Dr. Kelly Meng Parnwell
Kelly's current research focuses on international business development and strategic management in the luxury industry.
Staff details
Position
Reader in Luxury Brand Management | Programme Director, MA Luxury Brand Management
Department
Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship
k.meng (@gold.ac.uk)
Links
Kelly read for her MA and PhD at the University of Leeds, UK. Her PhD research centred on inward investment into China from South Africa, examining the key institutional factors that have contributed to the effectiveness or otherwise of South African firms entering and operating within the Chinese market, and the business strategies that the firms adopted to negotiate the changing Chinese institutional environment. This was the first academic study in this field, and involved extensive field-based research, in both the PRC and South Africa, of the forty key South African firms operating in China.
Prior to her appointment at Goldsmith’s, Kelly held several senior managerial positions with leading international companies in the retail industry, working with international luxury and mass brands, and consulting on business development, retail location and planning, and human resource development. Kelly also has extensive experience in high-end project management.
Academic qualifications
- PhD, University of Leeds 2014
- MA, University of Leeds 2007
Teaching and supervision
Kelly is the Programme Director for MA in Luxury Brand Management
Research interests
Kelly’s current research focuses on business development and strategic management in the luxury sector, including the evolutionary development of the luxury industry and the revolutionary business strategies of luxury brands.
Kelly has also been actively involved in exploring the luxury sector and international business development. One of her main research areas investigates market opportunities and innovation within traditional craftsmanship, highlighting the importance of preserving and sustaining these skills within the luxury industry.
Featured publications
2023:
Research Methods in Luxury Management
This is one of the first textbooks to explore the research process within the specific context of luxury brand management. It adopts a case-rich approach, informed by original research, to guide the r
2023: Methodological fitness-for-purpose in the phygital age: the case of luxury
2020: Authenticity and Chinese Traditional Crafts in the Contexts of Luxury and Tourism
Publications and research outputs
Article
- Methodological fitness-for-purpose in the phygital age: the case of luxury Parnwell, Michael and Meng, Kelly. 2024. Methodological fitness-for-purpose in the phygital age: the case of luxury. Qualitative Market Research, 27(3), pp. 433-448. ISSN 1352-2752
- Sustainability and Authenticity of Chinese Traditional Crafts in the Contexts of Luxury and Tourism Meng, Kelly and Hitchcock, Michael. 2020. Sustainability and Authenticity of Chinese Traditional Crafts in the Contexts of Luxury and Tourism. E-Journal of Tourism, 7(2), pp. 205-228. ISSN 2541-0857
- A Comparative Study on the Expression of Traditional Handicrafts and Urban Culture between Shanghai and London 上海—伦敦传统手工艺与城市文化品牌表达比 较研究 Chen, Qiaoshan and Meng, Kelly. 2019. A Comparative Study on the Expression of Traditional Handicrafts and Urban Culture between Shanghai and London 上海—伦敦传统手工艺与城市文化品牌表达比 较研究. Shanghai Vision 上海视觉, 2019(2), pp. 77-83.
Book
- Research Methods in Luxury Management Meng, Kelly and Parnwell, Michael. 2023. Research Methods in Luxury Management. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781032281100
- South African Business in China: Navigating Institutions Meng, Kelly. 2021. South African Business in China: Navigating Institutions. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780367761301