Associate Professor Hao Tan

Dr. Hao Tan is Associate Professor in International Business and Strategy at the Newcastle Business School, University of Newcastle, where he also serves as Program Convenor for the Doctor of Business Administration and Master of Business Research Programs. Prior to joining the UoN, Dr. Tan had worked with several universities in Australia, including Macquarie University, University of Technology Sydney and the University of Western Sydney, on such roles as Research Associate, Research Supervisor, and Research Lecturer.

A/Prof Tan’s current research interests are in the energy and resource transitions in China and their global implications from a management research perspective. With his co-author Prof John Mathews from Macquarie University Sydney, he published three times in the world's most highly cited science journal ‘Nature’ in 2014 and 2016, including two major commentary articles and a correspondence. Since 2009 he has published, sole or jointly, two research books, five book chapters, and over 30 scholarly journal articles, including 18 articles in A/A* journals as per Australia’s ERA or ABDC rankings. Those include leading journals in international business, strategy or innovation economics such as Journal of World Business, Industrial & Corporate Change, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Production Economics, Technological Forecasting and Social Change; leading journals in the field of energy/ environment policy and economics such as Energy Policy, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Industrial Ecology; and in the area of International Relations, such as Foreign Affairs. 

A/Prof Tan was a visiting professor/visiting fellow at the National Tsinghua University in Taiwan, Tsinghua University in Beijing, the Institute of Development Studies in the UK, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of UC Berkeley in the US. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of the journal Technological Forecasting & Social Change, and has acted as a Reviewer for over 30 international journals during past several years. A/Prof Tan is a member of the Academy of Management (AoM), Academy of International Business (AIB) and the International Association of Chinese Management Research (IACMR). He is an Associate at the Centre of Asian Business & Economics at University of Melbourne, and an Associate at the China Studies Centre of University of Sydney.

A/Prof Hao Tan has taught courses at the undergraduate, Master and Doctor levels; and had teaching experiences in Sydney, Newcastle, Mainland China and Hong Kong. He received a Faculty Teaching & Learning Excellence Award in 2016. 

A/Prof Tan is a frequent contributor to both English- and Chinese-language media, including the UK Financial Times' Chinese website (which has over 2 million registered readers) and Australia's the conversation.com. He has also contributed articles to other outlets such as China's Caixin, The Guardian (Web), and ChinaDialogue etc. His research and opinion pieces have been widely reported, cited or reposted in international media. He has been interviewed and quoted by media such as BBC, Voice of America, the French newspaper Le Monde, China Radio International and Australia’s Panorama and 2SER Radio Station. 

Prior to coming to Australia, A/Prof Tan had extensive work experience in industries in China. He had worked with a large high-tech firm as a project management officer and a corporate lecturer; and had later worked as a management consultant.

Hao Tan's personal website is here. His website in relation to the ARC Discovery Project with colleagues is here

Hao Tan in recent news

• In November 2018, Associate Professor Hao Tan won an Australia Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project as a Chief Investigator on "East Asia's clean energy shift: enablers, obstacles, outcomes and lessons" (with A/Professor Elizabeth Thurbon, Dr. Sung-Young Kim and Prof. Emeritus John A. Mathews) 2019-2021.
• In August 2017, the Federal Government approved Dr Hao Tan’s application for the New Colombo Plan 2018 Mobility Grant, awarding a total of $138, 600 in funding. The funding is to support a project of ‘industry-focused study tours’ in China for the next three years, which will provide students with opportunities for international learning experiences, in particular industry visits to a number of enterprises in energy and resource sectors in China which are highly relevant to the Australian economy. 
  
