Speaker: Dr. Ali Matin NazarVenue: Room 429, Chengjun Building 4, West Section, Zijingang Campus

Speaker: WANG Qian, Warwick Business SchoolVenue: Room 530, School of EconomicsTime: 2023.6.16 15:00-16:30Abstract: Do financial market developments matter for rank-and-file workers? We find that equity options or credit default swaps (CDS) trading on a firm improves employee welfare ratings. The results are robust to alternative welfare outcome measures including a firm’s selection into ``Best Companies to Work for'', workplace safety, pay inequality and pay level. We further find that derivatives trading decreases managerial short-termism by stimulating informed trades. The derivatives trading effects on employee welfare are more pronounced in firms with high market competition, technological intensity, and analyst coverage. Firms spend more on human capital development when derivatives linked to their equity or debt are actively traded. These findings suggest that derivatives can have real effects on employee welfare by reducing managerial short-termism..

Speaker: DENG Dongling, Assistant Professor, Tsinghua UniversityVenue: Room 319, Building 8, Haina Court, Zijingang CampusAbstract: Quantum learning advantage, also known as quantum learning supremacy, represents the ambitious aim of showcasing the ability of a programmable quantum device to solve machine learning problems that exceed the capabilities of current classical computers. This pursuit encompasses substantial challenges for both experimentalists and theorists, shaping a vibrant research frontier that has garnered increasing attention across diverse communities.In this talk, I will provide a concise introduction to the field of quantum learning advantage, highlighting its significance and potential implications. I will delve into recent progress made in this burgeoning area, shedding light on the strides taken towards achieving quantum learning advantage. Drawing from specific concrete examples, I will explore promising instances where quantum systems display the potential to surpass classical limitations in machine learning tasks. Furthermore, I will outline the notable challenges inherent in demonstrating quantum learning advantage with existing proposals and devices.

Speaker:ZHANG JipengVenue: School of Economics, Room 618Abstract: In recent years, China has made remarkable progress in Hukou reform. Based on government policy documents and our fieldwork, we construct a quantitative measure of Hukou registration barriers in Chinese cities. First-tier and some second-tier cities set high criteria for local Hukou registration that have become more stringent over time, while other cities have much lower requirements. Drawing on household survey data, we show that stricter Hukou restrictions lead to a sianificant increase in return migration, especially among those with rural Hukou, low education level, and poor health status. Finally, we estimate the effects of further loosening Hukou restrictions, finding that granting Hukou to migrants in lower-tier cities would increase educational attainment, but impose fiscal strains on top-tier cities.

Speaker: Prof.Mehmet Gumus,McGill UniversityVenue: SOM A523 meeting roomAbstract: Motivated by our collaboration with one of the largest fast-fashion retailers in Europe, we study a (in-season) inventory management problem for fast fashion industry when the demand distribution is unknown. This system has a central warehouse that receives an initial replenishment and distributes its inventory to multiple stores in each time period during a finite horizon. By observing the censored demand, the firm has to jointly learn the demand and make inventory control decisions on the fly. We first develop a learning algorithm based on empirical demand distribution and prove a worst-case bound on its theoretical performance when the demand information is uncensored. Then, in the censored demand case, we propose a more sophisticated algorithm based on a primal-dual learning and optimization approach. Result show that both algorithms have great theoretical and empiral performances. 

Speaker: Pro. H. Zhu (Arizona State University)Time: 14:00-16:00, June 8Venue: Conference Room 423, Building A, Building of School of Management, Zijingang CampusAbstract: Building upon social role theory and upper echelons theory, we seek to advance research on SOEs and strategic leadership by examining how major aspects of SOEs’ corporate social performance (CSP) are influenced by top management teams’ (TMT) state orientation, the degree to which top executives represent the government’s ideology in decision making. SOEs have grown in both number and size around the globe and their total assets are half of global GDP. Our theory explains why a stronger TMT state orientation leads to 1) better environmental performance, 2) better societal outcomes, captured by less corruption-related spending and more charitable donations, 3) higher employee compensation and lower intraorganizational pay dispersion, but 4) worse financial performance. Using an original set of unobtrusive indicators of TMT state orientation, we find support for our theoretical expectations after analyzing a large and longitudinal sample of public SOEs in China between 2003 and 2017. In explaining how TMT state orientation influences SOEs’ CSP, our study offers a theoretical explanation for the heterogeneity in the CSP of these organizations while significantly broadening the ambit of upper echelons research. Our study also contributes to upper echelons research by developing theory about how the governmental system and state ideology influence organizational outcomes through top managers.Keywords: Top Management Team, State Orientation, Socialist Ideology, Stakeholder Relations, Corporate Social Performance, State-owned Enterprises, ChinaSpeaker Profile: David H. Zhu is a Professor in Management and Entrepreneurship and Dean’s Council Distinguished Scholar at the Arizona State University. His research builds on behavioral theories to examine strategic decision making of top executives and entrepreneurs, innovation, corporate governance, digitalization, and corporate strategy. He also studies the structure of corporate elite networks and resource exchange networks. His work has been published in top scholarly journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, and Strategic Management Journal, and has received several international awards from Academy of Management and Strategic Management Society. He is a Senior Editor of Organization Science and a Deputy Editor of Management and Organization Review. He also serves as the Vice President and Program Chair Elect of International Association for Chinese Management Research and the Chair of the Strategic Leadership and Governance group of Strategic Management Society. David is an experienced business educator and has taught and coached many top executives around the world. His research has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and BBC Future, among others.

Speaker: Yoonbai Kim, University of KentuckyVenue: Zijingang Campus, School of Economics, Room 530Abstract: Despite voluminous studies, the growth effects of international financial integration remain unresolved. Recent studies have shown that the effects depend on a wide variety of factors including the level of economic and financial development, the type of financial flows (debt or equity), the direction of flows (inflows or outflows), and the existence of the investment or saving constraint with the economy. In this paper, we implement a model that embodies double threshold effects where the thresholds are defined in terms of (i) per capita GDP and (ii) the economic growth rate. The results support the single threshold of the growth rate, which is expected to capture the existence of the investment or saving constraint with the economy. We find that developed and slowly developing economies are likely to benefit from capital outflows for higher investment incomes while emerging economies with growth rate higher than 3.4 - 5.7 percent can successfully take advantage of financial integration and resulting capital inflows. The findings are robust to changes in variable definition, model specification and data selection.

Speaker: Ouyang Fan, ZJU 100 Young Professor and Doctoral supervisorAbstract: This talk will introduce learning analytics, data mining, and artificial intelligence algorithms in computer-supported collaborative learning.Venue: East 5 Teaching Building, Room 201, Zijingang Campus

Speaker: YANG ShufengMember of the Chinese Academy of SciencesProfessor of the School of Earth Sciences of ZJUDirector of the Research Center of Petroleum BasinStructure of the Ministry of Education of ChinaVenue: North Teaching Building A105, International Campus