Tao is a King's Joint Scholarship-funded PhD candidate in International Economics and a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of International Development, Department of Political Economy, and King's Business School. He holds an Associate Fellowship of Advance HE and serves as a Guest Teacher in the Department of Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Before coming to King's, he studied at LSE and the University of Manchester.

Harbouring a profound passion for international business strategy, he became a counsellor of the AIB-CIBER Doctoral Academy after being selected for a two-year programme funded by the Sheth Foundation Fellowship. At AIB 2024, his research was nominated for the UNCTAD-AIB Award for Best Research on Investment and Development. He also had an enjoyable time at the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva, where he worked on policy-oriented research on AI for development.

Research

Thesis title: 'Essays on Outward FDI and development: Rethinking MNE global strategies through a GVC lens'

Tao's research is rooted in the fields of International Business, Strategy, and Economic Geography, focusing on the development dilemmas of multinational enterprises through a global value chain perspective, as well as relocation strategies in the context of US-China decoupling. The research aims to contribute insights from rigorous academic theory and empirical analysis to policy and strategy practice.

PhD supervision

• Principal supervisor: Dr Yundan Gong
• Secondary supervisor: Dr Jan Knoerich

Further Details

See Tao's research profile