Yangjie Gu Named One of the 40 Best Under-40 MBA Professors in the World
L’Oréal International Research Chair Yangjie Gu has been nominated by Poets&Quants as one the 2022 top MBA professors thanks to the “dynamic” and “energizing” learning environments she brings to the classroom. P&Q relies on student testimonies to publish their annual list. “Yangjie brought real world scenarios into all the content inspired discussion and debate between people from diverse backgrounds,” noted HEC MBA student Simon Ware.
(©HEC Paris, Poets&Quants)
Yangjie Gu has been combining research and teaching at HEC Paris since 2015. The Associate Professor of Marketing has shared her passion for understanding consumer behavior and decision-making with her MBA students in courses such as "Managing Customer Value through Marketing and Customer Intelligence". Gu’s focus has been the consumers’ subjective feelings related to the decision-making process: “I have developed several interrelated streams of research, which have substantial implications for consumers’ well-being, and practical implications for marketers and policy-makers,” she told the British publication journalist Kristy Bleizeffer.
The Chinese academic has always dreamt of combining her research interests with teaching: “As a little kid, I had a nice chalkboard and always practiced with my little cousins. When I was in my master’s program (at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, ed.), I was happy to find out that pursuing an academic career would satisfy both of my interests: teaching and research.” Gu admits that students present challenges, but they nourish her at all levels: “One of the challenges in my core marketing course has come from the ‘subjective’ nature of the topic, which leaves room for varied opinions and debates… I am grateful to have these challenges, as it pushes me to come up with a logical framework for analyzing subjective business situations.” Meanwhile, the 38-year-old will continue her research on key marketing concepts such as assortment decisions and consumer experience during the post-decision stage.
Yangjie Gu is one of 18 exceptional women to make the Poets&Quants 40-Under-40 Best MBA Professors list this year. The review thus celebrates 10 years of this ranking with a record number of women in the category.
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