Xu (Henry) Han

Xu (Henry) Han
  • Adjunct Associate Professor
  • Senior Fellow

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    3020 SH-DH
    3620 Locust Walk
    Philadelphia, PA 19104

Research Interests: corporate entrepreneurship; business model innovation

Overview

Xu Han (“Henry”) is an Associate Professor of Management at the College of New Jersey and an Adjunct Associate Professor and Senior Fellow in the Management Department at the Wharton School, The University of Pennsylvania. Henry earned his Bachelor in International Law from China Foreign Affair University and Ph.D. in Management (Strategy) from Guanghua School of Management at Peking University.

Henry’s broad research interest lies in understanding how firms create value and sustained competitive advantage through corporate entrepreneurship and business model innovation. He is particularly interested in firms in FinTech and renewable energy sectors. Henry’s research has been published in influential academic and practitioner-oriented journals and presented in multiple international conferences. He received “Best Empirical Paper Award” from the Entrepreneurship Division of Academy of Management. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of Management and Organization Review.

Henry’s teaching is focused on a diverse set of strategy and entrepreneurship related topics (e.g., business model innovation, corporate entrepreneurship, digital transformation and disruption, early stage financing) in undergraduate, MBA and Executive Education programs. He also writes teaching cases on these topics. Henry received a Wharton Teaching Excellence Award in 2020. Besides research and teaching, Henry co-founded and runs a venture-backed climate tech company which received grants and prizes from National Science Foundation and Department of Energy. He also advises a number of start-up and established companies on various strategy and entrepreneurship issues.

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Research

  • Xu Han and Martine Haas (2025), Intra-Firm Work Experiences and Corporate Venturing by Employees: The Roles of Job Specialization and Group Functional Diversity, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal.

    Abstract: Research Summary Taking a strategic human capital perspective on corporate venturing by employees, we consider the potential influence of their job and group experiences within the firm. Because building new ventures requires diverse functional knowledge, greater job specialization could create a barrier to undertaking corporate venturing. However, working in more functionally diverse groups within the firm can facilitate venturing—especially for more specialized employees—by enabling them to develop the skills needed to work with others who have such diverse knowledge. We test our hypotheses using a longitudinal dataset from over 16,000 employees in a large corporation. Our findings advance understanding of the micro‐foundations of internal corporate venturing, how bureaucracies shape corporate entrepreneurship, and how employees can build knowledge and skills with strategic value for the firm. Managerial Summary We examine how firms can prepare their employees to undertake corporate venture building activities by shaping their work experiences inside the firm. In a study of employees' work histories within a large corporation, we find that employees who had worked in more functionally diverse groups were more likely to undertake internal corporate venturing. Such experience was particularly important for those who had worked in more specialized jobs, since it could help them collaborate and connect with others with diverse functional knowledge. Our findings suggest that firms hoping to promote strategic growth and increase their competitiveness through corporate venture building consider providing employees with work experiences that help them develop cross‐functional knowledge and skills.

Teaching

Awards and Honors

  • Best Empirical Paper Award, Entrepreneurship (ENT) Division, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2017
  • Outstanding Reviewer, Business Policy and Strategy (BPS) Division, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, 2017