From April 24–26, the 1st Graduate Academic Development Forum of Business Administration Discipline, NEU—Academic Symposium on High-Quality Development of Specialized and Sophisticated Enterprises, and Innovation Ecosystem Construction—was held at the School of Humanities and Management Building on the Hunnan Campus of NEU. The forum was hosted by the School of Business Administration and co-organized by the International Association for Chinese Management Research (IACMR) and the journal Management and Organization Review. Experts and scholars from universities at home and abroad, young researchers, and postgraduate students of the School gathered to conduct in-depth exchanges on topics including the growth mechanisms of specialized and sophisticated enterprises, innovation ecosystem construction, the development of Chinese management theory, and the enhancement of postgraduate academic competence.
The opening ceremony of the forum was held in Room B450 of the School of Humanities and Management Building. Professor Wang Shiquan, Vice Dean of the School of Business Administration, attended and delivered a speech. Wang Shiquan pointed out that postgraduate education is an important support for discipline development and talent cultivation. The forum organized by the School is both a concrete measure to promote the high-quality development of the Business Administration Discipline and an important platform to guide postgraduate students to root their research in Chinese management practice and address National Strategic Needs. Specialized and sophisticated enterprises play an important role in promoting industrial transformation and upgrading, enhancing the resilience of industrial and supply chains, and advancing the high-quality development of the regional economy. He expressed the hope that participating experts and scholars would conduct in-depth discussions on relevant theoretical and practical issues and contribute insights to the development of specialized and sophisticated enterprises and the development of the Business Administration Discipline. The opening ceremony was chaired by Professor Xin Chong of the School of Business Administration.
The forum consisted of three sessions: Keynote Speech, Thematic Workshop, and Roundtable Forum. During the keynote speech session, Chen Xiaoping, Editor-in-Chief of Management and Organization Review and Professor at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington, delivered a presentation titled "What Kind of Journal Is MOR?" She delivered a comprehensive discussion of journal positioning, topic selection criteria, research paradigms, and high-quality academic paper writing, offering important guidance for young scholars and postgraduate students in understanding publication standards for international journals and improving the quality of research design. Professor Li Ping from Copenhagen Business School delivered a keynote speech titled "Innovation Based on Tradition," in which he elaborated on the intrinsic relationship between traditional wisdom and modern management innovation, emphasizing that research on Chinese management should form theoretically explanatory contributions based on an understanding of Chinese practice and intellectual traditions. Associate Professor Jia Yingya from the School of Management, Shanghai University delivered a report titled "Founder Human Capital and the Growth of Specialized and Sophisticated Enterprises," analyzing the micro-foundations of the sustained growth of specialized and sophisticated enterprises from the perspective of the human capital structure of founders and entrepreneurial teams. Associate Professor Zhou Shijin from Nottingham University Business School China, University of Nottingham Ningbo China delivered a presentation titled "From Catching Up to Surpassing—The Key Role of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises," discussing the critical role of small and medium-sized enterprises in industrial catch-up, capability upgrading, and organizational learning by integrating research on innovation management and knowledge management.
During the Thematic Workshop session titled "New Perspectives and New Insights on Research of Specialized and Sophisticated Enterprises in China," presenters from Peking University, Renmin University of China, Zhejiang University, Dalian University of Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Zhejiang University of Technology, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Ningbo University, University of International Business and Economics, and Liaoning Technical University delivered reports on topics including focus cognition, breakthroughs in value chain lock-in, transformation of technological barriers, data assetization, exploratory innovation, internationalization, organizational resilience, family succession, and AI-enabled knowledge management. The reports were closely grounded in the development practices of China's specialized and sophisticated enterprises, offering diverse perspectives on how management research can respond to the Chinese context and serve industrial innovation.
During the Roundtable Forum session titled "Postgraduate Academic Growth and Improvement of Training Quality," participating experts conducted exchanges and discussions on postgraduate curriculum system development, supervisor guidance mechanisms, cultivation of doctoral students’ innovation ability, international academic training, and talent cultivation experiences under the background of Sino-Foreign Cooperative Education.
Holding this forum is a major initiative of the School of Business Administration at NEU to advance discipline development, deepen postgraduate education reform, and serve national strategic needs. Adhering to the principle of "expert guidance and deep involvement of postgraduate students," the forum aimed to build a high-level, open, and research-oriented academic exchange platform. It guided postgraduates to refine research topics from real-world management issues, broaden their research horizons through cutting-edge academic dialogue, and enhance their research capabilities through standardized academic training. Through keynote speeches, thematic workshops, and expert roundtables, the forum seamlessly integrated high-level academic resources, frontier research topics, and postgraduate training, further strengthening the Business Administration discipline's capacity to serve the innovation practices of Chinese enterprises and the high-quality development of the regional economy. In the future, the School will continue to develop the brand of the postgraduate academic development forum, deepen domestic and international academic exchange and industry-university-research collaboration, and strive to improve the quality of postgraduate education and the social influence of the discipline, thereby contributing NEU's intellectual strengths to the innovation-driven development strategy and the high-quality development of specialized and sophisticated enterprises.
