Irene Mandl is Research Manager at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. She holds a master degree in international business administration and one in business and law. Irene has been working in policy-oriented socio-economic research in the field of employment and labour market as well as entrepreneurship and industry analysis for more than 15 years. Some of her major research topics refer to SMEs, internationalisation, business start-ups and transfers, specific forms of entrepreneurship (e.g. one-person enterprises, family businesses, ethnic entrepreneurship), Corporate Social Responsibility and HR Management. She has presented her research in numerous national and international conferences and most recently contributed to the ‘Handbook of Research on International Entrepreneurship Strategy’ (Ghauri, P.N./Kirpalani, V.H.M, Handbook of Research on International Entrepreneurship Strategy. Improving SME Performance Globally, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015) with a chapter on European SMEs’ internationalisation. Stefanie Ledermaier is Research Officer at the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. She holds an MA in European Studies from the University of Bath and an MSc in Applied Labour Economics for Development from Sciences Po Paris and the University of Turin jointly delivered at the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin, Italy. Prior to joining Eurofound she has worked as a research officer in European employment policy at the Institute for Employment Studies in London. Previously she was also a trainee at the OECD and the Council of the European Union. Since joining Eurofound she has been involved in various projects including most recently on ‘Job creation in SMEs’.