On the afternoon of October 17th, 2017, the first Academic Seminar of Asia Europe Business School was successfully held at Zizhu International Education Park. Dr. Wang Xuehua, Associate Professor at AEBS, Dr. Yang Feifei, Assistant Professor at AEBS, and Dr. Spring Han, Research Assistant Professor at emlyon business school Asian Campus, presented academic reports. AEBS Chinese dean, Professor He Jiaxun, BBA Program director Dr. Wang Zhenyuan and HEBM Program Director Dr. Xue Haibo, attended the meeting, along with AEBS Master’s candidates and some doctoral candidates from the Faculty of Economics and Management, ECNU. The meeting was presided over by Dr. Wang Zhenyuan.
Professor He Jiaxun, the Chinese dean of AEBS, shared his views on academic research with professors and students, before the seminar officially opened. He stated that high-level academic research is the first basic requirement for obtaining teaching qualification. In 2017, AEBS made a good start with respect to international publications, with four articles published or accepted by SSCI journals. Secondly, high-level academic research is highly important for teaching the curriculum. The Faculty of Economics and Management sets high standards for academic research, and therefore emphasizes sound scientific research as an important factor for teaching quality. Thirdly, academic research is an important parameter to evaluate any business school’s reputation. This year, ECNU has been listed in the Ministry of Education’s “Double First Class University” plan, providing a valuable opportunity for development of ECNU and AEBS. In this context, professors and students must set high standards and actively promote the various activities at AEBS, to further develop its reputation. Prof. He Jiaxun also mentioned that it’s the AEBS’ first academic seminar, and with two new professors joined AEBS this year, indicating the progress AEBS has made in building faculty teams and developing academic research. He hoped this seminar could be a starting point to further develop academic and business lecture series, to establish and enhance AEBS’ academic culture and atmosphere.
Dr. Yang Feifei, presented a report on a study she conducted during her doctoral years, titled “The Efficacy of Organizational Controls: Environmental Uncertainty as a Critical Contingency”, which mainly studied the effectiveness of different control systems, explored behavior and result control, and the interactive effects of formal and informal control, in different business environments.
Dr. Spring Han from emlyon business school Asian Campus presented a report titled “Text Analytics and Online Customer Reviews”，explaining the specific applications of textual analysis in academic research through case studies.
Dr. Wang Xuehua, whose interest lies in consumer behavior research, presented a report titled “Rituals can decrease loneliness: The role of meaning in life”. She used four case studies to discuss the influence of rituals and ceremonies on loneliness, and proposed that rituals and ceremonies can bring more meaning to life and reduce loneliness.
BBA Program Director Dr. Wang Zhenyuan concluded the seminar perfectly by summarizing that the ultimate purpose of academic research is to move into the future, and that in the face of AEBS’ rapid development, Chinese and French professor should make joint efforts to promote academic and scientific research in future.