2024 SME-SFI Annual Report
Over the past year, the School of Management and Economics (SME) and Shenzhen Finance Institute (SFI) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen) have been focusing on the strategy of developing talents in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, aligned with the university’s development orientation, cultivating the internationalization vision, and introducing the world’s top teaching and research talents. Sustained efforts have been made to strengthen the building of the faculty team, build up SME’s scientific research strengths, actively promote academic exchanges and cooperation, and embrace innovation in education and teaching. In addition, SME has actively implemented diversified International Exchange and Visiting Programmes, organized a variety of student activities and competitions, provided professional and effective guidance on employment/further education, and given efficient and reliable support to entrepreneurship to cultivate business talents with a global vision and practical, innovative abilities.
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its establishment, SME has successfully completed its relocation ceremony and embarked on a new journey. Here is the 2024 SME-SFI Annual Report, which comprehensively summarizes the fruitful achievements over the past year in faculty strength, scientific research achievements, honors & awards, academic forums and events, talent cultivation, further education and employment, alumni and philanthropy, and think tank construction.
Faculty Strength
13 professors have newly joined the faculty team of the School of Management and Economics (SME), CUHK-Shenzhen. As of 2024, the number of full-time faculty members has increased to 135. SME holds research and teaching in high regard, and diligently adheres to international standards when selecting esteemed professionals as our professors. This commitment ensures that our faculty comprises top experts in their respective fields, reflecting our steadfast dedication to excellence. They all received Ph.D. degrees from prestigious universities internationally and many professors are leading experts in academic fields or industries.
70% percent of the professors hold a Ph.D. from universities in the Americas, 20% from universities in Asia, and 10% from universities in Europe. The faculty team is diverse in nationality, with 112 professors from China (including 14 from Hong Kong, China and two from Taiwan, China), five from the United States, one from Brazil, nine from the ROK, two from the Netherlands, three from Canada, one from Malaysia, one from Thailand, and one from Italy.
Accounting
Cai CHEN
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Accounting, INSEAD
Wenwei LIN
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Business Administration (Accounting), University of Minnesota
Economics
Shuyang SHENG
Associate Professor
Ph.D. in Economics, University of Southern California
Shaoshuang YANG
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Economics, University of Southern California
Finance
Rui DAI
Fractional Research Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Economics, York University
Jaemin LEE
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Finance, Emory University
Xiyue LI
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Business Administration (Specialization: Finance), University of British Columbia
Jiaxing TIAN
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Finance, The London School of Economics and Political Science
Song XIAO
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Finance, The London School of Economics and Political Science
Management
Jingyuan LI
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Management, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Marketing
Bindan ZHANG
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Marketing, Northwestern University
Information Systems & Operations Management
Zhengrui JIANG
Professor of Information Systems
Ph.D., Management Science, The University of Texas at Dallas
Biying SHOU
Professor in Operations Management
Ph.D., Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern University
Scientific Research Achievements
In 2024, 63 papers were published in the top, including 23 in UTD24 journals, and 31 in FT50 journals.
Nature & Nature Sustainability
Ruobing Han
Hybrid Working from Home lmproves Employee Retention without Damaging Performance
Nature
Peng Zhang
Estimating the Role of Air Quality lmprovements in the Decline of Suicide Rates in China
Nature Sustainability
PNAS
Xinyue Pan
Explaining the Evolution of Gossip
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
UTD24 journals
Rui Chen
Optimal Control of Service Systems with Heterogeneous Servers and Priority Customers
Management Science
Rui Dai
Global Zombie Companies: Measurements, Determinants, and Outcomes
Journal of International Business Studies
Qiyuan Deng
Optimal Policies and Heuristics to Match Supply with Demand for Online Retailing
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
Zheng Gong
Limited Time Offer and Consumer Search
Management Science
Zongbo Huang
Asset-side Bank Runs and Liquidity Rationing: A Vicious Cycle
Management Science
Han Jiang
Using the Difference-in-differences Design with Panel Data in International Business Research: Progress, Potential Issues, and Practical Suggestions
Journal of International Business Studies
Wenwei Lin
Fractional Trading
The Review of Financial Studies
Qitian Ren
Navigating the Creator Economy: An Analysis of Content Promotion and View Allocation Policies on Digital Content Platforms
Marketing Science
Consumer Search and Product Returns
Marketing Science
Rui Shen
Steering the Intangible Wheel: Chief Executive Officer Effect on Corporate Cultural Change
Organization Science
Global Evolution of Environmental and Social Disclosure in Annual Reports
Journal of Accounting Research
Pengfei Sui
Stakes and Investor Behaviors
Journal of Financial Economics
Xiaoqiao Wang
Wall Street and Product Quality: The Duality of Analysts
The Accounting Review
Xiaoqiao Wang / Bohui Zhang
The Boundaries of the Law: Can US Private Enforcement Discipline Foreign Firms?