• Dr. Hao Tan published an article in Foreign Affairs in May 2017, entitled “The Art of the Steel Deal: Why the U.S. and China Need a Production Rebalance”, in which he argues that the US and China should and can make a trade deal on steel, as a step toward rebalancing energy-intensive production globally. Foreign Affairs is one of the most influential outlets in international relations, where a number of seminal articles, such as Samuel P. Huntington's "The Clash of Civilizations", were first published.
• Partly based on his Foreign Affairs article, Dr. Hao Tan has subsequently published an article in The UK Financial Times’ Chinese website. The article has since been reposted by the official websites of China Metallurgical Newspaper, China Building Materials Federation, China.com, Development Research Center of the State Council’s China Policy Review etc.
• Dr. Hao Tan published an article in Dec 2016, entitled ‘There’s another way to solve China’s industrial overcapacity’, in ChinaDialogue, a website that is focused China’s environmental issues. Part of a translation of the article has been compiled in ‘Macroeconomic Trend Monitor‘ by the Institute of Economics of The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
• A recent article by Dr. Hao Tan published in The UK Financial Times’ Chinese website in Dec 2016, which is focused on excess capacity in China’s energy intensive industries, has been picked up by a number of media outlets, think-tanks and industrial associations in China, such as China Cement Association’s official site, Entrepreneurs’ Daily, the official website of China Building Materials & Construction, Guoshi Think-Tank, news.cn etc.
• One of Dr. Hao Tan’s articles published in Financial Times Chinese, entitled ‘A Post-Steel Era of China’, has been recommended by the Chairman of Wuhan Iron and Steel (Group) Co. to his company. WISC is one of the largest steelmaking companies in China, and was listed as one of world’s Fortune 500 Companies in 2015.
• With his co-author Dr Hao Tan published a commentary article entitled ‘The Circular Economy: Lessons from China’ in a special issue of 'Nature' on 24 Mar 2016.  This was the third time that Dr Hao Tan and his co-author Prof John Mathews published in this world’s most highly cited interdisciplinary science journal during the past two years, including two major commentary articles and a correspondence. The piece has attracted considerable attentions from media and governments. It was discussed in ABC’s Weekend Breakfast program, and has also been reported in the official website of the Chinese central government (the State Council).
• The book that Dr. Hao Tan published in 2015 with his co-author Prof John Mathews from Macquarie University Sydney, ‘China’s Renewable Energy Revolution’, was selected by ChinaDialogue as one of the year’s best books on China and the environment. Launched in 2006 and based in London and Beijing, ChinaDialogue.net is the first fully bilingual website in English and Chinese in the world focusing on the environment.
• An article of Dr Hao Tan on the documentary ‘Under the Dome’ and its impacts on China’s environment policies published by the UK’s Financial Times in its Chinese website in the early 2015 has been selected by editors as one of the 10 Best Articles published in the website in 2015 in the category of ‘Politics and Policies’. The other contributors of the 10 Best Articles include the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Muhammad Yunus, and several influential politics scholars and commentators on China including Prof Zheng Yongnian, Prof Xueliang Ding, Prof Zhang Qianfan etc.
• Dr. Hao Tan was invited by the UK’s Financial Times to contribute an article as part of its ‘2015 FT China Annual Reports series’ in its Chinese website. Dr Tan’s article focuses on the foreign investments from China in 2015 in the energy and resource area, especially those in relation to the ‘One Belt One Road’ strategy of China. Dr. Tan’s article has been picked up or reposted by a number of think-tanks both in China and elsewhere, including the Carter Center, the Phoenix Int’l Think Tank, the Liaowang Institution, the Development Research Center of the State Council Info Centre, the First Thinktank, the One Belt One Road Research Institute, the China Economic Info Network, the China Humanities Diplomatic Promotion Association, the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, among others.
• The China Radio International aired an interview with Dr. Hao Tan in its ‘People in the Know’ Program on 10 Nov. 2015, which was on Apple’s investment in renewable energy in China. The program Dr. Hao Tan was involved is regarded as “China’s only high-end English radio interview program”.
• The Financial Times published an article of Dr. Hao Tan in its Chinese website on 17 Sep 2015 entitled ‘A post-steel era of China’. Dr. Hao Tan argues that the current crisis facing the Chinese steelmaking industry reflects a structural change beyond the cyclical factors. The article also discusses some strategies for Chinese steel cities based on the experience of Newcastle since the closure of BHP plant in the late 1990s. The article has been reposted or quoted by numerous websites related to the industry such as csteelnews.com (the China Metallurgical News), shmet.com (the Shanghai Metal Exchange Market), cbminfo.com (the China Building Material Council), cnmeti.com (the China Metallurgical Industry Network), cccmc.org.cn (the China Chamber of Commerce of Metal, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporter); as well as some major news websites and websites of financial institutions in China, such as sohu.com, sina.com, stockstar.com, toutiao.com, jrj.com.cn, asiafinance.cn, chinastock.com.cn etc. 
• Dr. Hao Tan had a short piece published by the Guardian in its website on 15 Sep 2015, as part of a longer article that compares the development of renewable energy in five developing countries. Dr. Hao Tan’s piece focuses on China.
• Dr. Hao Tan published an opinion piece in Financial Times Chinese on FDIs of Chinese SoEs on 20 May 2015. The article was then reported by ‘The Enterprise Observer’, a newspaper sponsored by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission PRC; and was also quoted in an article published in Guancha.cn, an online news and comments aggregator in China. Those articles were further reposted in other outlets in China such as the official website of Ministry of Commerce PRC (mofcom.gov.cn) and the Business Review (ebusinessreview.cn).
• In May 2015, with his co-author Prof John Mathews, Dr. Hao Tan contributed an article on China's use of green energy in Project Syndicate, a leading publisher with more than 500 newspapers and other publications being its members. The commentary piece has been published in at least 5 languages in over 20 countries, including Australia's ABC.
• Dr Hao Tan was interviewed and quoted in Voice of America news report on how the price of oil affects China. The VoA report has been subsequently re-published by Reference News (Can Kao Xiao Xi), which is a newspaper with the highest circulation in China.