Conferences

CALL FOR PAPERS

Papers should broadly address the theme of the conference and issues related to changing business practices. Kindly send a full paper so that it can be published in an ISBN book beside the conference. The abstract should be about 250 words in the following format: Introduction, Objective, methodology, Results, Contribution, and Keywords. Once your abstract is accepted after review, you are requested to pay the registration fees by filling out the registration form. Acceptance of the abstract implies that at least one of the authors will attend the conference and present the paper. Failure to do so will lead to the removal of the abstract.

Kindly submit papers for the subjects mentioned below:

1. Marketing
2. International Business
3. Finance
4. HR
5. Operation
6. General Management
7. IT and business practices
8. Business statistics/Decision science
9. Environment, social and governance (ESG), ethics and Governance

Important Dates

Last date of submission of Abstract/paper: 10th December 2023

Notification of acceptance of Paper:22nd December 2023

Last date for registration:30th December 2023

All papers can be sent to: rks_pmc@yahoo.com OR rks.pmc@gmail.com OR rk.srivastava@ nldalmia.edu.in

Please visit https://www.nldalmia.in/ for more information.

The 2019 International Conference of Marketing and International Business (ICMIB) And Special Issue Workshop of Management International Review (SSCI)

 The Chongqing Technology and Business University (CTBU) is delighted to host the 2019 International Conference of Marketing and International Business. This conference includes the Management International Review (MIR) Special Issue Paper Development Workshop. MIR is a prestigious SSCI journal, ranked on ABS 3* list. The conference organizers and Management International Review Special Issue guest editors welcome studies that include data from both frontier/emerging and developed economies. The conference will be held on August 20-21, 2019 in Chongqing, China. The conference registration will open starting Monday evening on August 19, 2019.

Keynote speakers

 Ajai S. Gaur, Rutgers Business School (USA)

Joachim Wolf, The Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel (Germany)

Timothy M. Devinney, Leeds University Business School (UK)

Alfredo Jiménez, Kedge Business School (France)

Jeoung Yul Lee, Hongik Univ. (South Korea) / Leeds Univ. Business School (UK)

Conference Theme: “Marketing, networking and learning of domestic and multinational corporations”

 Topics include (but are not limited to):

• International Business Strategy and Organization
• Economic Geography
• Global Value Chains
• International Business, Innovation and Knowledge Flows
• SMEs and International Entrepreneurship
• Internationalization from and to Emerging Markets/Transition Economies
• Finance and Corporate Governance
• Political Risk and International Business-Government relationships
• International Business, CSR and Sustainable Development
• International Human Resource Management and Cross-cultural Issues
• Research Methods
• International Marketing
• Marketing Research, Methods, and Analysis
• Consumer Research with Experimental, Quantitative and Mixed Methods
• Digital and Social Media Marketing
• Ethics and Socially Responsible Marketing
• Marketing Strategy
• Selling and Sales Management in Business and Consumer Markets
• Managing Customer Experience and Value
• Consumer Well-Being
• Advertising, Promotions, and Integrated Approaches
• Society and Culture in Marketing
• New Frontiers in Retail and Brand Management       

Guest Editors:

Timothy M. Devinney (University of Leeds, UK), T.Devinney@leeds.ac.uk

Jeoung Yul Lee (Hongik U., South Korea / Leeds U. Business School, UK), jeoungyul@hongik.ac.kr

Alfredo Jimenez (KEDGE Business School, France), alfredo.jimenez@kedgebs.com

Submission

 The deadline for submission of abstracts, extended abstract, or papers is July 19, 2019. Please submit your work via email: MIR2019Conference@qq.com . An abstract should be more than 150-200 words, and an extended abstract should be more than 1,000 words at least. The submission document should be MS Word or pdf format. Font should be Times New Roman, and font size should be 12 with single spaced. There is no fee for submission.

