Feng Li Fbam

For the past three decades, Feng’s research investigates how digital technologies (ICTs) can be used to enable strategic innovation and organisational transformation in different sectors and domains, from banking, telecom, manufacturing, retailing, the creative industries, to health, social services and other public and voluntary sectors. He is particularly interested in emerging strategies, business models and organisational designs in the digital economy. He advises senior business leaders and policy makers on how to manage the transition to new technologies, new business models and new organisational forms. His research on internet banking, telecom value networks and pricing models, sustainable business models for assisted living technologies and services, and new business models in the digital economy (including the sharing economy), were widely reported by the media, including the Financial Times, CityA.M.,Telegraph and the BBC.

Another focus of Feng's research is on digital business innovations in emerging economies, particularly in China. For example, what made companies such as Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu and JD.com successful? Why have all western digital firms - from Google, Amazon to eBay and Uber - failed in China? Apart from government restrictions (which undoubtedly played a role), what other factors are at work and what new insights can be learnt from such phenomena?

Feng has been successful in winning substantial external research funding, totaling over £42 million as PI or Co-I, from the UK Research Councils (RCUK, ESRC, EPSRC, AHRC), InnovateUK, Technology Strategy Board (TSB), Wellcome Trust, NIHR, Department of Health (DH), the EU, local RDAs and the private sectors. Most projects are in close collaboration with business partners and leading scholars from other disciplines. These projects enabled him to extend his research from strategic and organisational innovations for commercial businesses to using digital business innovations to address significant societal challenges in financially sustainable and operationally scalable manners, from ageing and assisted living to social inclusion and sustainable development.

Feng is currently Head of the Technology and Innovation Group. Previously he served as the Associated Dean for Research and Enterprise at Cass Business School; and was a member of various Committees and Working Groups both at the Business School and the University.

Feng supervised a number of Post-Doctoral Research Fellows and PhD Researchers. He has supervised 10 PhD/DBAs to successful completion; and served as external examiner for 12 PhD/DBAs in different universities both in the UK and internationally.

Before joining Cass Business School, Feng was Chair of e-Business Development (2001-2011) at Newcastle University Business School for 10 years, where he held various senior management responsibilities, including Associate Dean (Director) for Business Engagement, Associate Dean for Teaching & Learning; Head of Management; and Associate Dean for Business Development. Previously he was Lecturer/Senior Lecturer and Director of Postgraduate Research at Department of Management Science at Strathclyde University Business School in Glasgow, Scotland.

Feng is an elected Fellow of the British Academy of Management (FBAM). He was a Council Member of BAM between 2005-2007; and the Founding SIG and Track Chairs for BAM e-Business & e-Government between 2003-2013. He served as a Judge for the 2017 National Technology Award; and a member of the Funding Allocation Panel (Prioritisation Panel) for the Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) at the EPSRC. He also regularly serves as expert reviewers for UK and international research funding bodies.

Qualifications

PhD and BSc (Hons).

Employment

• Chair of e-Business Development, Newcastle University, Jan 2002 – Dec 2011
• Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, University of Strathclyde, Jan 1997 – Dec 2001

Fellowships

Fellow, British Academy of Management (FBAM)

Languages

Chinese (Mandarin).

Expertise

Primary Topics

• Business Models
• Digital Economy
• E-Business
• Information Management
• Knowledge Management
• Management Information Systems

Additional Topics

• Innovation & Creativity
• Operations Management
• Technology Management

Industries/Professions

• retailing
• transportation
• media
• information technology
• e-commerce
• health caret
• elecommunications
• banking
• computing
• internet
• financial services

