Deutsch Intern
Sinology in Würzburg

Chair of China Business and Economics

China's rapid economic rise over the past decades can be attributed to three factors. First, the shift of labour from the agricultural to the industrial and service sectors stimulated economic modernization. Second, the transition from a planned to a market-based economy enhanced efficiency and created new actors like private enterprises. Third, globalization contributed to economic growth and created new industries. Today, China is an important destination and source of foreign direct investment flows, Chinese firms are closely integrated into global value chains and they strive for technological leadership. At the same time, in the face of environmental damage, energy and resource scarcity, as well as persistent social inequalities, it has become obvious that China’s past model of economic development needs major adaptions.

Against this backdrop, a host of research questions arise for business and economic research. These questions can only adequately be answered by a multi-disciplinary research approach that combines the fields of economics and Chinese studies. Since 2012 Prof. Dr. Doris Fischer, Chair of China Business and Economics, and her teams’ research and teaching center on this important intersection.

Current Dissertation Topics (Working Titles)

  • Passant Aboubakr: Environmental Regulation in China and Its Relationship with International Trade and Investment Patterns.
  • Anna Hauser: The importance of renewable energies for local self-governance in China.
  • Theresa Krause: Social Scoring and Compliance in China.
  • LI Hui: The Policy Implementation Gap Within China’s Finance Sector.
  • Jonas Lindner: Economic Inequality in China.
  • Anna-Katharina Schaper: Female Entrepreneurship in China.
  • Lena Wassermann: Governed by Scores? The Impact of the Chinese Social Credit System on German Firms.
  • ZHANG Jiarui: The Chinese Consumers’ Purchasing Behavior for Battery Electric Vehicles.

Completed Dissertation Projects

  • Hannes Gohli: Industrial Policies for the Energy Transition in China (2022 , see: Nomos)
  • Max Dullo: User-Oriented Innovation in China. (2021)
  • Jan Brzoska: Market Forecasts for the Chinese Automobile Market. (2020)
  • Andrea Funk: Crowdfunding in China - A New Institutional Economics Approach. (2017, published in 2019, see: Springer)
  • Susann Lüdtke (geb. Grune): Lobbying and Standards in the Energy Efficient Building Industry. (2017, published in 2020, see: Nomos)
  • Sabrina Weithmann: The Evolvement of Standards in China (2016, published in 2018, see: Nomos)