Recently, Professor James Vardaman, the Free Enterprise Endowed Chair Professor at the Fogelman College of Business and Economics, University of Memphis, USA, delivered a series of academic lectures and workshops at the Business School, Shantou University, attracting enthusiastic participation from numerous faculty members and students.
On the morning of the 15th, Professor Vardaman commenced the series with an academic lecture titled "The Role of Crisis in the Appointment of Nonfamily Executives in Family Firms."
In the afternoon of the 15th, he conducted a workshop on "Mastering the Art of Publishing in Top-Tier Journals." Drawing from his own experiences in journal submissions, Professor Vardaman provided detailed insights into selecting the most suitable journals, crafting clear, concise, and impactful research papers, understanding reviewers' perspectives, and effectively addressing feedback. Additionally, he shared strategies for handling manuscript rejections, encouraging resilience and a constructive approach to negative feedback.
On the morning of the 16th, the final event in the series—a workshop on "Mastering the Art of Effective Reviewing in Top-Tier Management Journals"—took place as scheduled. Through vivid case studies and detailed explanations, Professor Vardaman helped participants gain a profound understanding of specific journal requirements and standards, cultivate keen analytical skills to assess the quality of research papers, and provide actionable feedback to foster constructive dialogue between reviewers and authors. He also emphasized ethical guidelines in the reviewing process, ensuring fairness, objectivity, and confidentiality.
The successful hosting of this series of academic lectures and workshops not only provided an opportunity for faculty and students at the Business School, Shantou University, to engage in face-to-face exchanges and learning with a renowned international scholar but also ignited their enthusiasm and interest in academic research. Many participants expressed that through this series of events, they had not only broadened their academic horizons but also acquired numerous practical research methodologies and skills, which would positively influence their future academic pursuits or career development.