As a part of this international conference, Management International Review (MIR) Special Issue Paper Development Workshop will be held in the same venue of the conference on August 20, 2019. The title of the Special Issue is “INTERNATIONAL NETWORKING AND SUCCESS- VS. FAILURE-BASED LEARNING OF SMES.”

Founded in 1960, MIR published its 59th volume in 2019. As of 2017, MIR's 2017 Impact Factor was 2.279, and 5-year Impact Factor (2017) was 2.752. MIR is also ranked on the ABS 3* list.

Please visit the Management International Review website at https://www.springer.com/business+%26+management/journal/11575 to learn more about the journal.  

During the conference, guest editors for the MIR Special Issue and the MIR editorial board members will provide constructive feedback to abstracts or paper presentations to improve the quality of their abstracts or papers to enlarge the effect of the learning how to improve their research.

Expected acceptance notification date for the Special Issue Conference: July 29, 2019

Conference Information

Conference organization sponsoring institution:

Chongqing Technology and Business University

Conference registration fee: 1,000 RMB or 150 USD

Organization committee:

 Ajai S. Gaur (Editor-in-Chief, Journal of World Business)

Joachim Wolf (Co-Editor-in-Chief, Management International Review)

Timothy M. Devinney (Consulting Editor, Journal of International Business Studies)

Jeoung Yul Lee (Associate Editor, Asian Business & Management)

Alfredo Jiménez

Qun Bai

Qingjun Zeng

Yu Shen

Jiafu Su

Lin Cui

Tingyong Zhong

Charles Chen

Conference Venue

Hua Shang Hotel

No.33 Xuefu Ave.

Nan'an District

Chongqing,PRC

Contact Email

For further information regarding the Special Issue Workshop, please contact the Handling Guest Editor Dr. Jeoung Yul Lee (jeoungyul@hongik.ac.kr). For any other information, you may contact the organization committee chair or Dr. Jiafu Su (jiafu.su@hotmail.com).

Information about Keynote Speakers

 Prof. Ajai S. Gaur is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and International Business and Vice Chair in the Department of Management and Global Business at Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University (USA). In June 2017, He has been re-elected to serve a second two-year term as the President of the Asia Academy of Management. He is serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of World Business and a consulting editor at the Journal of International Business Studies. In January 2019, he has been awarded Rutgers Business School Dean’s Research Professor award for three years.

Prof. Joachim Wolf holds the Chair of Organization Theory and Organization Design at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany. Professor Wolf has published over 50 scholary articles and 15 books, most of them dealing with the management and organization of national and multinational firms. Since January 2006, Professor Wolf has been one of the Management International Review’s (MIR’s) Co-Editors-in-Chief.

Prof. Timothy M. Devinney holds the Leadership Chair at the University of Leeds (Leeds, UK). He is a Consulting Editor of Journal of International Business Studies, and has worked long time on the Editorial Boards of Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Global Strategy Journal, Long Range Planning, etc. Until recently, he worked as a former Co-Editor of Academy of Management Perspectives, Associate Editor of Management Science, Co-Editor of the Advances in International Management book series (Emerald), co-editor of Annals in Social Responsibility, and Director and Editor of the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). He received a BSc (Psychology and Applied Mathematics) from Carnegie Mellon University and MA, MBA, and PhD (Economics) degrees from the University of Chicago.

Prof. Alfredo Jiménez is Associate Professor at Kedge Business School in Bordeaux. Kedge Business School is one of the top 10 business schools in France. He has published several papers in prestigious SSCI journals including the Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of World Business, Management International Review, International Business Review and Journal of Business Research. At present, he serves in as a Senior Editor of the European Journal of International Management and he was recently the Lead Guest Editor of a Special Issue on Global Virtual Teams at the Journal of International Management and a Co-Guest Editor of a Special Issue on Success- vs. Failure-Based Learning of SMEs at the Management International Review. He has also been a visiting scholar in different institutions in Norway, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Italy, Ecuador and Mexico, as well as participating in the X-Culture Project as a member of its Advisory Board and instructor. He is project reviewer for the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and for the Government of Ecuador and Poland.

