About

Jialu Shan’s research areas include digital business transformation, business model innovation and new practices, and corporate governance practices. She is particularly interested in Asian markets.

Shan obtained her PhD degree in economics (management) from the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Lausanne (HEC, Lausanne) in 2012. Before joining IMD, she worked as a lecturer at the International Hotel School of César Ritz Colleges in Brig, Switzerland.

Research and thought leadership

Shan has published works on a variety of topics, including business model innovation and digital innovation in the Asian market.

Greeven, M., Yu, H., and Shan, J. (2024). Engineer Your Own Luck, MIT Sloan Management Review, Summer edition.

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2023). How does your company match up to global leaders when it comes to digital disruption? I by IMD Brain Circuits, July 2023

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2023). Digital Vortex 2023 revealed, I by IMD, May 2023

Bonnet, D., and Shan, J. (2023) Twitter’s future: Lift off or crash and burn? I by IMD, January 2023

Yu, H., Shan, J., Boutalikakis, A., Tempel, L., and Balian, Z. (2022). What makes a company “future ready”? Harvard Business Review online, March 2022

Greeven, M., Yu, H., and Shan, J. (2021). Why Companies Must Embrace Microservices and Modular Thinking, MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall edition.

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2021). What the West can learn from China’s live commerce success, MIT Sloan Management Review, January 2021.

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2020). Covid-19 has accelerated digital transformation, but may have made it harder not easier, MIS Quarterly Executive, 19 (3), pp.213-220

Wade, M., Bonnet, D. and Shan, J. (2020). Lifting the lid on disruption fever, Journal of Strategy and Management, 13(4), pp.495-501

Yu, H. and Shan, J. (2020). Where does resilience come from? It’s your progress in digital transformation, especially in times of crisis, The European Business Review

Liu, Z., Shan, J., Delaloye, M., Piguet, J-G. and Glassey-Balet, N. (2020). The role of public trust and media in managing the dissemination of COVID-19-related news in Switzerland, Journalism and Media, 1(1), pp.145-158

Yu, H. and Shan, J. (2019). How some companies beat the competition…for decades and even centuries, The European Business Review

Yu, H. and Shan, J. (2019). The big gap between strategic intent and actual, realized strategy, Journal of Financial Transformation, vol.50, pp.10-12

Liu, Z., Shan, J. Glassey-Balet, N. and Fang, G. (2017). Semantic Social Media Analysis of Chinese Tourists in Switzerland. Information Technology & Tourism, 17(2), 183-202.

Strebel, P., Cordin, M. and Shan, J. (2016). Competitive profits and the annual report: Measuring the sustainable business. Journal of Business Strategy, 37(2), 42-49.

Liu, Z., Shan, J. and Pigneur, Y. (2016). The role of personalized services and control: An empirical evaluation of privacy calculus and technology acceptance model in the mobile context. Journal of Privacy and Security, 12(1-3), 123-144.

Shan, J. (2012). Three essays on governance practices in different environmental contexts: Using inter-discipline approaches at different organizational levels, Doctoral dissertation, University of Lausanne

Burkert, M., Ivens, B. S., and Shan, J. (2012). Governance structures in international buyer-supplier relationships: an empirical test. Industrial Marketing Management, 41 (3), 544-556.

Conferences

Shan, J., Obwegeser, N., Teracino, E. and Wade, M. (2020). A double-edged sword named agility: a critical perspective on organizational responses to environmental disruption. The 28th European Conference on Information Systems, Marrakech, Morocco

Liu, Z., Shan, J. Bonazzi, R. and Pigneur, Y. (2014). Privacy as a trade-off: introducing the notion of privacy calculus for context-aware mobile applications. 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Science, Hawaii

Shan, J. and Dong, M. (2012). Uncertainty judgment on revenue recognition under IFRS: with different earnings incentives. American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Washington DC, US.

Shan, J. and Dong, M. (2012). Financial determinants and comprehensive income reporting: The case of US commercial banks. 35th European Accounting Association Annual Congress, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Ivens, B. S., and Shan, J. (2008). Governance mechanisms in international business relationships: an empirical test. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference of the Industrial Marketing & Purchasing Group, Uppsala.

Case studies

Yu, H., Shan, J. (2018). Disrupting the disruptors: How Ovopark breathes new life into the bricks-and-mortar store, IMD-7-2046, IMD Business School, Lausanne.

Wade, M., Fang, Y., Shan, J. and Yang, Y. (2016). Uber takes on China, IMD-7-1807, IMD Business School, Lausanne.

