Topic: Innovation and Entrepreneurship Ecosystems and Case Studies of Chinese Firms

Speaker: Associate Professor Shi Xianwei, Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Host: Professor Zhao Xiaoping from RIEM

Time: October 23, 2025 (Thursday) 14:00-16:00

Location: Conference Room 1211, Gezhi Building, Liulin Campus, SWUFE

Organizer: RIEM

Speaker's Profile

Shi Xianwei holds a B.A. from Tsinghua University (2013) and an M.Phil. (2014) and Ph.D. (2019) from the University of Cambridge. He is an Associate Professor and doctoral supervisor at the Antai College of Economics & Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and is recognized as a national young talent as well as a Shanghai Pujiang Talent and Chenguang Scholar. His research focuses on firm- and regional-level innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems, using Chinese firms as case studies and employing qualitative research methods. His first‑authored papers have appeared in top international journals including Academy of Management Journal, Research Policy (two papers), and Management and Organization Review. His work has received multiple Shanghai Philosophy and Social Sciences awards (16th and 17th), has been listed as ESI highly cited and hot papers, and has won several best‑paper awards at AOM and EURAM conferences. Dr. Shi has led several National Natural Science Foundation of China projects (Youth Fund and General/Young Programs) and Ministry of Education youth projects. He teaches a wide range of courses across undergraduate, master’s, doctoral, MBA, EMBA, and MTT programs; teaching evaluations rank him among the top 2% (undergraduate) and top 4% (MBA) in his college. He was recognized in 2022 as Antai’s most popular undergraduate teacher and most popular MBA teacher.

Abstract

Balancing scale and scope has always been a strategic challenge for businesses: those focusing on a narrow area often have to forgo diversification, while those pursuing diversification often sacrifice scalability. This trade-off is particularly pronounced in the digital environment—hyper-scale often requires companies to focus on specific areas. Through a longitudinal case study of ByteDance, we propose that digital enterprises can overcome this limitation by synergistically applying artificial intelligence (AI) and adaptive organizational design. Unlike traditional resources, AI does not deplete with repeated use but rather continuously optimizes; its self-learning capabilities can create compound returns across domains. When AI is combined with adaptive organizational design, companies can achieve parallel expansion and diversification. We reveal how the integration of AI redefines resource (re)allocation, reshapes competitive advantage, and enables synergistic ecosystem development from the inside out.