Dr Elizabeth Yi Wang

Profile

1. How do multi-location organisations achieve competitive advantage by managing risk and maintaining control in critical processes such as internationalisation, learning, invention, and partnership development?
2. How do external pressures – including environmental regulation, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) policies, Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) frameworks, and sustainability standards – shape organisational strategy and transformation pathways?
3. How can interventions by governments, firms, and civil society be coordinated across borders to mainstream sustainable development at both global and local levels?

• Invited talks on the Green Agenda and role of MNEs at multiple universiteis
• Inivted talk on values-based demoncracy in MNE stakeholder governance at the Reading IB Conference 2026 Debate: So many stakeholders, so little democracy: How do you run a complex MNE hierarchy and give everyone a voice?
• Co-chairing panels on global value chain governance and ESG in the UN SDG conference ICSD (2022-2024)
• Organising special panels at the AIB UK& Ireland Annual Conference (2022-present) and EIBA Annual Conference (2023-present)
• Embedding SDGs into International Business Curricula in multiple higher education institutions.
• Hosting high-profile impact events such as An Agenda for Sustainable International Business, A Multistakeholder Conversation on Sustainable International Business, which brought together academic and non-academic stakeholders from around the world.
• Initiating and building the Sustainable International Business Partnership (SIBP) – a collaborative global community that advances sustainable international business through academic research, education, and practice-oriented knowledge exchange.

Responsibilities

• Director of Internationalisation, International Business (current)
• Director of Student Education in International Business (past years)
• Programme Director, MSc Global Business (present), MSc International Business (past years)

Research interests

Dr Wang’ current research focuses on advancing international business theory and policy to better understand and support sustainability transitions, through theoretical innovation and rigorous empirical testing using large-scale and multi-source datasets.

Extending her broader research agenda into the context of sustainability transitions, digitalisation, and artificial intelligence (AI), her recent work examines:

• How digital technologies and AI reshape interactions between firms, places, and governance systems;
• How sustainability standards, ESG frameworks, and environmental policies influence innovation and organisational behaviour;
• How multinational enterprises (MNEs) contribute to the diffusion of green technologies and sustainable development practices across borders;
• How international business policy can accelerate sustainability transitions through innovation, governance, and standards cascades.

Dr Wang welcomes PhD proposals aligned with these research areas, specifically those focused on green technology, rural development, poverty reduction, ESG, sustainability transitions, and AI for sustainable development. Applications from candidates with interdisciplinary backgrounds, especially those combining computer science, data science, engineering, and related analytical disciplines, are particularly encouraged.

Selected research and engagement grants:

• “Building Effective Multilateralism in GVC Governance: The Role of Green Policy and Green Innovation”, Research Development Fund, University of Leeds (2022). This project integrates stakeholder engagement into research design to explore how green policies and innovations can improve global value chain governance.
• “How does policy exert real effects?” Foreign Experts Grant, Ministry of Science and Technology, China. Awarded at the highest national level, this renewable award supports international research collaboration. The total annual amount awarded is 855,000 RMB (£94,119). The grant supports research on the real-world effects of policy on business and sustainability.
• “Strategic Crafting of Country-of-Origin-Image: Strengthening Competitive Advantages of Firms in Times of Global Geopolitical and Economic Uncertainty” Challenge Fund, Leeds University Business School (£19, 500). A multidisciplinary collaboration involving partners from the UK, China, India, and Brazil. This project develops a science of strategic country image-making to support trade negotiations, exports, and regional competitiveness.

Research contributions to SDGs:

SDG 3 Good Health and Wellbeing and SDG 10 Reduced Inequality Within and Among Countries:

• Contribution to a major Government survey designed by the Parliamentary Office Science and Technology (POST) for experts to voice their concerns on the societal impact of COVID-19.
• Invited presentation in the 5^th Emerging Markets Inspiration Conference (EMIC): Has the COVID-19 Changed the UK’s Country Image Perceived by External Stakeholders? Chinese Students' Reactions to the British Government’s Handling of the Pandemic
• Invited book chapter contribution: At the Crossroads: International Student Exchanges During the COVID 19 Pandemic, in Globalization, Political Economy, Business and Society in Pandemic Times, (ed.) Pervez Ghauri, Tony Fang, and John Hassler, 2021.

SDG 9 Industry, innovation, and infrastructure:

• Wang, E.Y. , Clegg, L.J., Cheng, J. (2026). The Two Coases of Green Governance: Multinational Enterprises and the Internalisation of Environmental Externalities through Green Innovation. Journal of international Business Studies, DOI: 10.1057/s41267-026-00872-9.
• Wang, E.Y., & Clegg, L.J. (2026). Standardised Research Protocol for Identifying Patents in Green Technology Categories for Specified Owners. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19581607.
• Multinational Enterprises as Agents of the Green Agenda, research presented at the World Investment Forum 2023.
• Multinational Enterprises, ESG, and SDGs - The Potential of Product Innovation by Moody’s in Driving Positive Change, The Luminary, Moody’s, 2023.
• Location still matters! How does geographic configuration influence the performance-enhancing advantages of FDI spillovers?, Journal of International Management, Volume 26, Issue 3, September 2020, 100777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intman.2020.100777, offers the implications for regional FDI policy: while multinational enterprises possess advantages in protecting own technology and knowledge in a host economy policymakers will be ill equipped to focus on attracting inward FDI to specific regions without understanding “how” local businesses actually learn from foreign MNEs. See research blog “How emerging market firms learn from multinational enterprises”.
• The 7^th World Investment Forum, 18-22 Oct 2021, panel discussion “Aligning multinational firms for the “decade of action”: a real prospect or wishful thinking?”. For details of the in-depth study of green innovation she and her co-authors conducted and its suggestions of how MNEs can contribute to SDGs please see here and here.

SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth:

• Sustainable International Business Partnership (SIBP), An Agenda for Sustainable International Business, Impact Event of the Academy of International Business (AIB), November 20, 2023.
• What Does It Take to Build an Inclusive Governance of Global Value Chains? A Framework for Intervention. AIB Insights. https://doi.org/10.46697/001c.71445, Wang, E. Y., Driffield, N., Clegg, J., Miles, L., Alford, M., and J. Kim, 2023.

Qualifications

• PhD International Business and Economics, University of Leeds
• MSc International Finance, University of Leeds
• BSc Economics and Statistics, Capital University of Economics & Business, Beijing, China

Professional memberships

• The Higher Education Academy
• European Academy of International Business
• Academy of International Business
• British Academy of Management

Student education

Dr Elizabeth Yi Wang is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and the Executive Coordinator of the Teaching and Education Special Interest Group (T&E SIG) of the Academy of International Business (AIB).

During the past years, she has developed and managed 5 undergraduate (UG) modules, 5 postgraduate (PG) modules, two masters programmes – MSc International Business (IB) and MSc International Business (with Study Abroad). As Director of Student Education in International Business, she oversaw the strategic development of UG and PG IB Curriculum and, during my term, both UG and PG programmes achieved national excellence (top NSS ranking of UG programmes) and global excellence (top Financial Times Masters in Management Ranking of our MSc IB). As AACSB Accreditation Champion, she led the re-articulation of IB programme and module learning outcomes, and ensured successful accreditation of 4 UG programmes, 1 PG programme, and more than 40 associated IB modules.

She is an advocate of research-based-learning and research-led teaching. 

Recent modules:

Chinese Business (PG), The Emerging Markets (PG), Research Methods for International Business (UG), Managing International Business (UG), Contemporary Topics in International Business (UG)

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for International Business at the University of Leeds

Current postgraduate researchers

• Bingkun Liu
• Roland Maposa