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Guoli Chen 2020

Guoli Chen

Professor of Strategy

Biography

Guoli Chen is a Professor of Strategy at INSEAD. He received his PhD in Strategic Management from the Pennsylvania State University. He teaches Strategy, Value Innovation, Incentives Design, and Corporate Governance courses to the MBA, PhD, and Executive Education programme participants.

Guoli's research focuses on the influence of CEOs, top executives, and boards of directors on firms' strategic choices and organisational outcomes, as well as the interaction and dynamics in the top management team and CEO-board relationships. He is interested in organisational growth, renewal, and corporate development activities, such as IPOs, M&As, innovation, globalisation. He has published in several top academic journals, such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Journal of Business Venturing, Leadership Quarterly, and Strategic Organization. His papers have received awards at the Academy of Management Conference and Strategic Management Society Conference. He was a representative-at-large of the Corporate Strategy and Corporate Governance interest group of the Strategic Management Society and serves on the editorial board of the Academy of Management Journal.

Before starting his academic career, Guoli worked as an investment banker at Daiwa Securities SMBC. He provided financial consulting in the areas of IPOs, fundraising, and company restructuring.

Latest posts

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Strategy

Why Some CEOs Are More Likely to Downsize

Guoli Chen

A firm’s decision on whether to downsize when facing performance shortfalls may depend on the CEO’s internal attribution tendency.

Strategy

How Overconfidence Affects CEOs’ Investment Decisions

Guoli Chen

In uncertain climates, overconfident CEOs tend to invest less in assets that allow a firm to maintain strategic flexibility compared to non-overconfident CEOs.

Strategy

Super Apps in Asia, “Everything App” in the US?

Guoli Chen

All-in-one apps that dominate China and other Asian markets may soon materialise in the United States, albeit with significant variations.

Strategy

Demystifying China’s Internet Giants

Guoli Chen

A behind-the-scenes look at what makes or breaks China’s Big Tech flagbearers and their foreign exploits.

Economics & Finance

China is Back: What Its Reopening Means for the World

L. Fang, C. Lin, G. Chen, X. R. Luo, B. Zhou, A. Fatás

What the world economy, businesses and investors could expect from China’s return to the fray.
1 comment

Entrepreneurship

China’s Internet Giants: The Nuts and Bolts of Going Global

G. Chen, J. Li

The lowdown on how ByteDance, Shein and Xiaomi succeeded outside of China while WeChat failed.

Strategy

Will China’s Internet Giants Conquer the World?

G. Chen, J. Li

Dissecting the success and strategies of Chinese internet firms as more of them venture overseas.

Strategy

How the “Butterfly Effect” Can Harm Firm Performance

I. Stern, G. Chen

Firms need to develop appropriate HR risk management strategies to lessen the impact of unanticipated employee departures.
1 comment

Strategy

CEOs Who Play to Type Win the Market

Guoli Chen

An important CEO attribute that shapes firm strategies such as mergers and acquisitions is uncovered.

Strategy

Do CEOs Matter?

S. H. Lee, G. Chen

Conditions that underpin the power and impact of chief executives vary widely, with remarkable results.

Strategy

What the War Between Alibaba and Tencent Says About Strategy

Guoli Chen

In emerging markets or nascent industries, plan-as-you-go has proved to be a winner many times over.

Strategy

How to Make the Most of a Chief Sustainability Officer

Guoli Chen

Shift the focus from doing less bad to doing more good.