Prof. Jeoung Yul Lee is Associate Professor at Hongik University School of Business Management (Sejong, South Korea), Distinguished Professor at Chongqing Technology and Business University (Chongqing, China), and Visiting Associate Professor at Leeds University Business School (Leeds, UK). At present, he serves as Associate Editor of Asian Business & Management, on the Editorial Advisory Board of the International Business Review, and on the Editorial Review Boards of the Management International Review, Management and Organization Review, and Asia Pacific Journal of Management as well as on the Editorial Advisory Board of Cambridge Scholars Publishing (England, UK). He holds as a Handling Guest Editor of Special Issue on Success- vs. Failure-Based Learning of SMEs at the Management International Review, as well as the Lead Guest Editor of Special Issue on MNCs’ Evolution versus Decline at the Management Decision. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center of the Wharton School, and he published two papers with Professor Ian C. MacMillan (Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Business Venturing) there as well as other 23 more papers in SSCI journals, such as the Journal of International Business Studies, Human Resource Management, Long Range Planning, Management International Review, International Business Review, Journal of International Management, Journal of Business Research, and International Journal of Human Resource Management. Among them a majority of papers are on the ABS 3* or 4* list.

Conference Goals:

•  Offer a forum for scholars and graduate students to harness advanced interdisciplinary knowledge on the past, current, and future of the globalization of business in Asia
•  Offer paper development opportunities especially for young scholars and graduate students for possible publication
•  Provide opportunities for networking and further research collaboration

Conference Theme:

The conference allows scholars and doctoral students to explore broad topics of the past, current, and future of the globalization of business in Asia from a wide spectrum of academic disciplines. The globalization of business has been around for quite some time. Already at the end of the 1980s, Kenichi Ohmae (1989) published an article titled “Managing in a Borderless World” in Harvard Business Review, arguing that national borders became obsolete for business. Once in the 21st century, Thomas Friedman (2005) published a book titled “The World Is Flat,” which became an instant bestseller.

Asia has been considered one of the best beneficiaries of the globalization of business. Starting with Japan (K. Akamatsu, 1961; C. Johnson, 1982), followed by Korea and Taiwan (B. Cumings, 1984; A. Amsden, 1992) and soon China and ASEAN economies (World Bank, 1993; S. Lall, 1996), East and Southeast Asia have been integrated into global markets through export-oriented industrialization and FDI-intensive global production network.

Along the process, the transfer of technologies by firms of developed economies has helped Asian firms acquire not only advanced technologies but also organizational capabilities (S. Yusuf, M. A. Altaf, and K. Nabeshima, 2004; H. W. Yeung, 2009). The results are their deep integration into global production networks, contributing to their sustained growth and development.

Until recently, the globalization of business was considered irreversible. Asia’s continued success was considered a sure bet. However, just in the past few years, new developments have started challenging this understanding and casting doubts on the linear prediction of the continued rise of Asia. The “Occupy Wall Street” movement in 2011 that spread across the world was one of earlier developments to highlight growing public discontent with globalization (M. Hardt and A. Negri, 2011). China becomes more confident and assertive, raising a host of challenges and questions to governments and firms in the United States and across the world (T. Christensen, 2015). The multilateral trade system, one of the pillars of the globalization of business, has become strained. The WTO Doha Round negotiation was stalled, uncovering the sheer difficulty of sustaining and updating multilateral rules while regional trade blocks have emerged (A. Capling and R. Higgott, 2009). More firms support their governments overtly or covertly pursuing nationalist economic policies (A. D’Costa, 2012). Unilateral actions of major economies, including the United States, become rampant and undermine the integrity of the multilateral system. Then comes the Covid-19 pandemic.