Geographic Areas

• Americas - North
• Asia
• Europe - Western

Research

Digital Business Innovations

• We have been successful in winning several new research grants:
• SCAMPI: Self-Care Advice, Monitoring, Planning and Intervention,
• £943,000, funded by EPSRC (Research Council)
• Digital Creativity Hub - £ 4,927,992, funded by Research Councils UK (RCUK) through the Next Stage Digital Economy Programme.
• GAMBIT - GAMification for Better living in the cities by Influencing Tourist behaviour (Gambit), £700k funded by InnovateUK
• The Future of Video - Commercially sponsored research by Imagen and FTI Consulting to explore future business use of video in the digital economy. Report available from - http://imagenevp.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Imagen-FutureOfVideo-final.pdf

Research Topics

NEMOG - New Economic Models and Opportunities for Digital Game

£1.2 million research project funded by Research Councils UK (EPSRC/ESRC)

SALT - Sustainable Business Models for Assisted Living Technologies and Services

£2 Million research project funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and 10 Industry Partners

Tele-Rehabilitation through Computer Games

£2.1 million research project funded by Wellcome Trust and NIHR under HICF (Health Innovation Challenge Fund)

SiDE: Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy

£12.6 million research project funded by RCUK under its Digital Economy Programme

'Digital Originals'

Funded research project by RCUK under the Digital Economy Programme

Banking for the Older Old

Funded Research project by RCUK (EPSRC, AHRC and ESRC) under the Digital Economy Programme

Futured Publication

• Cabras, I., Goumagias, N.D., Fernandes, K., Cowling, P., Li, F., Kudenko, D., Devlin, S. and Nucciarelli, A. (2017). Exploring survival rates of companies in the UK video-games industry: An empirical study. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 117, pp. 305–314. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2016.10.073.
• Nucciarelli, A., Li, F., Fernandes, K., Goumagias, N., Cabras, I., Devlin, S., Cowling, P. and Kudenko, D. (2017). From value chains to technological platforms: The effects of crowdfunding in the digital game industry. Journal of Business Research . doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.12.030.
• Shi, X., Li, F. and Bigdeli, A.Z. (2016). An examination of NPD models in the context of business models. Journal of Business Research, 69(7), pp. 2541–2550. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.10.087.
• Ziaee Bigdeli, A., Li, F. and Shi, X. (2016). Sustainability and scalability of university spinouts: A business model perspective. R and D Management, 46(3), pp. 504–518. doi:10.1111/radm.12167.
• Li, F., Nucciarelli, A., Roden, S. and Graham, G. (2016). How smart cities transform operations models: A new research agenda for operations management in the digital economy. Production Planning and Control, 27(6), pp. 514–528. doi:10.1080/09537287.2016.1147096.

Books (4)

• Li, F. (2007). Social Implications and Challenges of E-Business. Hershey (U.S.A): Prentice Hall/FT Publications.. ISBN 978-1-59904-105-6.
• Li, F. (2007). What is E-Business? How the Internet Transforms Organisations. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-2557-4.
• Li, F. and Li, J. (1999). Foreign Investment in China. Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-0-333-66241-0.
• Li, F. (1995). The Geography of Business Information: Corporate Networks and the Spatial and Functional Corporate Restructuring. Chichester: Pickering and Chatto. ISBN 978-0-471-94939-8.

Chapters (18)

