Guo Bai

Lecturer of Strategy, CEIBS

Unlike many, I joined CEIBS as a newly graduated Ph.D. student. Looking back, I cannot help but feeling extremely lucky to be able to start my academic career here. My first contact with CEIBS was around the end of 2016. I gave a brownbag seminar at CEIBS, thanks to the introduction of Haitao Yu – the former RA of Professor Lydia Price – and the invitation of Professor Yu Zhang. I had long admired the research and teaching excellence of CEIBS, but at that point, I did not expect to join CEIBS faculty any time soon, as CEIBS was known for not hiring recent Ph.D. graduates.

Nevertheless, it almost felt like I was destined to become a member of the CEIBS community. Right around the time I was invited to give my presentation at CEIBS, school leadership launched a lectureship programme to hire young doctors either freshly graduated or in the early stages of their careers. Following my presentation, I got to learn about this programme during a conversation with Professor Daniel Chng, and immediately decided to apply. That was certainly one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.

The lectureship programme has such a strong nurturing nature in it. As the first beneficiary of this programme, I have really appreciated how the lecturer position has enabled me to make a smooth transition from being a student to being a faculty member, and how it has allowed me to build up a solid foundation for my future academic career. The past two years have been an intensive period of learning, integration and growth for me. I have gradually developed sustainable research pipelines and original curriculum materials, and shaped a mutually reinforcing relationship between research and teaching. 

Another programme that has been immensely helpful is the mentorship programme. As part of this programme, recently hired junior faculty are assigned a senior faculty member as mentor to help navigate them through their first few years at CEIBS. My mentor is Professor Shameen Prashantham, and he has offered me tremendous support and guidance throughout my time at the school. His help, and the help from all of my colleagues in the Department of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, has been invaluable to me as a young scholar at the start of her academic career. I am deeply grateful for all!

CEIBS is a very special place in the world. Based in Shanghai, as a joint venture between the European Union and the Shanghai Municipal Government, CEIBS stands at the crossroads of China and the rest of the world. It has always been a generator of knowledge with “global breadth” and “China depth”. In step with China’s recent development, CEIBS has been deeply engaged in turning the rich experiences of Chinese entrepreneurs into unique knowledge that can be beneficial for the whole world. CEIBS has been especially beneficial for me, as most of my research and teaching has been about how digitalisation impacts business creation, development and transformation. The development of the digital economy is only in its early stages, and China is in a leading position in the ongoing “Digital Revolution”. As such, CEIBS is strategically positioned to lead in the creation and dissemination of related knowledge and I am very proud to be part of this process.

CEIBS is moving in all the right directions! I am deeply proud to be part of the journey.

Dr. Guo Bai is a Lecturer of Strategy at CEIBS. Prior to joining CEIBS, she was a Research Associate at the China Institute of Fudan University. Her research focuses on a range of topics, including governance design, digital economy, adaptive efficiency and collective creativity.