The research-teaching “oneness” of competitive dynamics: Toward an ambicultural integration

How to integrate research and teaching is a vital but little-studied topic in business academia. In the West, pedagogy and theoretical work often make for strange bedfellows, while in the East, research and teaching are unified by the ancient philosophical notion of “oneness.” Chinese scholars adhering to the Confucian tradition devote themselves to work that goes beyond both teaching and the research-publishing impetus of their Western counterparts. Their paramount task is to be a respected teacher and to educate students of all kinds within the ethical context of caring for the greater community. The case of competitive dynamics, a management topic developed in the West, demonstrates how teaching and research may be balanced and integrated much as in the traditional Eastern pedagogical conception. This effort to bridge the divide between teaching and research is instructional for scholars seeking to transfer theory to the classroom and for researchers aiming to broaden the scope of their investigations. This paper raises a fundamental question: What does scholarship in the applied academic fields, such as management, mean in modern China and within a global context?