Journal of International Business Studies
Yakun Wang
Individual Auditor Turnover and Audit Quality-Large Sample Evidence from U.S. Audit Offices
The Accounting Review
Wei Xiong
A Model of Cryptocurrencies
Management Science
Joonsang Yoon
Distinguishing Between Recurring and Nonrecurring Components of Earnings Using Unobserved Components Modeling
Journal of Accounting and Economics
Lianmin Zhang
Distributionally Robust Newsvendor under Stochastic Dominance with a Feature-Based Application
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
Multi-portfolio Optimization: A Fairness-Aware Target-Oriented Model
Manufacturing & Service Operations Management
Price Optimization for a Multistage Choice Model
Production and Operations Management
Linyi Zhang
Unleashing the Crowd: the Effect of Social Networks in Crowdfunding Markets
Management Science
Jianliang Zhao
Deterring the Gray Market: Product Diversion Detection via Learning Disentangled Representations of Multivariate Time Series
Informs Journal on Computing
FT50 journals
Jiyin Cao
How to Build a Broader Network within Your Company
Harvard Business Review
Ruobing Han
One Company A/B Tested Hybrid Work. Here’s What They Found
Harvard Business Review
Liu Ming
The Secret of Content Ecommerce Platforms AI Algorithms
Harvard Business Review
Pengchia Chiu
Using Google Searches of Firm Products to Detect Revenue Management
Accounting, Organizations and Society
Xiao Ren
The Employee Clientele of Corporate Leverage: Evidence from Family Labor Income Diversification
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis
Rui Shen
Gender, Competition, and Performance: International Evidence
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis
Cong Sun
The Affective Processes of Ethical Leadership: The Role of Moral Emotions
Journal of Business Ethics
Jinfan Zhang / Bohui Zhang
Does Express Delivery Run Ahead of Stock Price?
Review of Finance
Bohui Zhang
A Good Sketch is Better than A Long Speech: Evaluate Delinquency Risk through Real-Time Video Analysis
Review of Finance
Ten grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, including the General Program, Research Fund for International Scientists, and National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, as well as two grants from the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (General Program), received
Honors & Awards
Prof. Xiong Wei
2023 World’s Top 2% Scientists
2024 World’s Top Scientists – Best Economics and Finance Scientists
Prof. Ai Chunrong
2023 Annual List of Highly Cited Chinese Researchers
Prof. Zhao Jianliang
2024 World’s Top Scientists – Best Computer Science Scientists
Prof. Hu Zhongchen
Third CUHK-Shenzhen Scientific Research Award – Youth Scientific Research Award
Prof. Huang Kanyuan/Prof. Wang Yakun/Prof. Zhang Tianyu
Best Paper Award of the 2024 CAPANA Annual Research Conference with the joint research User Anonymity and Information Quality of Social Media: Evidence from a Natural Experiment
Prof. Jiang Han
13th Asia Academy of Management 2024 Malaysia Conference – Outstanding Contribution Award
Prof. Li Zehao
Second Prize in Essay Competition at the Shanghai Society of World Economics 2024 Annual Meeting with the research An Impossible Unity? The Effects of International Monetary Policy on Chinese Treasury Yields
Prof. Sui Pengfei
Behavioral Finance Best Paper Award at the China Financial Research Conference (CFRC) 2024 with the research Social Transmission Bias: Evidence from an Online Investor Platform
Prof. Zhang Bohui
2024 For Good Awards – Annual Academic Research Top 10 with the research Annual Reports on ESG Investing in China’s Asset Management Industry (2020-2022)
Prof. Zhang Jinfan
Excellent Paper Pinnacle Award at the 2024 Annual Summit of the Digital Economy Open Research with the research Online Wealth Management, Wealth Effect, and Consumption: Evidence from the Internet Platform Users’ Wealth Management Behavior
Cooperation and Development
SME, CUHK-Shenzhen has been accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).
