Staff profile

Professor Karena Ji Yan is Chair in Marketing and Associate Dean of Durham University Business School. Her current main research interests fall into innovation and international business studies. In particular, her research focuses on cross-border innovation management, foreign R&D funds attraction, the innovation activities among customers, suppliers and competitors and integrate their processes to generate innovation performance. In terms of future collaboration, Karena is interested in working with industry and academics on collaborative research projects based on a range of topics such as (including but not limited to): environmental innovation, implication of innovation constraints, innovation ecosystems, and in general understanding innovation strategies across complex knowledge network.

Karena has been published constantly in world leading/international excellence level journals such as Research Policy, Organization Studies, Journal of Product Innovation Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, British Journal of Management, Journal of Business Ethics, etc. She serves on the editorial boards of International Business Review and International Marketing Review. 

Karena leads the Charles Wilson Research Fund project Grid Smarter Cities and is a co-investigator on the EPSRC-funded project AI Hub for Real Data. She has also provided academic advice for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) project funded by the UK Technology Strategy Board. Her research has social impact that UK media Economics, The Sunday Times and BBC has reported her research. At Durham University Business School, she has served as Link Tutor for the International Study Centre, Chair of the Board of Examiners for the MSc Marketing programme, and a member of both the Research Committee and the Education Committee. Prior to joining Durham, Karena completed her PhD at Cardiff University.

Prospective PhD applicants with similar research interests are encouraged to send her a research proposal.

Mini Biography

Professor Karena Ji Yan is Chair in Marketing, Associate Dean of Durham University Business School. Her research focuses on innovation and international business studies. She works with international scholars and practitioners to investigate R&D investment and funding problems and apply rigorous methodological techniques to address them.

• New Product and Process Innovation
• R&D Management and University-Industry Collaboration
• Technology Management
• Marketing analytics on new product development

Journal Article

• Sousa, C. M. P., Tsinopoulos, C., Yan, J., & Benito, G. R. G. (online). Finding the sweet spot: effects of exporting on the relationship between R&D investment and NPD performance. International Marketing Review, https://doi.org/10.1108/imr-02-2024-0039
• Ren, S., Yan, J., Yao, N., & Du, L. (online). Unpacking Organizational Agency in Institutional Change: The Role of Executives’ Political Connections and Shareholders’ Investment Horizons. Organization Studies, https://doi.org/10.1177/01708406251314588
• Yan, J., Gui, Q., Jiang, S., Yu, Z., Fernandes, K., Tian, K., Xia, S., & Gong, Y. (2025). How does blockchain application impact on supply chain alliance?. Technovation, 143, Article 103199. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2025.103199
• Ren, S., Liu, D., & Yan, J. (2024). How Officials’ Political Incentives Influence Corporate Green Innovation. Journal of Business Ethics, 194(3), 633-653. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-024-05622-1
• Xia, S., Song, J., Ameen, N., Vrontis, D., Yan, J., & Chen, F. (2024). What Changes and Opportunities Does Big Data Analytics Capability Bring to Strategic Alliance Research? A Systematic Literature Review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 26(1), 34-53. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12350
• Li, L., Chen, L., Yan, J., Xu, C., & Jiang, N. (2023). How does technological opportunism affect firm performance? The mediating role of resource orchestration. Journal of Business Research, 166, Article 114093. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114093
• Yan, J., Yu, Z., Fernandes, K., & Xiong, Y. (2023). Dual networks: how does knowledge network embeddedness affect firms' supply chain learning?. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 43(8), 1277-1303. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijopm-08-2022-0507
• Ren, S., Huang, M., Liu, D., & Yan, J. (2023). Understanding the impact of Mandatory CSR Disclosure on Green Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Listed Firms. British Journal of Management, 34(2), 576-594. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12609
• Li, R., Yan, J., Yao, N., Tian, K., Xia, S., Yang, X., & Xiong, Y. (2022). Abandoning innovation projects, filing patent applications and receiving foreign direct investment in R&D. Technovation, 114, Article 102435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2021.102435
• Li, W., Liu, Z., Xia, S., Yan, J., Xiong, Y., Sakka, G., & Li, Y. (2022). How can emerging-market SMEs domestically benefit from their performance in developed countries? Empirical evidence from China. Journal of Business Research, 142, 200-210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.12.058
• Ren, S., He, D., Yan, J., Zeng, H., & Tan, J. (2022). Environmental labeling certification and corporate environmental innovation: The moderating role of corporate ownership and local government intervention. Journal of Business Research, 140, 556-571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.11.023
• Yang, X., Yan, J., Tian, K., Yu, Z., Li, R., & Xia, S. (2021). Centralization or Decentralization? The Impact of Different Distributions of Authority on China's Environmental Regulation. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 173, Article 121172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121172
• Yan, J., Chen, X., Chen, L., & Jiang, M. (2021). Does R&D intensity promote firm adoption of circular supply chain management? Evidence from the emerging market of China. Industrial Marketing Management, 99, 153-166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2021.10.015
• Yan, C., & Yan, J. (2021). Optimal and naive diversification in an emerging market: Evidence from China's A‐shares market. International Journal of Finance and Economics, 26(3), 3740-3758. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.1984
• Wang, L., Yan, J., Chen, X., & Xu, Q. (2021). Do network capabilities improve corporate financial performance? Evidence from financial supply chains. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 41(4), 336-358. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijopm-07-2020-0484
• Yan, J., Tsinopoulos, C., & Xiong, Y. (2021). Unpacking the impact of innovation ambidexterity on export performance: Microfoundations and infrastructure investment. International Business Review, 30(1), Article 101766. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2020.101766
• Ren, S., Wang, Y., Hu, Y., & Yan, J. (2021). CEO Hometown Identity and Firm Green Innovation. Business Strategy and the Environment, 30(2), 756-774. https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.2652
• Sousa, C. M., Yan, J., Gomes, E., & Lengler, J. (2021). Export Activity, R&D Investment And Foreign Ownership: Does It Matter For Productivity?. International Marketing Review, 38(3), 613-639. https://doi.org/10.1108/imr-03-2020-0045
• Hughes, M., Hughes, P., Yan, J., & Sousa, C. (2019). Marketing as an Investment in Shareholder Value. British Journal of Management, 30(4), 943-965. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12284
• Tsinopoulos, C., Yan, J., & Sousa, C. M. (2019). Abandoning Innovation Activities and Performance: The moderating role of openness. Research Policy, 48(6), 1399-1411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2019.02.005
• Harris, R., & Yan, J. (2019). The Measurement of Absorptive Capacity from an Economics Perspective: Definition, Measurement and Importance. Journal of Economic Surveys, 33(3), 729-756. https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12296
• Tsinopoulos, C., Sousa, C., & Yan, J. (2018). Process Innovation: Open innovation and the moderating role of the motivation to achieve legitimacy. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 35(1), 27-48. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12374
• Yan, J., Tian, K., Heravi, S., & Morgan, P. (2017). The vices and virtues of consumption choices: Price promotion and consumer decision making. Marketing Letters, 28(3), 461-475. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-017-9421-x
• Yan, J., Tian, K., Heravi, S., & Morgan, P. (2016). Asymmetric Demand Patterns for Products with Added Nutritional Benefits and Products without Nutritional Benefits. European Journal of Marketing, 50(9/10), 1672-1702. https://doi.org/10.1108/ejm-06-2015-0356