Prof. Lai's teaching focuses on logistics and shipping management with seven co-authored books in this area. He is recognized as "Highly Cited Researcher 2019" in Web of Science. In 2020, he is Chair of the Annual Conference of International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME2020). While being the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Shipping and Trade, he also services the editorial board of International Journal of Shipping and Transport Logistics, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Industrial Marketing Management, Information & Management, Maritime Business Review, and Transportation Research Part E. He has published in scholarly journals including California Management Review, Journal of Operations Management, Journal of Management Information Systems, and Production and Operations Management with an h-index of 67 according to Google Scholar Citations.