Saints Spotlight: Professor Anna Brattstrom
Professor Anna Brattstrom recently joined the University of St Andrews Business School as Professor of Entrepreneurship. In this month’s Saints Spotlight, she discusses working with the first students on the new MSc Entrepreneurship programme alongside the broader issues of AI and moral ambiguity in the entrepreneurial sector.
How did your St Andrews story start?
I joined the University a year ago as Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of St Andrews Business School. I was not actively seeking a new position, but when a recruiter reached out, I was intrigued by the opportunity to join such an established and well-renowned university in the process of developing a new Business School.
I first came to visit St Andrews during the interview process, and the whole family immediately fell in love with the place. It is a wonderful institution to work at, with generous colleagues, stimulating research and students from all over the world.
What are your current priorities at the University?
My main priority is to enhance our profile in entrepreneurship, research and education. We recently launched a new MSc in Entrepreneurship, with the first cohort now in place.
It has been great fun to develop and teach the programme together with colleagues. Students work closely with mentors, developing their own entrepreneurial projects. We strive to equip students with the skills required to work systematically with development and change, whether as self-employed entrepreneurs or as change-makers within established organisations.
What is the focus of your research at St Andrews?
Entrepreneurship is fundamentally a collective endeavour, and an entrepreneur’s ability to build and manage teams, as well as to initiate and sustain collaborative partnerships, is central to their success. A large part of my research is focused on understanding these collaborative processes and how they shape entrepreneurial outcomes.
I am also interested in the broader role entrepreneurship plays in society. Entrepreneurship is often known as ‘a process of creative destruction’. Over the last two decades, we have seen entrepreneurs profoundly reshape markets. From Airbnb transforming the hotel industry to OpenAI driving the development of generative AI.
Often, this impact is positive, as the 2025 Nobel Prize winners demonstrate; we owe much of the past 200 years of economic development to entrepreneurship. However, entrepreneurship can also be dark and destructive, ultimately creating a society we might not desire.
I am curious about how entrepreneurs factor such moral aspects into their judgement, a topic that I recently published on in the Academy of Management Review. Looking ahead, I hope to develop a deeper understanding of how entrepreneurship interacts with societal development.
Tell us about your proudest achievement.
I supervise two PhD students at my former institution, Lund University, who are about to graduate and who have done exceptionally well, with top-level publications emerging from their doctoral work. I am immensely proud to be their supervisor and grateful for the privilege of following their academic development.
Where is your favourite spot in St Andrews?
West Sands: the wind, the waves, the blue light and the St Andrews skyline – it’s a magical place.