• Li, F. (2010). Business Plans for Electronic Commerce Projects. In Hossein Bidgoli, (Ed.), The Handbook of Technology Management (pp. 407–414). Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Son. ISBN 978-0-470-24948-2.
• Barlow, A. and Li, F. (2010). Disruptive Technologies and Applications. In Grant, K., Hackney, R. and Edgar, D. (Eds.), Strategic Information Systems Management: Priorities, Procedures & Policy (pp. 77–102). Andover: Cengage Learning.
• Hassan, S. and Li, F. (2007). Benchmarking the Usability and Content Usefulness of Web Sites: Developing a Structured Evaluation Framework. In Li, F. (Ed.), Social Implications and Challenges of e-Business (pp. 94–114). Hershey (USA)
• Papagiannidis, S. and Li, F. (2006). Mixed-mode surveys with Netservey. In Reynolds, R.A., Woods, R. and Baker, J.D. (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Electronic Surveys and Measurements (pp. 224–231). Hershey (U.S.A).: Idea Group Reference.
• Karjaluoto, H., Leppaniemi, M., Sall, J., Sinisalo, J. and Li, F. (2006). The mobile network as a new medium for marketing communications: A case study from Finland. In Bhuvan Unhelkar, (Ed.), Handbook of Research in Mobile Business: Technical, Methodological and Social Perspectives (pp. 334–342). Hershey (U.S.A.): IDEA group publishing.
• Papagiannidis, S., Li, F. and Carr, J. (2006). M-Commerce in the UK: Current Developments and Future Prospects. M-Commerce: Global Experiences and Perspectives Global Experiences and Perspectives (pp. 220–239). IGI Global. ISBN 978-1-59140-317-3.
• Kimble, C. and Li, F. (2005). Effective Virtual Work through Communities of Practice. In Subhasish Dasgupta, (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Virtual Communities and Technologies (pp. 156–160). Hershey (U.S.A.): Idea Group.
• Papagiannidis, S. and Li, F. (2005). Potential Implications of IPv6 for Regional Development. In Marshall, S., Taylor, W. and Xinghuo, Y. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of developing regional communities with information and communication technology (pp. 564–568). Hershey (U.S.A.): Idea Group.
• Li, F. (2004). E-Government Scottish Style: Recent Developments and Some Emerging Issues. In Mehdi Khosrow Pour, (Ed.), The Social and Cognitive Impacts of e-Commerce on Modern Organizations (pp. 227–252).
• Li, F. and Williams, H. (2001). New Collaboration between Firms: The Role of Inter-Organisational Systems. In Bunt, B. and Barnes, S. (Eds.), E-Commerce and V-Business London: Butterworth-Heinemann.
• Barlow, A. and Li, F. (2000). Barriers to Virtual Teams. In Beyon-Davis, , Paul, and Lloyds-Williams, M. (Eds.), Information Systems Research: Bridging the Millennium Gap London: McGraw-Hill.
• Li, F. (2000). New Progress in Geography and the Implications for Organisations. In Bakis, H. (Ed.), Built Space, New Technologies and Networks Montpellier: NetCom Review.
• Li, F. and Williams, H. (1999). Organisational Innovations through Information Systems: Lessons from Geography. In Brooks, L. and Kimble, C. (Eds.), Information Systems: The Next Generation.
• UK Academy for Information Systems 4th Annual Conference, University of York London: McGraw-Hill.
• Li, F. (1997). Team Telework and the New Geographical Flexibility for Information Workers. In Igbaria, M. and Tan, M. (Eds.), The Virtual Workplace (pp. 301–318). Virginia: Idea Group Publishing.
• Li, F. and Williams, H. (1997). Inter-firm Collaboration through Inter-Firm Computer Networks. Key Issues in Information Systems London
• Li, F. (1996). Team-Telework as an Organisational Innovation: A Theoretical Perspective. In Jackson, , P, and Wielen, J.V.D. (Eds.), New international perspectives on telework: from telecommuting to the virtual organisation Tilburg: Tilburg University Press,.
• Li, F. and Gillespie, A. (1994). Team Telework: An Emergent Form of Work Organization. In Baskerville, R., Smithson, S., Ngwenyama, O.K. and DeGross, J.I. (Eds.), Transforming Organizations with Information Technology, Proceedings of the IFIP WG8.2 Working Conference on Innformation Technology and New Emergent Forms of Organizations, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, 11-13 August 1994 (pp. 397–418). North-Holland ISBN 0-444-81945-2.
• Gillespie, A. and Li, F. (1994). Telematics, Work Organisation and the Workplace. In Robin Mansell, (Ed.), Management of Information and Communications Technology Emerging patterns of control London: ASLIB. ISBN 978-0-85142-312-8.

Editorial Activities (2)

• International Journal of Information Management, Member of Editorial Board, 2006 – 2013.
• Network and Communications, Member of Editorial Board, 2000 – 2013.