Jing Li awarded Canada Research Chair in Global Investment Strategy

Beedie School of Business Associate Professor Jing Li has been awarded a new Canada Research Chair in Global Investment Strategy.

Li is one of three Simon Fraser University professors to have secured $1 million in total new funding as Canada Research Chairs, and is among 150 new and renewed chairs at 36 post-secondary institutions across Canada.

Li’s Tier 2 chair will focus on the global environment strategies of emerging market firms, an important source of investment for Canada and competition for Canadian firms, and a topic in which limited academic research has been conducted.

Her research will investigate how these firms address the challenges of legitimacy in their foreign acquisitions and how political relations affect international investment strategies, and will be split into two research projects.

“I am honored to receive this award, and wish to thank all the people who have generously helped me achieve this position,” says Li. “I hope that with this chair I will be able to deliver important research outcomes that are relevant to business and policy.”

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) often lack legitimacy – their lack of technological innovation, or their being state-owned, for example, often counts against them. Li’s first project will therefore examine the obstacles MNEs must overcome in order to invest and how they adapt their strategies accordingly.

The second project will examine the effect of political relations between governments. Many emerging market governments are helping to develop the infrastructure of other countries – the Chinese government provides substantial aid to African countries, for example – and this project will determine how governments’ actions affect MNEs’ international investment strategies.

The work will help fill a knowledge gap and inform business managers and policy makers who seek to attract investment from emerging market firms while at the same time protecting business and national interests. “Regardless of whether you want to work with or compete with emerging market firms, you have to first understand them,” Li says.

“The Beedie School of Business is delighted that Dr. Li has received this prestigious research chair position,” says Dr. Blaize Horner Reich, Dean of the Beedie School of Business. “The findings of Li’s research will ultimately help keep Canada competitive on the global market – both in terms of knowing how to attract investment from these emerging market MNEs, and also enabling Canadian firms to compete with them on the global stage.”

The Canada Research Chairs Program, created in 2000 by the Canadian government, invests approximately $265 million per year to attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds. Chair holders from SFU and across Canada aim to achieve research excellence in engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences.

The Canada Research Chairs Program corresponds to the Knowledge and People pillars of the Government of Canada’s updated science and technology strategy by developing highly skilled people and building research knowledge.

For more information on the 2015 Canada Research Chairs, visit www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/media-medias/releases-communiques/2015/april-avril-eng.aspx