Tao Chen
Academic and research departments
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Department of Strategy and International Business.About
Managers are continuously looking for ways to improve their firms' competitive advantage in the face of global competition. In particular, firms in emerging countries have increasingly leveraged their non-market strategy to access external resources and sustain their competitive positions. Considering the importance of non-market strategy, he examines how firms improve their innovation by managing market and non-market strategies.
He received his MSc degree from Loughborough University and completed his bachelor’s degree at the China University of Mining and Technology. He has five-year work experience for an investment bank and investment corporation. He took the PhD Masterclass from Mark Casson and Alain Verbeke at the University of Reading. He is a teaching assistant and research assistant at the University of Surrey and the Univerisity of Sussex now.
I am honored to have received the Vice-Chancellor’s Studentship Award and the Best Reviewer Award for the International Business and International Management Track at BAM 2023.
Research Interests:
Non-market strategy
Innovation
Sustainability
Affiliations and memberships
Publications
This study explores how political connections help firms promote innovation in emerging markets by facilitating the acquisition of required resources and knowledge and establishing collaborative relationships with external partners. Further, we emphasize that reconfiguration and acquisition of resources and knowledge are critical for firms to seize the opportunities by focusing on the role of human resource (HR) slack and state ownership in the innovation process. By specifying the HR slack based on the accumulated knowledge and experience of employees, we explain that the way firms integrate the resources and knowledge from political connections with an appropriate type of HR slack critically affects firm innovation. We also argue that state ownership strengthens the capabilities of politically connected firms to acquire resources and knowledge for firm innovation because political connections and state ownership enable firms to establish a dual pathway to access resources and knowledge. Based on data from 3,229 Chinese listed firms over a decade, our findings show the importance of highly-skilled HR slack to adequately allocate and absorb the resources and knowledge from political connections to foster firm innovation. The results also highlight the significance of state ownership in promoting innovation within politically connected firms.
Additional publications
Conference presentation and paper
Chen, T, Park, H (2023). "The Risk-Taking Behaviours of Ex-Military Executives and Family Firm in Domestic Innovation and Overseas Expansion Decisions". Strategic Management Society, Toronto, Canada.
Chen, T, Park, H (2023). "The Risk-Taking Behaviours of Ex-Military Executives and Family Firm in Domestic Innovation and Overseas Expansion Decisions". Academy of International Business, Warsaw, Poland.
Chen, T, Park, H (2023). "The Risk-Taking Behaviours of Ex-Military Executives and Family Firm in Domestic Innovation and Overseas Expansion Decisions". British Academy of Management, Brighton, UK.
Chen, T, Park, H (2023). "The Risk-Taking Behaviours of Ex-Military Executives and Family Firm in Domestic Innovation and Overseas Expansion Decisions". Academy of International Business (UK-Ireland), Glasgow, UK.
Chen, T, Park, H, Rajwani, T, (2022). "The role of political connection and human resource slack in firm innovation process". Academy of International Business (UK-Ireland), Henley, UK.
Chen, T, Park, H, Rajwani, T, (2022). "DIVERSE HUMAN RESOURCE SLACK AND FIRM INNOVATION: EVIDENCE OF POLITICALLY CONNECTED FIRMS". European International Business Academy, Oslo, Norway.