Peng Zhang

Greetings!

I am an Assistant Professor of Managerial Economics at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University. My research focuses on how institutions and institutional disruptions affect business performance, public policy, and regional development. I use sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and China as my primary research contexts, exploring the role of informal institutions in SSA and the effects of institutional disruptions associated with geopolitics in China. I teach Managerial Economics at various levels: full-time MBA, part-time MBA and undergraduate.

I have published papers in high-quality academic journals such as Strategic Management Journal, World Development, Journal of International Management and Regional Studies. I have won three best paper awards in management conferences. I have been invited to serve as a panelist on two occasions at the Academy of International Business (AIB) annual conference. Outside academia, my research on SSA has attracted attention from policymakers and practitioners in South Africa, and I was invited to be a keynote speaker at a socio-economic development summit organised by the Northern Cape Office of the Premier (i.e., Head of the Provincial Government). My research on ethnic fragmentation in post-Apartheid South Africa is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.