Keyan Lai

I am a Lecturer in International Human Resource Management at the University of Edinburgh Business School. Prior to joining Edinburgh in 2019, I worked at the University of St Andrews as an Associate Lecturer in Management. I obtained my PhD from Cardiff Business School.

My research explores the lived experience of state power within organisations. I study how state power—expressed through policy, ideology, regulation, or ownership—shapes organisational practices, cultures, and identities.

In the context of international business, I examine how geopolitical tensions and state interventions influence business activity, from investment decisions to global strategy and talent management. My work highlights how firms experience crises, rebuild legitimacy, and cultivate resilience in complex international business environments.

In the domestic context, I study how organisations and individuals navigate state influence in settings such as cross-sector partnerships, entrepreneurship, and state-owned enterprises. Here, I focus on how state power is lived, felt, and negotiated in everyday organisational life.

By foregrounding lived experience, my research advances understanding of state–business relations by revealing how state power is enacted and experienced within organisations, offering a perspective that moves beyond the often abstract, macro-level accounts of state power.

My recent publications on state power, geopolitics, and state-business relations:

• Lai, K., & Fortwengel, J. (2025) Constructing an organizational identity with political ideology: The case of Huawei, 1987-2020. Strategic Organization. (Accepted/In press). https://doi.org/10.1177/14761270251327988
• Lai, K. (2021). National security and FDI policy ambiguity: A commentary. Journal of International Business Policy, 4(4), 496-505.
• Lai, K., Morgan, G., & Morris, J. (2020). ‘Eating bitterness’ in a Chinese multinational: Identity regulation in context. Organization Studies, 41(5), 661-680.
• Lai, K. (2025). How foreign investments by multinational enterprises become national security threats: An organizational field perspective. In B. Christiansen & J. Branch (Eds.), Impacts of Geoeconomics and Geopolitics on International Business. IGI Global. (Accepted/ In press)

• State power
• Geopolitics 
• State-business relations
• State-owned enterprises 
• Cross-sector partnerships
• Ideology, power, and identity
• Historical and archival research