Meng Wu 武萌
Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Strategy
Department of Strategy, Enterprise and Sustainability | Manchester Metropolitan University
Interests and expertise
Business history (business strategy, management, and corporate governance)
Financial history (institutions and currencies)
Economic history of China
Contact
Email: m.wu@mmu.ac.uk
University Profile: Dr Meng Wu | Manchester Metropolitan University
I am a Lecturer (Research and Teaching) in the Department of Strategy, Enterprise, and Sustainability at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Business School. Prior to this role, I worked as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Manchester, a Fellow in Chinese Economic History at LSE, and an EHS Tawney Postdoc Fellow at the University of London. I earned a PhD in Economic History from the London School of Economics with a PhD in Economic History. In my professional role, I serve as the Communications Officer for the Association of Business Historians and as the department’s Graduate Outcome Champion.
My research focuses on Chinese financial, economic, and business history, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the long-term evolution of business and financial institutions. I explore how their strategies and governance structures interact with government policies, legal frameworks, and international trade to shape their development, growth, and decline. Through this work, I aim to advance scholarly understanding and public knowledge of China’s economic and business past.
My paper, “Business Organisation, Personnel Management, and Governance Structure: A Study of the Shanxi Piaohao (Banks),” has been published in Business History. Based on extensive primary sources, my paper provides the first examination of the organisational form, personnel management, and governance structure of the Shanxi piaohao. Notably, this work has been featured in The Economist. My co-authored paper, “The Rise and Fall of Paper Money in Yuan China,” was published in the Economic History Review.
I embraced motherhood in 2017. This prompted me to transition into teaching-focused roles at LSE and the University of Manchester. Although these roles somewhat curtailed my research output quantitatively, they fostered qualitative growth by exposing me to diverse scholarly literature and sparking new research interests through teaching economic history courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Please refer to my CV for a comprehensive overview of my research, teaching, and academic citizenship.