The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship professors allow us to provide leading-edge research to small business owners and nonprofit leaders in order to facilitate better business practices. They are scholarly individuals with backgrounds in entrepreneurship or business education and facilitate courses at Florida State University.
Susan S. Fiorito, Ph.D.
Dean of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, Jim Moran Professor of Entrepreneurship
Dr. Susan S. Fiorito is the Dean of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, Jim Moran Professor of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneur in Residence. Dr. Fiorito has been a faculty member at FSU since 1990. She was an owner of four apparel, leather goods and turquoise jewelry stores in Atlanta, GA and owner of a wholesale leather goods company until 1980. In addition to teaching at FSU she has also taught and conducted research at the University of Iowa, Florida International University and the University of Stirling in Scotland where she taught graduate level courses and developed a module for their Executive MBA program. Dr. Fiorito’s research focuses on retailing, small business management and buying and has been featured in a variety of academic journals, including International Journal of Research and Distribution Management, the Journal of Retailing, and Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice. She has received research grants totaling nearly $170K. In addition, she taught summer study abroad courses in Milan, Paris and London for six years and spent one year on sabbatical at the University of Stirling in Scotland. She has received three University teaching awards, and was selected to be one of three inaugural Jim Moran Institute Faculty Fellows in 2010. She was the first female president from 1992-94 of the American Collegiate Retailing Association since the Association’s inception in 1949 and she is currently the treasurer, also a first for a woman, to hold this position for two consecutive terms. She was appointed to the Board for the Florida Retail Federation in 2003 and has served faithfully since that time. Dr. Fiorito contributes to several university, college and department committees.
Fiorito, S. S., Gable, M. and Conseur, A. (2010). “Technology: advancing Retail Buyer Performance in the 21st Century,” International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 38(11/12). 879-893.
Cho, H. and Fiorito, S. S. (2009) “Consumer Acceptance of Online Customization for Apparel Shopping,” International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 37(5) 389-407.
Kacmar, C. J., Fiorito, S. S., and Carey, J. M. (2009) “The Influence of Attitude on the Acceptance and Use of Information Systems.” Information Resources Management Journal, 22(2), 22-49.
Oh, J., Fiorito, S. S., Cho, H. and Hofacker, C. (2008) “Effects of Design Factors on Store Image and Perceived Merchandise Quality in Web-based Stores” Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 15(4), 237-249.
Giunipero, L. C., Fiorito, S. S., Pearcy, D.H. and Dandeo, L. (2001) “The Impact of Vendor Incentives on Quick Response,” The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 11(4), 359-376.
Soldressen, L. S., Fiorito, S. S. and Yan, H. (1998) An Exploration into Home Based Businesses: Data from Textile Artists. Journal of Small Business Management, 36 (2), 33-44.
Fiorito, S. S., May, E.G. and Straughn, K. (1995) Quick Response in Retailing: Components and Implementation. The International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, 23 (5), 12-21.
Gable, M., Fiorito, S. S. and Topol, M. T. (1994) The Current Status of Women in Department Store Retailing: 1993. The Journal of Retailing, 70 (1), 65-74.
Fiorito, S. S. and Fairhurst, A. E. (1993) Comparison of Buyer’s Job Content in Large and Small Retail Firms. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 11, (3), 8-15.
Fiorito, S. S. (1990) Testing a Portion of Sheth’s Theory of Merchandise Buying Behavior with Small Apparel Retail Firms. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 14(4), 19-34.
Fiorito, S.S. (2013), “Retail buying: better purchasing and inventory control”, in Evans, J.R. (ed.), and Implementing a Retail Strategy, The Marketing & Management Collection, Henry Stewart Talks Ltd, London.
Fiorito, S. S. and Gable, M. (2011). Retail Buying: Practices and Policies in a Global Economy. Boston, MA:
Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Selected to be one of three research fellows in the inaugural group of scholars to join the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellows in the College of Business, FSU, September 2010.
Awarded a Teaching Awards, Florida State University 2009-2010, 1995-96, and 1993-94.
