Lecture: 

1. Research on Business Turnarounds: Perspectives, central debates, and my personal endeavors

2. Research trends in the field of Strategic Management – a personal view

Speaker: Prof. Xin Liang, University of Minnesota Duluth

Time: 13:30-15:30, June 12 

Venue: Room318, Yuntong Building

 

Topic One: Research on Business Turnarounds: Perspectives, central debates, and my personal endeavors

In this research talk, I will provide first an overview of main theoretical perspectives adopted by turnaround researchers for studying business decline and turnarounds. Then, I will discuss in further details about several controversial issues over which scholars in the field have different opinions, such as whether the firing of CEO helps achieve turnaround or not. I will also present key papers that have generated evidence in support of, or reject, those different views, so that the audience can grasp the key achievement and dialogues in the field of business decline and turnaround. Following this, I will also discuss my own work in this area, including both published papers and ongoing projects. To conclude, I will share my own perception of where research opportunities exist in this field, as well as my own planned work for the future. 

 

Topic Two: Research trends in the field of Strategic Management – a personal view

On this second topic, I would like to share with the audience, especially young scholars, about where new research fronts are in the whole field of Strategic Management. I will discuss several topics, from my own personal view, that may have the biggest impact in the field of Strategic Management.  It is very hard to predict the research trends, but it is easier to identify the challenges exist in the past research that give us some directions for identifying promising perspectives targeted at dealing with these challenges. I will share my own perspectives about the theoretical challenges exist in the field of Strategic Management research and point to some directions emerging, as well as overlooked, perspectives in recent literature for solving these challenges. Hope this will benefit the budding scholars. 

 

About Xin Liang:

Xin Liang, Ph.D., currently an Associate Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Minnesota Duluth. He received his doctoral degree in Strategic Management from the University of Kansas. While teaching Strategic Management, Organizational Studies, and Managing Change, he conduct research on Business turnaround, top management teams, and international strategy. His work has appeared in the journals such as Journal of Management, The Leadership Quarterly, and Management International Review. He has also presented papers consistently in international conferences such as annual meetings of Academy of Management.