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Lis­beth Clausen

Associate Professor

Emner
Organisation Cirkulær økonomi Iværksætteri Virksomheder Japan

Primary research areas

Ja­pan
My re­search on Ja­pan busi­ness ex­am­ines how glob­al­iz­a­tion, cul­tur­al val­ues, and com­mu­nic­a­tion prac­tices shape cor­por­ate be­ha­vi­or and man­age­ment in Ja­pan. Through ex­tens­ive field­work and col­lab­or­a­tion with Tokyo-based firms, I ex­plore how Ja­pan­ese cor­por­a­tions bal­ance in­ter­na­tion­al in­teg­ra­tion with tra­di­tion­al prin­ciples of har­mony, hier­archy, and long-term ori­ent­a­tion. This work high­lights the evolving re­la­tion­ship between loc­al prac­tices and glob­al busi­ness mod­els.
Com­pan­ies
I study Ja­pan­ese and mul­tina­tion­al com­pan­ies op­er­at­ing in Ja­pan, fo­cus­ing on how they man­age di­versity, lead­er­ship, and in­tern­al com­mu­nic­a­tion. My ana­lyses re­veal how for­eign sub­si­di­ar­ies ad­apt to Ja­pan’s cor­por­ate cul­ture and how Ja­pan­ese firms re­spond to glob­al pres­sures for in­clus­iv­ity and in­nov­a­tion. By com­par­ing Scand­inavi­an and Ja­pan­ese man­age­ment ap­proaches, I identi­fy strategies for cre­at­ing ad­apt­ive, col­lab­or­at­ive, and sus­tain­able or­gan­iz­a­tions.
Entrepreneur­ship
My re­search on entrepreneur­ship cen­ters on the role of wo­men and emer­ging busi­ness lead­ers in sev­en coun­tries on five con­tin­ents. I in­vest­ig­ate how founders - par­tic­u­larly wo­men - build ven­tures that align with sustain­ability and so­cial respons­ibility. Link­ing Ja­pan’s “wo­me­nom­ics” agenda with glob­al entrepreneur­ship trends, I have de­veloped WE mod­el to ex­am­ine how so­cial in­nov­a­tion and gender in­clu­sion con­trib­ute to eco­nom­ic trans­formation.
Or­gan­iz­a­tion
In my or­gan­iz­a­tion­al re­search, I fo­cus on team­work, com­mu­nic­a­tion, and lead­er­ship in mul­ti­cul­tur­al and Ja­pan­ese cor­por­ate en­vir­on­ments. Draw­ing on case stud­ies from mul­tina­tion­al com­pan­ies in Tokyo, I ana­lyze how lan­guage, hier­archy, and cul­tur­al val­ues shape col­lab­or­a­tion and de­cision-mak­ing. My work provides in­sight into how or­gan­iz­a­tions can strengthen trust, in­clu­sion, and ef­fect­ive com­mu­nic­a­tion across cul­tures.
Cir­cu­lar Eco­nomy
My re­cent re­search con­nects or­gan­iz­a­tion­al be­ha­vi­or and entrepreneur­ship with the cir­cu­lar eco­nomy. I study how Ja­pan­ese com­pan­ies and start-ups in­teg­rate sustain­ability, re­source ef­fi­ciency, and in­nov­a­tion into their busi­ness mod­els. I am par­tic­u­larly in­ter­ested in how wo­men en­tre­pren­eurs and cross-sec­tor part­ner­ships drive Ja­pan’s trans­ition to­ward a more cir­cu­lar and sus­tain­able eco­nomy.

Ad­van­cing un­der­stand­ing of or­gan­iz­a­tion­al be­ha­viour, glob­al team dy­nam­ics, and en­tre­pren­eur­i­al path­ways to­ward sustain­ability.

I see opportunities in how people, organizations, and societies can grow by learning across cultures. My research on Japan explores how communication, collaboration, and innovation connect individuals and companies in an increasingly globalized world. I look for ways that technology, sustainability, and human understanding can bring us together - across languages, cultures, and sectors - to create meaningful change. 

