Academic Insights
Translating Research into Action
Professor Eric Zhao translates rigorous management scholarship into actionable insights for executives, policy-makers, and academics globally. Explore evidence-based research focusing on the critical intersection of strategy, entrepreneurship, digital / AI transformation, and international business.
Latest Management Narratives
Is the Attention Economy Over?
For two decades, digital strategy revolved around capturing human attention. As autonomous AI agents begin to bypass the display layer to make decisions on our behalf, companies must pivot from persuading humans to earning algorithmic trust.
Actionable Advice: redesign your core kpi, win machine trust.
Lose at the Starting Line?
Navigating adverse social class origins and experiencing initial social mobility (for instance, by achieving a higher educational degree than their parents, as first-generation students) can become a strength in entrepreneurship.
Actionable Advice: develop strength under adversity.
Featured Insights
Energy Access Is the New Source of AI Advantage
At the start of the gen-AI boom, the scarcest asset seemed obvious: access to the frontier model. Companies rushed to license models such as GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini, hired prompt engineers, and built proprietary copilots. Then a different constraint emerged: access to GPUs, cloud capacity, and data-center space. Now, beneath all of that, a new constraint is emerging: electricity. The new scarcity is not intelligence but the energy-intensive infrastructure required to produce and deliver it.
Managing the Shift from an Attention Economy to an AI-mediated Trust Economy
For two decades, digital strategy revolved around capturing human attention. As autonomous AI agents begin to bypass the display layer to make decisions on our behalf, companies must pivot from persuading humans to earning algorithmic trust.
Featured Insights
Childhood Social Class Shapes Entrepreneurial Success in Adulthood
The Art of Optimal Distinctiveness
Achieving sustainable competitive advantage in today’s complex marketplace requires more than simply striking a balance between novelty and familiarity. Companies can position themselves for success by innovating boldly while anchoring strategically, and by tailoring their differentiation to multiple audience profiles with distinct preferences.
Growing up privileged does make things easier, but entrepreneurs from less privileged backgrounds develop strengths that serve them well as business owners.
Featured Insights
独特得刚刚好：
爱彼迎房源的分类与叙事逻辑
最优区分：企业生存的底层逻辑
在技術加速普及與市場同質化程度持續加深的當下，企業生存的底層邏輯在於“最優區分”——通過差異化與一致性、創新與規範之間的張力，避免陷入“創新孤島”或紅海競爭。對企業而言，該平衡需具備三重核心能力：場景化的技術適配能力、制度約束的戰略轉化能力，以及生態網絡的協同發展能力，通過“市場-政策-競合”三維動態協同，實現價值創造。
文化创业理论认为，创业叙事需要找到“最佳独特性”—在其所处的分类中，既不陷入平庸，又不太过出格—才能吸引更多需求。但如果所处分类本身有鲜明特色，更容易吸引到志趣相投、崇尚独特的受众，这时与同类产品高度相似( 可行性强) 或高度独特（独一无二）的产品才会吸引最多的客户。这对所有的企业家和创业者如何能成功吸引客户、创造 需求，都有启示作用。