SME, CUHK-Shenzhen has established internship bases in partnership with many well-known financial enterprises to deepen the integration of teaching and practice.
Academic Forums and Events
More than 20 high-profile academic forums and events were organized.
2024 CGMA Global Finance and Accounting Talent Forum
The First International Economics Joint Conference
2024 SME Spring Research Forum
The CUHK-Shenzhen Forum of Asian Accounting Scholars 2024
CUHKSZ-EFG Joint Workshop on Expectations, Information Frictions and Economy Policy
Management Research in the Greater Bay Area Conference
The Greater Bay Area Chief Economist Forum 2024
The 2024 SME Fall Research Forum
The GBA Entrepreneurs Forum 2024
IMF-CUHKSZ Joint Workshop on Structural Change of Asian Economies
CUHK (SZ) - CUHK Joint Workshop
Qianhai Data Economy Forum: "Empowering Business through Artificial Intelligence"
Academic Activities
173 seminars and brownbags were held. The keynote speakers were from four continents.
4 Distinguished Lecture Series were held, attracting more than 330,000 online viewers in total.
Talent Cultivation
1429 students have been enrolled in 2024, including 569 undergraduates, 839 master students, and 21 doctoral students. In 2024, there are 115 new international undergraduate students, representing 20% of the total enrollment.
Disciplinary Development
Undergraduate Programmes
AI Marketing added to the Marketing and Communication
AI Finance planned to be added to the Finance
Big Data Application and Management planned to be added
Taught Postgraduate Programmes
MSc in Data Science ranked first in China, third in Asia, and 36th in the world in the QS Business Master’s Rankings 2025: Business Analytics.
MSc in Business Management (MBM) was once again selected as top 1 in the Top 10 Chinese-foreign Cooperative Master’s in Business Programmes at the 2024 China Business School Development Forum and Education Ceremony.
MBM was on the list of 2024 China New Growth · Team Agility of the 2024 China New Growth Annual Lists by the Harvard Business Review.
Finance EMBA won the 2024 Benchmark EMBA Brand in the Business Education Industry Award.
MPhil-PhD Programmes
SME witnessed the graduation of its first batch of doctoral students in 2024. Three doctoral students from the admitted class of 2019 (two in finance and one in economics) completed their studies on schedule and obtained their doctoral degrees successfully.
Global Exposure
A total of 428 students participated in international exchanges in 2024, including 186 regular visiting and exchange programmes and international summer programmes, 11 combined bachelor-master arrangement programmes (including 3+X and 4+X), and two global cooperation programmes.
Eight undergraduates were selected for the University of Oxford’s Visiting Student Programme in the 2024-2025 academic year.
Student Life
Undergraduate Students
More than 10 domestic and international business competitions demonstrated the innovative awareness and practical ability of SMEers.
