Curriculum Vitae

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Expertise

Research: strategy, innovation, digital platforms, business ecosystems.

Empirical contexts: console video game industry, intelligent and connected vehicles, and other distinctive platform ecosystems.

Teaching: strategy, introduction to business, technology management, introduction to international business.

Appointment

CUNEF Universidad, Madrid, Spain — School of Business, Economics and Law, Management Department

Assistant Professor of Strategic Management, 2025–present.

Education

Tilburg University, Tilburg, Netherlands

Ph.D., Tilburg School of Economics and Management, Department of Management, 2026 (expected).

Thesis: Essays on Complement Provision in Platform Ecosystems: Platform-Categories as Opportunity and Evaluation Structures. Defense scheduled for 24 November 2026.

Co-supervisors: Niels Noorderhaven and Xavier Martin.

Committee: Niloofar Abolfathi (Singapore Management University), Carmelo Cennamo (Copenhagen Business School), Carolin Häussler (University of Passau), Tobias Kretschmer (Imperial College Business School), and Carol Ou (Tilburg University).

Research Master, Strategy & Organization, 2021.

Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands

B.Sc., International Business Administration, Rotterdam School of Management, 2019.

Non-degree

Visiting Ph.D. student, Department of Strategy, IE Business School, Madrid, August–December 2023. Host: Juan Santaló.

Exchange student, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, September–December 2018.

Recognition

• Best Paper Proceeding for “Category Conditions and Strategic Entry: Unveiling the Motives for Platform Owner Entry,” Academy of Management Annual Meeting, 2025.
• Distinction, Research Master in Strategy & Organization, Tilburg University, 2021.
• Cum Laude, Bachelor in International Business Administration, Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2019.

Research

A full description of each project is on my research page.

Journal articles

• Ou, C. X., Zhang, X., Angelopoulos, S., Davison, R. M., & Janse, N. 2022. Security breach and company response strategy: Exploring consumers’ threat and coping appraisals. International Journal of Information Management, 65: 102498. (ABS 2) DOI

Working papers

• Zhang, X., Martin, X., & Noorderhaven, N. [A Novel Contingency for Platform Owner Entry] (title anonymized for double-blind review). First-round revise and resubmit, Strategic Management Journal.
• Zhang, X., & Martin, X. Category conditions and strategic entry: Unveiling the motives for platform owner entry. Targeted at Organization Science.
• Zhang, X., & Martin, X. Within-category repositioning given benchmark multiplicity. Targeted at Organization Science.
• Zhang, X., & Martin, X. Alliance portfolio and platform adoption. Targeted at Strategy Science.
• Wang, J., Qu, X., & Zhang, X. Match, simplify, or expand: Salient market events and subsequent entrepreneurial entries in differentiated product spaces.
• Lu, Q., Zhang, X., & Park, M. Organizing routines and capabilities for green transitions.

Research in progress

• Zhang, X., & Martin, X. Relevance of firm adaptability in alliance formation: Implications from the U.S. console video game industry.
• Zhang, X., & Dong, J. Governing innovation ecosystems in complex product systems: Stable execution environments and ecosystem organization.
• Zhang, X., & Li, Y. Personalized recommendation and complementor diversification: Evidence from a social media platform.
• Zhang, X., & Li, J. First Amendment and the video game industry.

Research Grants

External

• “The Dark Side of Artificial Intelligence: Conceptualizing and Assessing a Multistakeholder Perspective on AI Fatigue in Service Ecosystems (AIFSE).” Knowledge Generation Projects and Predoctoral Research Training, 2025 Call, Spanish State Research Agency, Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. €65,625, three years, 2026–2029. Team member.
• “Computing Power Going Global: Mechanisms and Pathways of AI-Enabled Cross-Border R&D Reverse Knowledge Transfer — A ‘Host-Country Embeddedness–Home-Country Knowledge Backflow’ Paradox Perspective.” National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant no. 72672194. RMB 400,000, four years, 2026–2030. Team member.