Named an International Research Fellow and Advisor to the Retail Special Interest Group (SIG) for the British Academy of Management Organization for 2004-2005.
Awarded Literati Club 1996 Award for Excellence for the best article in the International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management “Quick Response in Retailing: Components and Implementation” by Fiorito, May and Straughn.
Eric Liguori, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, Jim Moran Professor of Entrepreneurship
Dr. Eric Liguori is a Jim Moran Professor and Associate Dean of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University. He currently serves as Co-Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Small Business Management, Chair of AACSB’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation Affinity Group, Senior Editor for Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Cogent Business and Management, and Executive Editor Emeritus of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy. Liguori's work has been featured in media outlets including USA Today, U.S. News and World Report, Forbes.com, and BuzzFeed, and has been cited in policy documents put out by OECD, the European Union, Asian Development Bank, and the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth, to name just a few.
Liguori’s expertise in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education is sought after by leading Fortune 100 companies and governments alike. Liguori worked with Hewlett-Packard to help launch HP’s Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs, which to date has provided over 2.5 million courses in eight languages, to more than 1.3 million learners, spanning over 200 countries around the globe. In 2023 he served as a subject matter expert for Amazon.com, helping develop the curriculum behind Amazon’s Small Business Academy. At a global level, Liguori has worked with leading organizations and agencies including the United Nations, the International Labour Organization, the U.S. Department of State, the Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation, and the Saudi Ministry of Education. In 2023 he was called “a true trailblazer in entrepreneurship education” by the U.S. Consul General to Dubai.
Liguori is a Past President of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), the largest academic organization dedicated to advancing entrepreneurship education through bold teaching, scholarship, and practice. In 2021 he was inducted as a Justin G. Longenecker Fellow, USASBE's highest honor, for his “outstanding contribution to the development, furtherance and benefit of small and medium businesses.” And, in 2023, he was named USASBE's Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year, making him one of only a select few to ever receive two of USASBE's Lifetime Achievement Awards.
He is an active angel investor, primarily in CPG and e-commerce companies, with three such companies currently in his portfolio. From 2017-2024 he served on the Investment Screening Committee of RIVF, a $25M private equity fund. He’s a Cohort 14 graduate of Venture Capital University, a joint initiative of UC Berkeley, the National Venture Capital Association, and Venture Forward.
Liguori holds a Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship from Louisiana State University, an MBA from the University of South Florida, and a B.S. in Human Resource Management from Florida State University.
Dr. Liguori has co-authored more than 70 journal articles, 7 books, 27 book chapters, and over 100 conference presentations and proceedings. Select publications include:
Santos, S.C., Liguori, E.W., and Garvey, E. “How digitalization reinvented entrepreneurial resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, in press.
Wilson, G.A., Case, T., Dobni, C.B., and Liguori, E.W. “The limitations of open innovation: Exploring the curvilinear relationship with performance.” Management Decision, in press.
Wilson, G.A. and Liguori, E.W. “Market orientation, failure learning orientation, and financial performance.” Journal of Small Business Management, 2023, 61(6), 3027-3045.
Levy, M. and Liguori, E.W. “Algorithms and venture investment decisions: Better, fairer, or biased?” Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 2023, 30(2), 419-422.
Solomon, S.J., Bendickson, J., Liguori, E.W., and Marvel, M. “The effects of social policy on entrepreneurship in developed nations.” Small Business Economics, 2022, 58, 1596-1607.
Ogundana, O.M., Simba, A., Dana, L.P., and Liguori, E.W. “Women entrepreneurship in developing economies: A gender-based growth model.” Journal of Small Business Management, 2021, 59(1), 42-72.
Liguori, E.W. and Winkler, C. “From offline to online: Challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurship education following the COVID-19 pandemic.” Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy, 2020, 3(4), 346-351.
Webb, J., Holmes, R.M., Pryor, C., and Liguori, E.W. “Top executive goal orientations' effects on environmental scanning and performance: Differences between founders and non-founders.” Journal of Management, 2019, 45(5), 1958-1986.