L’Oreal BRANDSTORM 2024 (National Finals) : National Champion/Third Prize
2024 HSBC Business Case Competition (China) :Second Prize (Southern China/China)
The 7th Global Competition on Design for Future Education (Higher Education Track):Bronze Award
2023-2024 CFA Institute Research Challenge (South China)
Solvay Business Game
L’Oreal BRANDSTORM 2024 (Globe)
HSBC/HKU Asia Pacific Business Case Competition 2024
2024 IIBD International Case Competition
CGMA Global Business Challenge 2024
Master Students
Outstanding students have won multiple awards. (*sorted by the first letter of their last names)
Deng Jianhui | MSc in Finance
Forbes China Top 30 Globalization Innovators
He Chenchuan | MSc in Information Management and Business Analytics
2024 Presidential Award for Outstanding Graduate Students of CUHK-Shenzhen
Jiang Jiannan | MSc in Economics
2024 Presidential Award for Outstanding Graduate Students of CUHK-Shenzhen
Jiang Shuaiyu | MSc in Finance
2024 Presidential Award for Outstanding Graduate Students of CUHK-Shenzhen
Jiang Zhenhao | MSc in Data Science
Third Prize in the 2024 Tencent WPC Programming Competition
Liu Boli | MSc in Economics
Women’s Group Champion (Group A) in the 28th China University Tennis Championships (South China Division)
Women’s Team Champion (Group A), First Prize in the Overall Team Score, and the Single Runner-up in the 2024 Guangdong University Tennis Championships
Liu Chaoyang | MSc in Finance
First place in the Men’s Doubles and first place in the Men’s Team in the university group of the 2024 Shenzhen School Badminton League
Liu Hao | MSc in Finance
Excellence Award of the First CUHK-Shenzhen Fairy Lake International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition
Innovation and Creativity Award at the 2023 CUHK-Shenzhen Annual Awards Ceremony
Meng Qingxing | MSc in Marketing
Men’s Doubles Champion in the university group of the 2024 Shenzhen School Badminton League
Sun Ao | MSc in Data Science
Second Prize in the 2024 CTI (Large Model-based Advertising Retrieval Track)
Zheng Nanyan | MSc in Information Management and Business Analytics
Selected for the Developer’s Face Award at the Baidu Create 2024 - AI Developer Conference
Zhan Xuewan | MSc in Finance
Top 50 of the L’Oreal BRANDSTORM 2024
Silver Award of the 2024 Sephora Campus Innovation Case Competition
Best Creativity Award of the 2024 Yuanqi Forest Campus Innovation Challenge
Second Prize of the 5th “Xu Fu Ji Cup” Campus Product Research and Development Competition
Zhou Yi | MBM
Third Prize (Enterprise) in the First CUHK-Shenzhen Fairy Lake International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition
Zhu Yuanyuan | MSc in Economics
First place (First Prize) in the Women’s Team and second place (First Prize) in the Women’s Doubles of the university group in the 2024 Shenzhen School Badminton League
Second Prize in the 8th CUHK-Shenzhen Freshman Cup Badminton Mixed Doubles Final
Doctoral Students
12 doctoral dissertations were published or accepted, including four journal papers and eight conference papers.
Ye Wenxu, MPhil-PhD in Economics of the Admitted Class of 2023
Kong Dongmin, Liu Chenhao, Ye Wenxu. Trading Access Policy and Firm Innovation: Evidence from Bunching Estimation [J]. The Journal of World Economy, 2024, 47(8): 37-66.
Guo Gangxing, MPhil-PhD in Finance of the Admitted Class of 2022
Xiao Chen, Gangxing Guo, "Air pollution and online lender behavior: Evidence from Chinese peer-to-peer lending", Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Volume 42, June 2024, 100919.
Wang Xinyu, MPhil-PhD in Finance of the Admitted Class of 2024
Gao, H., Wang, H., Wang, X., & Wen, H. ESG‐oriented analysts and corporate green innovation. Accounting & Finance, 2024, doi: 10.1111/acfi.13314.
Huang Xing, MPhil-PhD in Finance of the Admitted Class of 2023
Fang Yi, Huang Xing. The Positioning and Advantages of Large Banks in Rural Financial Markets: An Analysis Combining Game Theory and Case Studies. Study and Practice, in the second external review, September 2024.
Tang Mengwei, MPhil-PhD in Finance (Accounting Track) of the Admitted Class of 2021
B. Miao, M. Tang, and T. Zhang, "TikTok, GenZ Investors, and Stock Market Liquidity," presented at Jinan University, 2024.04.26.
Fan Chuxuan, MPhil-PhD in Finance of the Admitted Class of 2021
Chuxuan Fan, Shu, T., "Reintermediation in Decentralized Governance", 2024 Summer Institute in Digital Finance, Beijing, China.
