PhD Candidate
BSc (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), MPhil (University of Cambridge)
Year of entry: 2021
I’m a PhD Candidate in the Marketing group at Cambridge Judge Business School, researching matching markets and new product development in the pharmaceutical industry under the supervision of Professor Ahmed Khwaja.
Research
Research topic
The Value and Synergies of Alliances: Estimating a 2-Sided Matching Model of the Market for Managerial Talent
Research interests
Quantitative marketing; industrial organisation; matching market; innovation; branding; influencer marketing; platform economy; digital economy; machine learning; large language model.
Pathway
Supervisor
Biography
Liang Zhao is a fourth-year PhD student in Marketing at Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, specialising in quantitative marketing with a focus on structural modelling. He holds an MPhil in Economics from the University of Cambridge and a BSc in Mathematics and Economics from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research interests include industrial organisation, matching markets, influencer marketing, and the application of large language models in quantitative marketing. His work has received a Revise & Resubmit from Marketing Science and is set to be presented at the Summer Institute in Competitive Strategy, the Annual Conference of the European Marketing Academy, and the Global Marketing Conference. In addition to his academic contributions, he serves as a teaching assistant for graduate-level econometrics and statistics courses, as well as marketing modules for the Global EMBA and Cambridge EMBA programmes at the Business School. He has received multiple teaching awards and was honoured with the Best Quantitative Paper Award at Cambridge Judge’s Winter Doctoral Conference.
News and insights
Student and alumni news
Study: finding the right rather than best football manager is key
As the FIFA World Cup moves to its final stages, with some well-known managers still competing (Thomas Tuchel of England, formerly of powerhouses Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Chelsea, leading the latter to the Champions League title in 2021) and other top names departed through defeat (such as Carlo Ancelotti of Brazil, formerly of Real Madrid and AC Milan, and Mauricio Pochettino of the US, formerly of PSG, Chelsea and Tottenham), a study at Cambridge Judge Business School sheds new light on the best managerial fit for teams and how managerial change affects performance. The study’s model finds that relegation-threatened clubs may benefit most from swapping managers.
AI and technology
Step into AI-driven business and leadership learning
If you’re thinking of engaging with a business school for learning or research, you’ll want to be sure it’s embracing the technologies of the future. Right now, that means AI. But where should AI show up in the classroom? How should it be used in research? And what should a truly forward-thinking vision for AI in business education look like?