Hi, I’m Ruilu (Andy) Yang, a third-year PhD student at the School of Management, University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), co-advised by Prof. Qiang Wu and Prof. Weiliang Zhang. During my doctoral studies, I spent a year and a half as a visiting PhD student at Gies College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) under the supervision of Prof. Joseph T. Mahoney. You can find my CV here.
My research lies at the intersection of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship. Specifically, I study the antecedents and performance implications of strategic behaviors in startups, such as entry, exit, pivoting, and innovation input/output. I am also interested in platform strategy, particularly in the context of mobile applications.
Methodologically, I primarily employ econometric approaches to causal inference, including regression discontinuity design (RDD), difference-in-differences (DID), and shift-share instrumental variables. My work also involves survival analysis. Additionally, I explore the use of large language models (LLMs) as research tools to support causal inference and variable construction.
I will be on the job market in 2026–2027.
If you are interested in my work or would like to connect, feel free to reach out at ruiluyang(AT)mail.ustc.edu.cn.