The 146th Session of the "BNUBS Famous Expert Lecture Series" Was Successfully Held

On April 11, 2025, the 146th session of the "BNUBS Famous Expert Lecture Series" of the Business School of Beijing Normal University was held in Conference Room 1722 of Houzhu Building. This lecture was given by Professor Zhao Laixun from the Institute of Economics and Business, Kobe University, Japan. Professor Wei Hao, the Associate Dean of the Business School of Beijing Normal University, presided over the lecture. Dozens of teachers and students, including Associate Professors Zheng Feihu and Fang Fang and postgraduate students from the School, participated in this academic lecture.

At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Wei Hao warmly welcomed Professor Zhao Laixun and introduced his academic background and research directions. Professor Zhao Laixun is an internationally renowned Chinese economist. He is currently a professor at the Institute of Economics and Business, Kobe University, Japan, and was once a visiting scholar at Stanford University. His research fields cover international economics and Chinese economics. He has published several papers in top - tier or well - known international economic journals such as the Journal of International Economics, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, European Economic Review, Journal of Industrial Economics, and Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. In 2011, Professor Zhao Laixun received an award from the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, becoming the only non - Japanese to have received this honor so far. Currently, Professor Zhao Laixun serves as the co - editor - in - chief of the Journal of International Trade & Economic Development and the editor - in - chief of the Japanese Accounting Review, and he is also an anonymous reviewer for multiple top - tier international journals.

In this lecture, Professor Zhao Laixun delivered a keynote speech titled "A new role of Confucian culture: promoting corporate resilience from crisis?". This research explored how traditional Confucian culture influenced the coping capabilities of Chinese enterprises in the face of emergencies during the COVID - 19 crisis. The study found that in regions with a stronger Confucian cultural atmosphere, enterprises experienced smaller stock price declines and faster rebounds during the pandemic, demonstrating stronger shock - resistance capabilities. This conclusion still held after conducting robustness tests using instrumental variables, considering other traditional cultural factors, and using alternative indicators such as the number of modern jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), the number of academies, and the stock of genealogies. In addition, the research introduced audit intensity and the proportion of institutional ownership as moderating variables for external supervision and found that the stronger the external supervision, the weaker the marginal effect of traditional culture, further verifying the theoretical proposition that "informal institutions play a crucial complementary role when formal institutions fail". Finally, Professor Zhao pointed out that we should not categorically deny the economic effects of traditional culture. Strengthening traditional - culture education and promoting its beneficial application in corporate internal governance can help improve organizational resilience during public emergencies and serve as an important supplement to formal institutions.

During the interactive communication session, the participating teachers and students had in - depth discussions around issues such as the measurement methods of Confucian culture, the specific impact paths of traditional culture on corporate resilience, and the relationship between the founder's culture and organizational behavior. Professor Zhao patiently responded to everyone's questions, pointing out that the impact of Confucian culture on enterprises' crisis - response capabilities was more reflected in the self - discipline and collective - collaboration awareness inspired when formal institutions failed. He also emphasized that when researching traditional culture, attention should be paid to the scientificity and empirical feasibility of indicator selection, and in the future, it could be further analyzed in combination with the cultural background of the regions where enterprise founders are from. Regarding the idea of cross - national comparative research proposed by some teachers and students, Professor Zhao fully agreed and encouraged everyone to base themselves on China's reality and explore the unique value of local culture in the economic and social fields.

Finally, Professor Wei Hao thanked Professor Zhao Laixun for his wonderful speech. He believed that this lecture, with its rigorous empirical analysis and rich theoretical perspectives, deeply explored the mechanism of how Confucian culture enhanced corporate resilience during sudden crises, expanded the understanding of the economic effects of informal institutions, and responded to the cutting - edge debates on the relationship between traditional culture and modern corporate governance. The lecture not only provided teachers and students with a new path for researching the interaction between traditional culture and corporate behavior but also inspired in - depth thinking about institutional diversity and organizational resilience. Amid warm applause from the teachers and students, this lecture came to a successful conclusion.

Contributed by: Sun Quangang

Edited by: Sun Quangang, Sun Yue

Reviewed by: Wei Hao