Chuxuan Fan, Wang, X., & Yang, S., "Does Smart Contract Assurance Reduce Crashes in the Crypto Market? ", ABFER-JFDS Conference on AI and Capital Markets 2024, Shenzhen, China.
Fu Ya’nan, MPhil-PhD in Finance of the Admitted Class of 2023
Fuwei Jiang, Lingchao Meng, Fu Yanan, Jun Tu, "Economic Narratives and Factor Time", 2024 China International Conference in Finance (CICF), 2024.07.08–07.11, Beijing, China.
Li Dandan, MPhil-PhD in Finance of the Admitted Class of 2019
Dandan Li, "Was Traditional Chinese Medicine Useful Evidence from a Chinese Clan, 1216-1834", The 10th International Symposium on Quantitative History 2024, Shanghai, China.
Dandan Li, "Was Traditional Chinese Medicine Useful Evidence from a Chinese Clan, 1216-1834",2024 Asia Meeting of the Econometric Society, East and Southeast Asia, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Peng Shuojun, MPhil-PhD in Economics of the Admitted Class of 2023
Zehao Li, Shuojun Peng, “An Impossible Unity? The Effects of International Monetary Policy on Chinese Treasury Yields”, Presented at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Shanghai World Economics Association, Shanghai, China.
Li Litao, MPhil-PhD in Information Management and Business Analytics of the Admitted Class of 2023
Li Litao, Manuele Reani, Han Zhang, Jianliang Leon Zhao, "Living with Creativity Paradox in Large Language", presented at the 9th Interna
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
48 SMEers participated in the incubation of entrepreneurship programs.
Avator
BrainCare
ChimerAI
CelestialTech
DingLi
Elysion
Expresso Evo
Ferry Technology
InfrAI
IntelliTech Innovators
Liyuan
Mushub
Petilogue
PJY
Qiusuo
Skool AI
SoulTech Innovations
Sun Never Sets Studio
VERSEE
W&A
Zhui Feng Zhu Dian
Student Activities
9 student organizations conducted over 110 student activities, engaging more than 6,500 participants.
Student Placement
Undergraduate
The placement rate of the 2023 bachelor’s degree graduates has remained high and stable, registering 95.5%, with a total of 507 graduate students included (excluding 73 in financial engineering major) receiving offers by a year-on-year increase of 12.1% per person. The quality of further education continues to improve, with 81.3% pursuing further studies, a record high. Among them, 49.3% were admitted to the world’s top 30 mainstream universities. Eleven applied for research Master or Ph.D. programmes, a record high, and 10 were admitted to prestigious domestic universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, and China University of Political Science and Law. And 89% pursued further studies in popular programmes, including finance, economics, business analysis, and data science, while nearly 20% chose interdisciplinary studies.
Postgraduate
As the 7th batch of master graduates cultivated by SFI, graduates of 2023 actively responded to multiple challenges in the job market with their solid expertise, rich practical experience, good job-seeking mentality, and great professionalism. They registered a high and stable employment rate with relatively high average annual salaries in various fields and regions where they fully take advantage of their professional strengths and personal interests while demonstrating their outstanding employment competitiveness.
Alumni and Philanthropy
The Joint Alumni Association of SME & SFI officially established.
Undergraduate Students
3,193 alumni in total from 2018 to 2024
Master Students
3,001 alumni in total from 2017 to 2024
21+ alumni activities organized and sponsored
Donation and Development
Professor Liu Mingkang, former Chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, donated funds to establish the Ming Kang Award.
Mr. Song Xuepan, Finance EMBA alumnus and Board Director of China National Standard Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited, donated tens of millions of yuan.
Think Tank Construction
Ten research centers
Seven books published
Nine research reports and papers
17 guidelines on decision making
Eight periodic reports
VoxChina: 50 academic paper introductions and 27 academic short videos
DataRer “Talent Training and Practice Platform”: an internship platform for digital professionals in FinTech, artificial intelligence, and big data (covering multiple job-hunting scenarios and interview types with AI-powered mock interviews and AI-powered resume diagnosis)