Liguori, E.W., Bendickson, J.S., Solomon, S., and McDowell, W. “Development of a multi-dimensional measure for assessing entrepreneurial ecosystems.” Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, 2019, 31(1-2), 7-21.
A full listing of Dr. Liguori’s publications are available at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aks_aQUAAAAJ&hl=en.
- AACSB Innovations that Inspire Award (2024)
- United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year (2023)
- New Jersey Bright Idea Award for Research Impact (2023)
- ROI-NJ Higher Education Influencer Honoree (2022)
- International Council for Small Business Global Excellence Award for ‘Revolutionizing Entrepreneurship Education’ (2022)
- AACSB Innovations that Inspire Award (2022)
- Best Paper in Women Entrepreneurship, 66th ICSB World Congress (2022)
- Named a Justin G. Longenecker Fellow of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (2021)
- AACSB Innovations that Inspire Award (2019)
- New Jersey Technology Council Innovator to Watch (2018)
- USASBE “Ray Smilor Volunteer of the Year Award” (2017)
- USASBE Distinguished Service Award (2017)
Susana C. Santos, Ph.D.
Jim Moran Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship
Dr. Santos is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University. She received her Ph.D. from ISCTE-IUL Business School, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal and completed her post-doctoral work in the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business. Before joining JMC, she was a tenured Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship in the School for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Rowan University, where she also served as Associate Director of the Rowan Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Dr. Santos has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers. Her primary research interests focus on the intersection of entrepreneurship and adversity, in particular under conditions of poverty. Other research interests include social entrepreneurship, gender, entrepreneurship education, and individual and team level processes in entrepreneurship.
Dr. Santos’s work has been published in leading outlets including Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Venturing, Small Business Economics, Journal of Small Business Management, and Journal of Business Venturing Insights. She co-authored the book “Poverty and entrepreneurship in developed countries” and co-edited Volumes 5 and 6 of the “Annals of Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy”. Presently she serves as Co-Editor of the Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship and Associate Editor for the Journal of Small Business Management.
From 2019-2023 she served on Board of Directors of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the nation’s premier academic organization focused on advancing the discipline of entrepreneurship education. Dr. Santos is a founding member of the Global Partnership for Poverty and Entrepreneurship and an active member of the University of Notre Dame’s Urban Business and Poverty Initiative.
Morris, M. H., Kuratko, D., F., Santos, S. C., & Soleimanof, S. (2023). Fear and the poverty entrepreneur: The paradox of failure and success. Business Horizons, 67(1), 41-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2023.07.002
Santos, S. C., Caetano, A., & Brochado, A. (2023). Why am I so successful? Self-presentation and deliberative attributions of success in entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 19, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbvi.2023.e00396
Santos, S. C., Liguori, E. W., & Garvey, E. (2023). How digitalization reinvented entrepreneurial resilience during COVID-19. Technological Forecasting & Social Change, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122398
Santos, S. C., Costa, S., & Morris, M. H. (2022). Entrepreneurship as a pathway into and out of poverty: A configuration perspective, Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 34 (1-2), 82-109. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2022.2030413
Santos, S. C., & Neumeyer, X. (2021). Gender, poverty and entrepreneurship: A systematic literature review and future research agenda. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 26(3), 2150018-1 - 2150018-31. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1084946721500187
Santos, S. C., Neumeyer, X., Caetano, A., & Liñan, F. (2021). Understanding how and when personal values foster entrepreneurial behavior: A humane perspective. Journal of Small Business Management, 59(3), 373-396. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472778.2021.1888384
Morris, M. H., Kuratko, D. F., Audretsch, D. B., & Santos, S. C. (2022). Overcoming the liability of poorness: Disadvantage, fragility and the poverty entrepreneur. Small Business Economics, 58, 41–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-020-00409-w
Stephan, U., Tavares, S. M., Carvalho, H., Ramalho, J. J. S., Santos, S. C., & van Veldhoven, M. (2020). Self-employment and eudaimonic well-being: Energized by meaning, enabled by Societal Legitimacy. Journal of Business Venturing, 35(6), 106047 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2020.106047
Santos, S. C. & Cardon, M. (2019). What’s love got to do with it? How team entrepreneurial passion influences performance in new venture teams. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 43(3), 475-504. doi.org/10.1177/1042258718812185
Morris, M., Santos, S. C., & Neumeyer, X. (2018). Poverty and entrepreneurship in developed countries. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN: 978 1 78811 153 9
Matthews, C., & Santos, S. C. (2022). Annals of entrepreneurship education and pedagogy - 2023 Vol. 5 [Editors]. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Santos, S. C., Costa, S., & Junça-Silva, A. (2022). O que ainda se aprende com um Mestre: Tributo a António Caetano [Orgs.]. Publicação de autor.