In my work with Japanese and multinational companies, I study how organizations adapt to new forms of teamwork, leadership, and digital transformation while honoring local traditions of harmony and respect. I explore how diverse teams - when supported by inclusive communication - become sources of creativity and resilience. This research contributes to building organizations that are not only globally competitive but also socially responsible. 

Entrepreneurship is another lens through which I study change. I focus especially on women entrepreneurs in Japan who are reimagining business with purpose and sustainability. Their stories reveal how innovation can grow from collaboration and how inclusive entrepreneurship contributes to both economic renewal and social transformation. 

My current research connects these themes to the circular economy, where business, society, and the environment intersect. I am inspired by how companies and start-ups integrate circular thinking - reuse, resourcefulness, and regeneration - into their business models. I believe these efforts point toward a more sustainable and equitable future. 

The impact I seek is to empower organizations and individuals to act with cultural intelligence, ethical awareness, and a global mindset. My ambition is to build bridges - between countries, between people, and between ideas - so that research not only explains the world but also helps to improve it. 

Publications

See all publications

2025

Women Entrepreneurs in the Circular Economy

Global Experiences

Lis­beth Clau­sen, Associate Professor

Go to publication

2025

Colombia, La Guajira

Milba’s Traditional Mochila Bags and Artisan Business

Lis­beth Clau­sen, Associate Professor

Doris Isabel Acuña Medina

Claudia Patricia Velez-Zapata

Ja­co­bo Ra­mi­rez, Associate Professor

Go to publication

2023

Against all Odds

A Study of Women Entrepreneurship, Sustainability, and Cultural Practices

Lis­beth Clau­sen, Associate Professor

Go to publication

Recent research projects

Wo­men En­tre­pren­eurs in the Cir­cu­lar Eco­nomy: A Glob­al Com­par­at­ive Study (2022–2025)

Led by Pro­fess­or Lis­beth Clausen, Copen­ha­gen Busi­ness School, this in­ter­na­tion­al re­search pro­ject brings to­geth­er schol­ars from five con­tin­ents to ex­plore wo­men’s entrepreneur­ship in a glob­al and com­par­at­ive per­spect­ive.

The pro­ject is based on eth­no­graph­ic field­work, in­ter­views, and ob­ser­va­tion of wo­men en­tre­pren­eurs and their teams across di­verse con­texts - from Nor­d­ic wel­fare so­ci­et­ies to in­di­gen­ous, mar­gin­al­ized, and minor­ity com­munit­ies in Lat­in Amer­ica, Africa, the Middle East, South­east Asia, and North Amer­ica.

The study in­vest­ig­ates how wo­men founders build and grow their busi­nesses: how they se­cure fund­ing, de­vel­op busi­ness mod­els, man­age teams, pro­mote brands, and bal­ance work and fam­ily life. It high­lights their mo­tiv­a­tion, back­ground, and val­ues, show­ing how they in­teg­rate sustain­ability, com­munity prosper­ity, and cul­tur­al her­it­age into en­tre­pren­eur­i­al prac­tice.

The pro­ject’s unique con­tri­bu­tion lies in its com­par­at­ive per­spect­ive. Each coun­try team con­trib­utes a case story - cov­er­ing in­dus­tries such as up­cycled food, eco-act­iv­ism, ap­par­el, in­di­gen­ous crafts, ethno-tour­ism, edu­ca­tion, tech, and re­cyc­ling - provid­ing nu­anced in­sights into chal­lenges and op­por­tun­it­ies across dif­fer­ent so­cio-eco­nom­ic and policy en­vir­on­ments.

By ana­lyz­ing these cases side by side, the study re­veals both shared pat­terns and loc­al dif­fer­ences in wo­men’s entrepreneur­ship. It also as­sesses the role of gov­ern­ment policies, edu­ca­tion, and sup­port pro­grams, of­fer­ing les­sons for prac­ti­tion­ers, poli­cy­makers, and edu­cat­ors.

The find­ings cul­min­ated in the mono­graph Wo­men En­tre­pren­eurs in the Cir­cu­lar Eco­nomy: Glob­al Ex­per­i­ences (Em­er­ald Pub­lish­ing, 2025), which provides prac­tic­al in­sights, com­par­at­ive ana­lys­is, and les­sons learned from real-world en­tre­pren­eur­i­al jour­neys.