Teaching interests

Pi-Shen teaches on management courses on the MBA and Bachelor of Business programs at the Flinders Business School.  As the current Research Higher Degrees Coordinator in the school, he coordinates the Business Research Methods topic and other research-related topics. While at Adelaide University, he also taught MBA courses in Entrepreneurship, Managing Contemporary Organisations, Fundamentals of Leadership and the Master of Commerce course, Strategic Compensation Management.  He was awarded The Scott Henderson Award for Excellence in Learning and Teaching by the Business School, University of Adelaide.  More recently, he was nominated by the Faculty of the Professions for the inaugural 2009 University of Adelaide Excellence in Education Awards.

Topic Coordinator:

• BUSN1021  Organisational Behaviour
• BUSN2032  Reward and Performance Management
• BUSN7016  Special Honours Topic A
• BUSN7017  Special Honours Topic B
• BUSN7018  Business Research: Theoretical Foundations
• BUSN7019  Critical Readings in Business
• BUSN7020  Business Research Methods
• BUSN7200  Honours Thesis
• BUSN9018  Organisational Behaviour
• BUSN9125  Industry Project
• BUSN9242  International Human Resource Management
• BUSN9245  Business Research Methods
• BUSN9254  Industry Project

Topic Lecturer:

• BUSN1005  Introduction to Management
• BUSN3032  Reward and Performance Management
• BUSN7018  Business Research: Theoretical Foundations
• BUSN7019  Critical Readings in Business
• BUSN7020  Business Research Methods
• BUSN9018  Organisational Behaviour
• BUSN9125  Industry Project
• BUSN9207  Strategic Decision Making
• BUSN9242  International Human Resource Management
• BUSN9245  Business Research Methods
• BUSN9254  Industry Project

Research expertise

• Applied business research
• Business and management
• Other commerce, management, tourism and services
• Other education
• Policy and administration

Research interests

His current research and consulting interests include exploring how entrepreneurs and managers overcome leadership, cultural, institutional, and commercial dilemmas as they seek to grow their new ventures or transform their existing organisations. He has won awards for his publications on the interface between technology, military policy and commercial strategy and technology, interest areas that he picked up while attending the Australian Army Command and Staff College.

He has supervised 2 PhD/ 1 honours students to completion in the areas of venture capital decision-making and the role of adaptive change and dynamic capabilities in high performing firms.  He is currently supervising 5 PhD/ 1 honours students who are conducting research into returnee professionals, corporate environmental reporting, board decision making, business education, working across cultures and organisational change (see further information section attachment).  

He, together with Dr Chris Graves from Adelaide University, secured funding from CPA Australia as part of its competitive Small Business Research Grant scheme. The grant, of which, he was chief investigator, saw research into understanding the barriers to and opportunities for access to private equity for small-to-medium sized family-owned enterprises. In the lead up to the full publication of the report, through advice by the CPA, their report was also accepted by the Commonwealth Government's Senate Economics Committee's Inquiry into Access of Small Business to Finance in 2010 with a follow-on submission to the Joint Parliamentary inquiry into family businesses in Australia in 2012.  The original full report is available on the CPA Australia website. A shorter article has been published in the regular CPA Australia "In The Black" publication and also reported in the Flinders Journal.  The research has been awarded prizes by AVCAL and the International Family Enterprise Research Academy.

Supervisory interests

• Academic leadership and management
• Business studies
• Corporate innovation
• Creative cultures
• Cross-cultural differences in business ethics
• Educational and organisational innovation
• Entrepeneural competency
• Entrepreneurship
• Innovation and enterprise
• Innovation and technology management
• Innovative teaching
• International business
• International business environment, Asian region
• Professional learning, innovative school
• Social entrepreneurship

RHD research supervision

Current

Principal supervisor: Management (1);

Associate supervisor: Business and Management (4);

Completion

Associate supervisor: Management (2);

RHD Student Achievements

• Nga Ho
  Flinders University 3 Mintute Thesis Competition - Runner Up - September 2012

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Policy and Community Engagement
Pi-Shen has been active in the policy arena. In 2007, he was a member of the South Australian Government's Office of Youth 'A Team' on the Adelaide Thinker in Residence Program.  This involved Professor Dennis Jaffee, the 'Thinker in Residence' on family business.  He represented Flinders University as one of the partners of the 'Manufacturing 'Thinker in Residence', Professor Goran Roos, in 2011.

Pi-Shen is especially active in helping and consulting start-ups and SMEs with business planning and development. As leader of the winning team in the 2003 A.T. Kearney-Judge Business School business plan competition, he continues to advice potential managers and entrepreneurs on new venture creation strategies. Since 2007, he has been mentoring student teams in the University of Adelaide's Entrepreneurs' Challenge competition, a few of which have reached the semi-finals and finals stages. Pi-Shen has also helped to start up a science education consultancy that focuses on developing science education programs for children as well as creative teaching and life science education courses for professional educators.

In 2010, he was involved in the delivery of the Copland Program in Adelaide for senior business and economic policy leaders in South Australia organised by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA).

He is currently member of the Venture Dorm advisory committee and also on the Flinders University-Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) committee

Professional Associations
Academy of Management (USA); Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM); International Council for Small Business (Australian/ New Zealand Chapter); Australian Human Resource Institute (AHRI); Temasek Society (Singapore)