Internal

• Research Visit Funding, Tilburg School of Economics and Management, Tilburg University, €5,000, 2023.
• Koopmans Scholarship, Tilburg University, €24,000, 2019–2021.

Conference Presentations

• Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 2025 — Category conditions and strategic entry (Best Paper Proceeding).
• Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 2025 — Presenter Symposium.
• 3rd European Digital Platform Research Network, Madrid, Spain, June 2025.
• Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting, Istanbul, Turkey, October 2024.
• SMJ Dissertation Paper Workshop, Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting, Istanbul, Turkey, October 2024.
• Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA, August 2024.
• 12th SKEMA KTO Paper Development Workshop, French Riviera, France, June 2024.
• Digital Platform Ecosystem Forum, Doctoral Consortium, Passau, Germany, June 2024.
• Munich Summer Institute, Doctoral Consortium, Munich, Germany, May 2024.
• Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, USA, August 2023.
• 1st European Digital Platform Research Network, Milan, Italy, June 2023 (poster).
• 1st Tilburg–Rotterdam Research Workshop on Digital Markets, Rotterdam School of Management, March 2023.
• Southern Management Association Annual Meeting, Little Rock, AR, USA, 2022.

Invited presentations

• VU Ecosystem Hub, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, April 2025.
• Brownbag Seminar, Department of Management, Tilburg University, May 2023.

Teaching

Course descriptions and student evaluations are on my teaching page.

CUNEF Universidad

Business Economics (Undergraduate, 6 ECTS, English) — Fall 2025, Fall 2026. Overall student satisfaction 8.84/10.

International Business and Global Management (Undergraduate, 6 ECTS, English) — Spring 2026, Spring 2027. Overall student satisfaction 8.96/10.

Bachelor thesis supervision, 10 students, 2027.

Tilburg University

Research Skills (Stata tutorials), 2022–2024.

Comparative and Cross-Cultural Management (case study tutorials), 2021–2022.

Bachelor thesis supervision, 2022 and 2024.

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Technology Management (project supervision), 2019.

Applied Business Methods (statistics tutorials), 2019.

Service

Conference organization

• Co-organizer, with Harsh Dod, Deepak Haran, and Chengdi Fa. Presenter Symposium “Platform Boundary Expansion and Strategic Action: Navigating Competition Within and Between Platforms.” Academy of Management Annual Meeting, 2025.
• Co-organizer, with Christina Kyprianou. Professional Development Workshop “Interdisciplinary Conversations on Platforms and Ecosystems.” Academy of Management Annual Meeting, 2024.

Reviewing

• Ad-hoc reviewer, Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting, 2024–2025.
• Ad-hoc reviewer, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, 2022–2025.
• Ad-hoc reviewer, International Conference on Information Systems, 2023–2025.
• Ad-hoc reviewer, Southern Management Association Annual Meeting, 2022.
• Participant, Academy of Management Review Bridge Reviewer Program, 2024.

University service, CUNEF Universidad

• Member, Bachelor Thesis Defense Committee, 2025–2026.
• Internship supervisor, 2026.
• Exam supervisor, 2025–2026.

Professional Development

• SMJ Dissertation Paper Workshop, Strategic Management Society Annual Meeting, Istanbul, October 2024.
• AOM STR Dissertation Consortium “The Job Market and Beyond,” online, August 2024.
• STRonger Together PhD Networkshop, online, May 2024.
• Academy of Management Review Bridge Reviewer Program, 2024.
• AOM STR Doctoral Consortium, online, August 2023.
• Strategy Science Conference Doctoral Workshop, LMU Munich, June 2023.
• UZH PhD Workshop “Corporate Strategy: Advances in the Study of Corporate Development Activities,” University of Zurich, June 2023. Convened by Xavier Martin.
• Professional Development Workshop, Amsterdam Digital Transformation Lab, University of Amsterdam, April 2022.
• UZH PhD Workshop “Contributing to the Strategy Literature,” University of Zurich, October 2021. Convened by Hart Posen.

Skills

Languages: Mandarin Chinese (native); English (fluent; language of instruction for all degrees).

Software: R, Python, Stata.