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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Teaching

Past Courses

  • BDS5991 - Independent Study

    The Independent Study is only open to MBDS students.

  • MGMT1010 - Intro To Management

    We all spend much of our lives in organizations. Most of us are born in organizations, educated in organizations, and work in organizations. Organizations emerge because individuals can't (or don't want to) accomplish their goals alone. Management is the art and science of helping individuals achieve their goals together. Managers in an organization determine where their organization is going and how it gets there. More formally, managers formulate strategies and implement those strategies. This course provides a framework for understanding the opportunities and challenges involved in formulating and implementing strategies by taking a "system" view of organizations,which means that we examine multiple aspects of how managers address their environments, strategy, structure, culture, tasks, people, and outputs, and how managerial decisions made in these various domains interrelate. The course will help you to understand and analyze how managers can formulate and implement strategies effectively. It will be particularly valuable if you are interested in management consulting, investment analysis, or entrepreneurship - but it will help you to better understand and be a more effective contributor to any organizations you join, whether they are large, established firms or startups. This course must be taken for a grade.

  • MGMT2300 - Entrepreneurship

    How do you take a good idea and turn it into a successful venture? Whether you plan to become a founder, investor, mentor, partner, or early employee of a startup company, this course will take you through the entire journey of new venture creation and development. MGMT 230 is a project-based survey course designed to provide an overview of the entrepreneurial process and give you practical hands-on experience with new venture development. You and a team will have the chance to ideate, test, and develop a pitch for an early-stage startup by incorporating material from class lectures, simulations, labs, and class discussions. By the end of the course, you will have a better understanding of what it takes to create a successful startup, as well as proven techniques for identifying and testing new market opportunities, acquiring resources, bringing new products and services to market, scaling, and exiting new ventures.

  • MGMT2640 - Ven Capital & Ent Mgmt

    This course focuses on venture capital management issues in the context of a high-growth potential start-up company. The course is motivated by rapid increases in both the supply of and demand for private equity over the past two decades. The topic is addressed from two distinct perspectives: issues that relate to the demand for private equity and venture capital (the entrepreneur's perspective) on the one hand, and issues that relate to the supply of capital (the investor's perspective) on the other. As well, we will address management issues that relate to how the VC and the entrepreneur work together once an investment has been made, compensation issues, and governance issues in the privately held venture capital backed company. Format: Case/discussion format, supplemented by lectures and guest speakers.

  • MGMT8040 - Venture Cap & Ent Mgmt

    This elective half-semester course focuses on venture capital management issues in the context of the typical high-growth potential early stage start-up company. The course is fundamentally pragmatic in its outlook. It will cover seven principal areas relevant to the privately held high-growth start-up which include: commentary on the venture capital industry generally, as well as a discussion of the typical venture fund structure and related venture capital objectives and investment strategies; common organizational issues encountered in the formation of a venture backed start-up, including issues relating to initial capitalization, intellectual property and early stage equity arrangements; valuation methodologies that form the basis of the negotiation between the entrepreneur and the venture capitalist in anticipation of a venture investment; the challenges of fundraising, financing strategies and the importance of the business plan and the typical dynamics that play out between VC and entrepreneur. It is recommended students take MGMT 801 before enrolling in this course. typical investment terms found in the term sheet and the dynamics of negotiation between the entrepreneur and the venture capitalist; compensation practices in a venture capital backed company; and corporate governance in the context of a privately-held, venture capital-backed start-up company and the typical dynamics that play out between VC and entrepreneur in an insider-led, "down round" financing.

  • MGMT8920 - Adv Study-Organ Effect

    Business success is increasingly driven by a firm's ability to create and capture value through innovation. Thus, the processes used by firms to develop innovations, the choices they make regarding how to commercialize their innovations, the changes they make to their business models to adapt to the dynamic environment, and the strategies they use to position and build a dominate competitive position are important issues facing firms. In MGMT. 892, you will learn to address these issues through an action learning approach. MGMT. 892 is a 1.0-credit course conducted in the spirit of an independent study. By working on consulting projects for leading global companies, you will develop and then apply your knowledge about innovation management and help these firms better understand the challenges and opportunities posed by emerging technologies and markets.

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

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Awards and Honors

Best Empirical Paper Award, Entrepreneurship (ENT) Division, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA 2017
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