On 2 April 2026, the Faculty of Finance at the City University of Macau organized the twelfth Academic Salon at the Golden Dragon Campus. This academic salon invited Dr. Wei LI, a research assistant professor in the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Macau, as the speaker. She presented her paper titled “Managing to Adapt: Structured Management Practices and Firm Resilience”.
This paper explores why some companies can adapt and even thrive when faced with major unexpected shocks. It begins by assuming that structured management practices are a general-purpose technology that helps firms adapt to unforeseen shocks. Using a novel, custom-designed survey, the paper finds that firms with more structured management practices were more resilient to the large and unexpected shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, adopting working from home and online sales practices more fully, adapting supply chains more effectively, and avoiding larger falls in their sales. Linking at the firm level to a high-frequency business survey, the survey shows that firms with highly structured management practices undertook more product, process, and logistics innovations to facilitate enforced changes in working practices and business operations. The paper concludes that this episode illustrates the many mechanisms by which structured management practices may improve firms’ resilience to shocks.
Dr. Wei Li is a research assistant professor in the Faculty of Business Administration at the University of Macau, Her research focuses on retail marketing, quantitative models in marketing, management practice, and firms’ reaction to shocks. Her research has been published in leading journals such as the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics.
In this academic salon, Dr. Li shared her latest research findings with the Faculty of Finance, broadening the academic scope of the faculty. The Faculty of Finance Academic Salon at the City University of Macau is a platform for exchanging academic ideas and enhancing academic awareness. The Salon focuses on finance and economics, inviting experts from academia and the financial industry to discuss cutting-edge research and share industry development trends, aiming to bring new academic experiences and thinking models to the faculty and students of the university. Through academic activities like the academic salon, the Faculty of Finance provides a better academic platform for graduate students and encourage further exploration and research of academic issues among faculty and students.