Ai Ting Goh

Age: 56

Associate Professor

How long at HEC Paris: 20 years

Education: 

Ph.D., Economics, University of Pennsylvania – 1996

M.A., Economics, University of Pennsylvania – 1993

B.Soc.Sci., Economics (Honours), National University of Singapore – 1989

List of EMBA courses you currently teach: 

Academic director: Transforming Business for Sustainability-The world economy through the lens of sustainable development

-Climate policies and transition risks and opportunities

LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

For an economics professor, teaching in a business school is much more challenging than teaching in a university. Students expect to see concrete examples which they could relate to what they encounter in the business world. I need to keep in touch constantly with the news and to reflect quickly on the implications of any changing economic, social and technological trends for business. 

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? 

The key question that interests me currently is how companies can be incentivized to be more socially responsible. In one of my research papers my co-author and showed that mandatory corporate social responsibility policy in India has led firms that were required by law to spend on CSR to pay their top executives more after the law. This suggests that managerial incentives and governance may play an important role in understanding the social responsibility behavior of firms.

If I weren’t a business school professor… 

I would be a dancer or a restaurant manager.

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? 

Passion about my teaching. I like to teach with a bit of humor and fun in the classroom. I try to engage the students with lots of questions and bring them through a thinking process rather than just passing the knowledge. 

One word that describes my first time teaching: 

Clueless

Professor I most admire and why: 

Professor Augustin Tan was my teacher in international trade. He was very clear in his explanations, and I could understand everything he said in class. He also stimulated my intellectual interest in the subject so much so that I decided to follow him in specializing in the same field for my PhD.

TEACHING

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? 

Interactions with the participants. I get constant feedback of whether they are following my explanations or not. Also the diversity of background and the fact the they often share different examples from their own country and professional life in class which deepens the class learning overall.

What is most challenging? 

The big challenge is the heterogeneity in previous educational background of the participants. The challenge lies in adjusting the speed at which I could cover concepts so that no participant is lost while providing sufficient value added for others.

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: 

Curious.

OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? Reading, cooking, dancing, taking long walks.

How will you spend your summer?  Research, preparing for next year courses and travelling.

Favorite place(s) to vacation: France, different regions.

Favorite book(s): Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman; To kill a mocking bird by Harper Lee.

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? 

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? 

Classical music helps me to relax.

REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… 

1 to 1 coaching with students spending time learning on their own while the teacher guides them and explains concepts that the students have difficulty understanding.

In my opinion, companies, and organizations today need to do a better job at…  

reducing their negative impact on the environment and improving job satisfaction for their employees.

I’m grateful for… 

being educated and having a job I really like.