Hongzhi Gao

Dr Hongzhi Gao is Associate Professor in International Business at the School of Marketing and International Business (SMIB), Victoria University of Wellington. Dr Gao received his MCom (Masters of Commerce) in Marketing with distinction in 2004 and PhD in Marketing in 2009 from Otago University. He was Senior Lecturer in International Business at SMIB 2009-2018, and Research Fellow and Lecturer at the Marketing Department of Otago University 2008-2009.

Before coming to New Zealand, Dr Gao was as a senior analyst on foreign loans and risk management for the Jilin Provincial Government in China. He was responsible for a number of international projects funded by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and governments of different countries. Dr Gao received a New Zealand Postgraduate Study Abroad Award in 2005 and the Early Career Researcher award from the Marketing Department of Otago University in 2007. He was the recipient of the Emerging Researcher Grant from the Asia New Zealand Foundation in 2008 and the recipient of the Peking University New Zealand Centre Visiting Fellowship in 2014.

Dr Gao’s publications appear in journals such as Journal of World Business, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of International Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, International Business Review, Long Range Planning, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, European Management Journal, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Appetite, the British Food Journal, and Journal of Business Communication. Dr Gao has been on the editorial review board of Industrial Marketing Management since 2012 and Journal of International Marketing since 2015. His teaching covers a wide range of marketing and international business subjects.

Hongzhi held a senior research fellow position at the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre, a multi-university program based at Victoria University of Wellington involving Otago, Canterbury, AUT, Waikato and Auckland as partners between 2012 and 2019 (former Associate Director 2009-2012).

Dr Gao has devoted the last ten years to researching New Zealand firms' marketing and business strategies in China. He has provided consulting service and academic advice for many New Zealand firms with regard to China.