Research Overview

It is the School’s mission to create and share knowledge of business and management. Academic research is highly encouraged by the School, especially research collaboration with colleagues within the School, colleagues in other schools at USST, colleagues from other universities, and researchers from scientific institutions and corporations. As part of one of the three key universities of Shanghai Municipal Government, the School cooperates on academic research with other schools at USST, including the school of publishing and art design, the school of optical-electrical and computer engineering, and the School of Environment and Architecture.

The interdisciplinary cooperation focuses mainly on strategic planning of transportation, industrial development, electronic commerce, regional development, and environmental protection. These efforts include the joint government think-tank project built by USST and the Shanghai Municipal Government’s development research center. The project is the USST research base of innovation development of Shanghai based on Internet+ and the E-commerce development research institute of USST.

In addition, the School builds long-term relationships involving research cooperation with local governments such as Shanghai, multinational corporations such as IBM (China), and large and medium-sized domestic enterprises. The School conducts comprehensive research on strategic planning for local economy, technology, and education development and for enterprise development.

Furthermore, the School actively participates in international collaborative research projects. For example, the School plays a central role in building the international collaborative research center on human-machine integration at USST. This interdisciplinary and multinational research center integrates scholars from related research areas within USST and from other countries, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Russia. Leadership of the research center includes professors representing the participating countries. One of the School’s professors, Sun Shaorong, is director of the Chinese side. Mark Nixon, a professor in the computer science department at the University of Southampton, is director of the United Kingdom side. Ирен Евгеньевна Кузнецова, a professor of the electronic information industry at the Russia Science Institution, is director of the Russia side. Wei Jun, a management professor at the University of West Florida, is director of the United States side. Liu Jiyun, chair of the economy and trade department at Dongguan University of Technology, is deputy director of the Chinese side.

In addition, between 2012 and 2016, the School held more than 50 domestic or international conferences, seminars, and workshops alone or in cooperation with other schools.

Research Grants and Publications

The School’s faculty members have published their research output in top domestic and international journals with high-level impact factors. These high-quality journals include, for example, the European Journal of Operational Research, Operational Research Letters, Omega, Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Studies in Science of Science, Journal of Industrial Engineering/ Engineering Management, Systems Engineering – Theory & Practice, and R&D Management. Table 1 indicates the number of papers published in peer-review journals for the last five years.

Table 1.  Number of Papers Published in Peer-Review Journals (PRJ), 2015-2019

There are various sources of research funds in China, but the most honoured are those from the National Nature Science Foundation and the National Social Science Foundation, followed by foundations supported by the government department of industry and the provincial government. Research foundations supported by companies are also important components. By participating in research projects supported by these foundations, Business School serves society at large by contributing new knowledge and innovations that will inform public policy and national initiatives.  In this way, the School has an impact and influences positive change beyond the School itself.

Table 2.  Number of Research Projects Conducted by Business School, 2015-2019

Following is a list of the most recent main projects:

·     Professor Sun Shaorong, director of the Human-machine Integration Research Center at USST, hosts the project, ‘Analysis and Prevention of Human Factors in Production of Civil Aircraft.’ The project, which is supported by the research program on the artificial factor of the quality of China's commercial aircraft C919, is funded at 800,000 CNY (about 121.4 thousand USD). This program is a sub-project of ‘Research on Quality Control Engineering of Civil Aircraft Development Stage,’ which is supported by the China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

·     ‘Research on Sustainable Development of Rural China,’ supported by the National Philosophy and Social Science Planning Office

·     ‘Research on Social Network Evolution Mechanism Based on Interest Graph,’ supported by the National Social Science Foundation Committee

·     ‘Research on the Ways and Channels of Public Access to Popular Science Knowledge,’ supported by the China Science and Technology Exchange Center

·     Multi-level decision-making model of mass production planning and equipment maintenance in petrochemical enterprises under failure control- National. National Natural Science Foundation of China, supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China

·     ‘Investigation of the Real-Name System of Shanghai Railway Passenger Ticket,’ supported by the Shanghai Railway Administration

·     Large data in the context of service system quality intelligent monitoring research - to contact the center as an example, supported by National Natural Science Foundation

·     Super network and its zero-determinant strategy game evolution mechanism, supported by National Natural Science Foundation

Business School’s faculty members are regularly invited to attend domestic and international academic conferences and to deliver keynote speeches and special reports on their research achievements. For example, in October 2014, Professor Chen Jin gave a plenary lecture in Singapore on ‘Research of the Relationship Between Flexible Human Resource Management and Enterprise Innovation Performance Based on Organization Learning Capability’ at the 4^th International Conference on Global Chinese Management Studies. In November 2014, Professor Sun Shaorong gave a special report on ‘The Equilibrium Curve of Benefit-Seeking Behaviour of Multi-Unit’s Consuming Frailly Regenerative Resource’ at the International Conference on Management Science and Operational Research (INFORMS) in San Francisco, California (USA).  In December 2016, Associate Professor Geng Xiuli made a presentation on ‘Research on Customer Value in PSS Design for Design Driving and Concept Evaluating’ at the 4^th CIRP International Conference on Industrial Product Service Systems in Tokyo, Japan.

Academic Awards

Given the intense competition for the limited number of scientific research awards – more so in a vast country like China – the number of awards won by faculty of Business School is further recognition by its peers in the scientific community of the quality and influence of research produced by the School. Such research contributes to the body of knowledge in society and industry and enriches the learning and teaching taking place at the School. In so doing, it fulfills the School’s mission ‘To create management knowledge through academic research and participation in social service, using a variety of teaching methods to impart knowledge.’

Table 3 lists scientific research awards received by Business School faculty from 2015 to 2019 Only awards granted by the central government or by the Shanghai municipal government are listed.

Table 3.  Scientific Research Awards Received by Business School Faculty, 2015-2019