January 13, 2023
XJTLU International Business School Suzhou (IBSS) Associate Professor of Economics, Dr King Yoong Lim, recently published a paper titled “Business Optimism and the Innovation-Profitability Nexus: Introducing the COVID-19 Adaptable Capacity Framework” in top international journal Research Policy. Dr Lim is the first author of the paper.
Through their research, Dr Lim and his co-authors proposed a new multi-stage integrated analysis and forecasting framework that integrates econometric analysis and technological foresight procedures, enabling them to predict both the most resilient and the most epidemic-affected industries in need of government support in different countries during the epidemic. Through the use of this COVID-19 Adaptable Capacity (CAC) framework, Dr Lim’s paper explores the impact of innovation by companies before the epidemic on business optimism, as well as capital profitability after the epidemic. To assess the applicability of this framework, the authors used a company-level dataset of 18,368 small, medium and large companies across 33 countries. The results of the empirical analysis show that innovation and the epidemic led to a “double-edged sword effect” on firms' ability to adapt to COVID-19. Companies that invested too much in innovation before the epidemic put themselves in a position where they could not make ends meet after the epidemic due to a sharp decline in profits and market optimism. At the same time, investment in innovation at the company level can also improve a company's ability to adapt to an epidemic, which can help a company's profitability rebound more quickly after an epidemic. The analytical framework proposed in this research can therefore be used to assess the resilience of innovation at the national level in the aftermath of the epidemic and to design a roadmap for industrial restructuring.
Dr King Yoong Lim
Research Policy is the leading international journal on the economics of innovation, dedicated to understanding, analysing and effectively addressing the challenges posed by innovation, technology, research, development and science, covering the fields of economics, policy, management and the environment. With a five-year impact factor of 11.442, it is one of the 50 journals of excellence in management ("FT-50") recognised by the Financial Times for international business school rankings, and is also an ABS 4* rated journal by the Association of British Business Schools for the 2021 edition. It is also recognised by the Association of British Business Schools as an ABS 4* journal in the 2021 edition, and is highly regarded internationally and among the top business schools in China.
Dr King Yoong Lim's main research interests are in the areas of development macroeconomics, the economics of crime, innovation strategy (macro and micro) and energy economics. He has to date published several articles in ABS3/ABDC-A and above journals, with these including Research Policy, Energy Economics, Economic Modelling, Macroeconomic Dynamics and the Journal of Macroeconomics and. Dr Lim is also an active participant in the wider research and policy community and was an active external evaluator of the REF 2028 macroeconomics research findings at Swansea University, UK. He has been a three-time STC advisor at the World Bank Group, has contributed to Malaysia's Capital Markets Master Plan and National Innovation Strategy (and its associated GLC Innovation Transformation Program), and was the lead advisor in the review and redevelopment of the Kenya Revenue Authority's National Tax Revenue Forecasting Framework for 2019.Over the past year, IBSS scholars have published a number of papers in leading international academic journals at the UTD-24 and ABS 4/4* levels, including Management Science, Journal of Operations Management, Information System Research, Production and Operations Management, Journal of World Business, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Retailing, Human Resource Management, etc., and have been awarded a number of important research projects by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Humanities and Social Science Foundation of the Ministry of Education. The business school is well on its way to becoming a top-quality research-oriented business school.
January 13, 2023