Title: Opening the Both/And Black Box: Exploring Universal Strategies for Integrating Opposing Contradictions

Lecturer: Xin Li, Associate Professor, Newcastle University, UK

Time: May 30th, 2025 (Friday) 14:30-16:00 pm

Venue: Online Tencent meeting 315-296-258 

Organizer: Department of Business Administration

Synopsis:

  Organizational paradox literature emphasizes the importance of balancing and integrating opposing extremes. Organizational and management scholars have proposed various paradox integration approaches, such as ambidexterity, yin-yang balancing, the middle way (zhong-yong), and transcendence. Although all are described as “both/and” solutions, they actually differ significantly (despite some similarities). I propose a SMART framework that serves two purposes: first, to systematize and interpret the approaches outlined in the literature; second, as a universal theoretical framework capable of identifying and accommodating other potential general solutions. Additionally, I present a decision-making model for selecting response strategies to paradoxical situations based on specific internal and external circumstances.

Introduction to the Lecturer:

  Dr. Xin Li currently serves as Associate Professor (tenured position) at Newcastle University Business School, UK, and previously held an Assistant Professorship at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. His research focuses on corporate strategy, international business, management paradoxes, and China-based management studies. He has published over thirty papers in Chinese and English across prestigious academic journals including: Journal of Management, Nankai Review of Management International Edition, Foreign Economics and Management, and Chinese Culture and Management. He has presented over 50 conference papers at international academic conferences including AOM, AIB, SMS, EGOS, and IACMR. He serves on the editorial boards of several renowned international management journals. In 2015, he received a 1.32 million Danish Krone research grant from the Carlsberg Foundation to independently investigate the international catch-up phenomenon among late-developing Chinese enterprises.