Santos, S. C., Caetano, A., Mitchell, C., Landström, H. & Fayolle, A. (2017). The emergence of entrepreneurial behavior: Intention, education and orientation (Editors). Edward Elgar Publishing.
2023 Recipient of the USASBE Social Entrepreneurship Excellence in Scholarship – presented at the 2023 USASBE conference in Tallahassee, FL.
2023 Recipient of the ICSB’s Global Award for Excellence in Doctoral Student Support
2022 Recipient of the Bright Idea Award– sponsored by the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University. Awarded by a panel of New Jersey deans who selected the paper “The Dark Side of Entrepreneurship Education: A Delphi Study on Dangers and Unintended Consequences “as having the greatest impact on business practice and/or advancing knowledge in the discipline.
2021 Recipient of the ICSB’s Ambassador Award for their work in advancing entrepreneurship as a mechanism for personal empowerment, especially in uplifting marginalized populations. Together with Rob Pidduck, Old Dominion University, USA; Dan Clark, Ivey Busines School, Canada; Xaver Neumeyer, UNC Wilmington, USA; Michael Morris, Notre Dame, USA.
2021 Recipient of the Bright Idea Award– sponsored by the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University. Awarded by a panel of New Jersey deans who selected the paper “Overcoming barriers of technology adoption in poverty entrepreneurship: The role of technology and digital literacy “as having the greatest impact on business practice and/or advancing knowledge in the discipline.
2020, 2021 Recipient of the Excellence in Online Learning Award – Rowan University
2019 Kauffman Foundation award for best paper in gender and diversity and entrepreneurship –GDO Division of the Academy of Management, Boston.
2018-2019 Alumni Advisory Council Scholarly Achievement Award – Rowan University, Rohrer College of Business.
2018 Outstanding Entrepreneurship Educator - Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, Warrington College of Business, University of Florida.
2015 Excellence in the Entrepreneurship Classroom Award -XVI Experiential Classroom, University of Florida.
Wendy Plant, MBA
Assistant Dean and Jim Moran Director for the Jim Moran Institue for Global Entrepreneurship
Wendy Plant brings a breadth of experience to the fields of business incubator management and entrepreneurship educational program development. Most recently, she served as the Director of Student Engagement for the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship (JMC). In this role, she was responsible for the day-to-day development and management of all student activities outside of the classroom. Her efforts supported various competitions, events, and programs that JMC offers, fostering a vibrant and dynamic learning environment for aspiring entrepreneurs.
In her current capacity as JMC’s Assistant Dean, Wendy Plant directs the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship (JMI) programs across the state of Florida. Her oversight extends to South Florida, Central Florida, Northeast Florida, and Northwest Florida. She manages several key initiatives, including JMI’s Small Business Executive Program, Nonprofit Executive Program, CEO Peer to Peer Groups, conferences, and other important endeavors of JMI. These programs play a crucial role in supporting and nurturing the growth of small businesses and nonprofit organizations, offering valuable resources and peer support to entrepreneurs and leaders.
Ms. Plant holds an MBA from the University of Tampa with a concentration in Management and Entrepreneurship. She has also earned a Certificate from the Babson Symposium for Entrepreneurship Educators, further enhancing her expertise and credentials in the field of entrepreneurship education.
