealand. After graduation, I served as a lecturer and head of research program at Queenstown Resort College in New Zealand from 2017–2020.

The combination of my education and work background continues to motivate my learning about entrepreneurship and small firms, which I consider as change agents for a more sustainable society and economic freedom for individual entrepreneurs. My current research ranges across areas that include entrepreneurial co-creation, entrepreneurial opportunity, effectuation theory, and international entrepreneurship.

Co-winner of the Best Empirical Paper Award at the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship conference (USASBE), USA, 2022.

Teaching responsibilities

• MART 301 Strategic Marketing
• MART 461 Marketing Theory

Office hours

Masoud's Office Hours are:

• Wednesdays, 12:00–1:00pm