BIO

Nan Jia is the Capt. Henry W. Simonsen Chair in Strategic Entrepreneurship and Professor of Strategic Management at the USC Marshall School of Business.

Her research examines how firms build, sustain, and renew competitive advantage in complex institutional and technological environments. Drawing on strategic management, entrepreneurship, and organizational theory, she studies business-government relations, innovation, emerging technologies, and corporate strategy, with a particular focus on how firms navigate the intersection of markets, governments, and society.

A major stream of her research investigates how public policies and institutional environments shape entrepreneurship, innovation, and firm strategy in both developed and emerging economies. Her work has examined how government actions influence entrepreneurial activity, technological development, innovation outcomes, and the evolution of competitive advantage. More recently, she has studied how artificial intelligence and machine learning affect productivity, creativity, decision-making, and innovation in organizations ranging from entrepreneurial ventures and startups to large established firms. She also develops machine-learning-based methods to measure and study organizational and strategic outcomes, including innovation and technological change.

Her research has been published in leading journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and Management Science. Her work has received numerous awards, including the Academy of Management Journal Best Paper Award, and has been supported by the National Science Foundation and USC Marshall's Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.

In addition to her research, Nan is a leader in teaching innovation in product management. She is the co-creator and academic director of USC Marshall's Graduate Certificate in Product Management and a co-creator of the Undergraduate Minor in Product Management. Her teaching focuses on product strategy, human-AI collaboration, innovation, and data-driven decision-making.

Within the academic community, Nan serves as an Associate Editor of the Academy of Management Review and previously served as an Associate Editor of the Strategic Management Journal. She is also a Guest Editor of the Strategic Management Journal Special Issue on Strategy and Artificial Intelligence and serves on the editorial boards of several leading management journals. She has been elected to the leadership track of the Strategic Management Division of the Academy of Management and will serve as Division Chair.

At USC Marshall, Nan has held leadership roles in faculty recruiting, governance, and doctoral education, and actively mentors doctoral students and junior faculty.