Cantale, S., and Shan, J. (2013). Microsoft’s acquisition of Skype, IMD-1-0337, IMD-1-0337T, IMD Business school, Lausanne.

Szekely, F., Shan, J., and Chaffin, Ed. (2013). IMD high performance leadership, IMD Business school, Lausanne.

Articles and reports

Yu, H and Shan, J. (2019). How to make AI transformation more likely to succeed. Chapter included in report “AI & the Future of Work”, Credit Suisse Research Institute Davos Edition 2019. Available at https://www.credit-suisse.com/corporate/en/research/research-institute.html

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2019). TikTok: the world’s most valuable startup that you’ve never heard of. Original published in the Conversation (available at https://theconversation.com/tiktok-the-worlds-most-valuable-startup-that-youve-never-heard-of-109302), also published in Channel New Asia, Slate.fr, Tech Central (South Africa), Business Standard (India), International Business Times, and a few others. Also published in the Conversation French.

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2018). Alibaba’s Singles’ Day report card: Both impressive and disappointing. Original published in WWD Think Tank (available at https://wwd.com/business-news/business-features/think-tank-singles-day-1202906520/), also published in Lednytt (Norway), Nettavisen (Norway), Retail Magisinet (Norway), Företagande (Sweden).

Shan J. and Wade, M. (2018). The digital giants in 2018. Tomorrow’s Challenge, June 2018. https://wwwdev.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/digital-giants-in-2018/

Yu, H. and Shan, J. (2018). Staying in front needs more than cash and being fast. South China Morning Post. December 8, 2018.

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2018). How China is rebooting retail. Original published in the Conversation (available at https://theconversation.com/how-china-is-rebooting-retail-92982), also published by the World Economic Forum and Scroll India, and Alibaba’s Newsletters.

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2018). The red envelope war in 2018. Tomorrow’s Challenge, February 2018. https://wwwdev.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/the-red-envelope-war-in-2018/

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2017). The Chinese digital giants – coming to a store near you! Tomorrow’s Challenges, December 2017. https://wwwdev.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/the-chinese-digital-giants-coming-to-a-store-near-you/, also published in Business World (Philippines)

Wade, M., Shan, J. and Noronha, A. (2017). Life in Digital Vortex: the state of digital disruption in 2017. https://wwwdev.imd.org/research-knowledge/reports/digitalvortex/

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2016). The red envelope war: Hongbao have become the latest battleground between China’s two digital behemoths. Tomorrow’s Challenges, April 2016. https://wwwdev.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/the-uneasy-truce-between-alibaba-and-tencent-is-over/

Wade, M., Shan, J., and McTeague, L. (2016). Strategies for responding to digital disruption. IMD Insight, no. 59. https://wwwdev.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/strategies-for-responding-to-digital-disruption2/

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2016). The battle for digital disruption: startups vs incumbents: Which do executives perceive as their main threats?. Tomorrow’s Challenges, March 2016. https://wwwdev.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/the-battle-for-digital-disruption-startups-vs-incumbents/

Wade, M. and Shan, J. (2016). Global differences in the digital vortex: Executives from developed and developing countries see disruption in a different light. Tomorrow’s Challenges, February 2016. https://wwwdev.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/global-differences-in-the-digital-vortex/

Publications

Shan is the author of numerous academic articles, reports, and case studies in the above mentioned fields.

Data Specialist and Communications Coordinator

Lawrence Tempel holds a Master’s degree in international business and is now a data specialist and communications coordinator at IMD’s Center for Future Readiness, where his work is driven by an interest in innovation, future trends, and data processing.

Junior Data Scientist

Alexandre Sonderegger graduated with a Master of Science in Economics from the University of Geneva where he specialized in Econometrics. His interests in programming and quantitative analysis led him to also specialize in data science. As a junior data scientist at IMD’s Center for Future Readiness, he aspires to leverage his knowledge to help the team uncover valuable insights.

Yulia holds a Master of Science in Economics and Communication from the University of Lugano, with a focus on Public Management and Policy. Her strong interest in communication, event management, and strategic coordination guided her to the position of Operations Coordinator at the Center for Future Readiness. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the seamless execution of projects, managing day-to-day logistics, and fostering collaboration across teams. 

Anqi is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Financial Engineering at EPFL. At the Future Readiness Center, she supports research projects with a focus on text analysis and deep learning. Her passion for applying quantitative methods to real-world problems aligns well with the center’s mission to leverage data for strategic foresight.