ProfessorGracy Yang

My main research focus is adopting the lens of organisational theories, such as organizational learning theory and institutional theory, to examine the strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in Asian contexts, such as their market entry strategies, entry mode choices, location strategies and subsidiary-level strategies. I endeavour to extend the theories by leveraging the complex nature of both MNEs and host country environments.

Another area that I started working in is the strategy and management of Asian managers, entrepreneurs and firms. This research stream is more phenomena driven, with an aim to apply new and appropriate theoretical lenses to explain complex phenomena in the Asian context. I first became interested in this area by conducting comprehensive paper reviews on the private firms, entrepreneurship development, and foreign direct investment in China. The effort was rewarded with several publications.

Recently I have endeavoured to identify interesting and emerging phenomena in Asian economies, and developed several research projects. One project is about the influence of government corruption on entrepreneurship development. Government corruption is a prevalent phenomenon in emerging Asian economies. What has been largely overlooked is that corruption entails different characteristics in different Asian countries. Another project focuses on the non-market strategy of Chinese firms. Non-market strategy, including strategic corporate social responsibility and corporate political activity (CPA), presents unique characteristics in Asian contexts. Conventional wisdom suggests that CPAs provide a buffer for firms in an emerging economy to reduce environmental dependence and uncertainty and shield them from environmental threats. In this project, we aim to address the question: Do CPAs lose strategic value as institutional environments improve in an emerging economy? The third project investigates the driving factors to Chinese firms' outward foreign direct investments in developed economies (Australia included), including the firms' inward internationalisation experience, corporate governance and executives' characteristics.