Professor Zhang is the chief researcher at GBIC (Grizzly Bear Institute Centre, Canada) and founder of NBF (Niche Behavior Foundation). He served as visiting scholars in Simon Fraser University (Canada), Sophia University (United States), Cambridge University (The Great Britain), and Toronto University (Canada) between 2013 and 2019. His research focuses on strategic planning, organization management, business model innovation, and supply chain management. Currently, he is primarily working on topics of economic issues related to China-Canada and China-United States as well as the business model research on niche behavior studies.
Dr. Zhang has rich business experience. He was the Chairman and President of a large state-owned company in China for more than ten years. He is an expert in Chinese enterprises’ reform and development and has a deep understanding of China’s Corporation Law. He is a successful Angel investor and a well-known consultant for companies. He has also served as a director, independent director, or strategic advisor in a number of companies, including technology companies.
Since 2017, Professor Zhang has started his plan called “Ten Years, Ten Countries”. In this plan, he wants to use 10-year time frame to visit the most symbolic city and university in the 10 most representative countries. Every Year, from September to December, he plans to spend 100 days in those countries and writes 100 short essays in each of them, with an average of 25,000 words each to document his thoughts while staying. Up till now, he already travelled to Silicon Valley (United States), Cambridge (The Great Britain), and Toronto (Canada). After his returns, he also has held 3 consecutive New Year Speech to discuss on topics related to contemporary issues and share his thoughts during the 100-day travel. The events are also praised by visitors as the “Canada Spring Festival on Thoughts”.
Dr. Zhang has published many papers on Chinese and English journals. His book The Rise of Niche, The Ugly Duckling Management, and Crowdfunding, as well as the book he translated, Niche: Why the Market No Longer Favours the Mainstream, are all among the most popular Economical books in China. Due to those accomplishments, Dr. Zhang is widely acclaimed as the founder of the theory of niche in China.