How have Asian firms been acquiring and building capabilities and developing competitiveness under globalization? How have Asian governments been assisting them? Have Asian firms been fairing well under the latest round of new developments to globalization? Are they pursuing business as usual, or anticipating major changes and preparing themselves to cope with them? Is a globally dispersed production network sustainable? Are these developments constraining the rapid growth and development of Asian economies? Finally, are Asian governments addressing these challenges through public policies? The conference invites papers that explore the past, the present, and the future of Asia’s global business by examining these and other related/surrounding questions from broad perspectives.

Submission Guideline:

• Paper submission due by December 31, 2020
• Acceptance notification by January 31, 2021

We consider all academic papers that are applied, empirical, and policy-relevant and related to Vietnam, Japan, and other Asian economies. Theory papers that are relevant to the theme of the conference and can develop applied research will also be considered. Possible paper topics may include, but not limited to, the following:

•   Business Administration, Strategy, and Business Economics
•   Management of Organization, HR, Knowledge, and Technology
•   Marketing
•   Accounting and Finance
•   International Economics
•   Industrial Organization
•   Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth
•   Other Miscellaneous Categories

Manuscripts must be written in English, single-spaced, font size 11 or 12, with a margin of 2.5cm (1 inch) on all sides. Please submit your manuscript electronically as a PDF or Word file to ozakit@rikkyo.ac.jp by December 31, 2020. All the submissions will go through the double-blind review process. The result will be notified to the authors by the end of January 2021.

Publication: We aim to publish a select few papers in a special section of a journal and/or an edited volume.

Cost: There will be no fee to participate in the conference. However, the participants must cover the cost of their travel to the venue if the conference is held on the campus of Rikkyo Unversity, Tokyo, Japan.

Venue: Currently, we plan to hold the conference on the campus of Rikkyo University, which is conveniently located in the center of Tokyo, Japan. However, depending on the Covid-19 situation, we may hold the conference virtually by using Zoom.

Organizing Committee and Contact:

Dr. Nguyen Thi Hien, Director, VJCC Institute, Foreign Trade University, Hanoi, Vietnam

Dr. Mitsuhiko Kataoka, Professor, Graduate School of Public Management and Administration, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan

Dr. Tomohiro Machikita, Associate Professor, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

Dr. Toshiya Ozaki, Professor, College of Business, Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan

For further information, please contact the organizer (c/o Prof. Toshiya Ozaki, College of Business, Rikkyo University, email: ozakit@rikkyo.ac.jp).

References:

Akamatsu, Kaname (1961), “A Historical Pattern of Economic Growth in Developing Countries,” The Developing Economies, Vol.1(1).

Amsden, Alice (1992), Asia’s Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization, Oxford University Press.

Capling, Ann and Richard Higgott (2009), “Introduction: The Future of the Multilateral Trade System – What Role for the World Trade Organization?” Global Governance, Vol.15.

Christensen, Thomas (2015), The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power, W. W. Norton.

Cumings, Bruce (1984), “The Origins and Development of the Northeast Asian Political Economy: Industrial Sectors, Product Cycles, and Political Consequences,” International Organization, Vol.38, No. 1.

D’Costa, Anthony (2011), Globalization and Economic Nationalism in Asia, Oxford University Press.

Friedman, Thomas (2005), The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Hardt, Michael and Antonio Negri (2011), “The Fight for ‘Real Democracy’ at the Heart of Occupy Wall Street,” Foreign Affairs, October 11, 2011.

Johnson, Chalmers (1982), MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975, Stanford University Press.

Lall, Sanjaya (1996), Learning from the Asian Tigers: Studies in Technology and Industrial Policy, MacMillan.

Ohmae, Kenichi (1989), “Managing in a Borderless World,” Harvard Business Review, May–June 1989 Issue.

Yeung, Henry Wai-chung (2009), “Regional Development and the Competitive Dynamics of Global Production Networks: An East Asian Perspective,” Regional Studies, Vol.43(3).

Yusuf, Shahid, M Anjum Altaf and Kaoru Nabeshima (2004), Global Production Networking and Technological Change in East Asia, World Bank.

World Bank (1993), The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy, Oxford University Press.

The 31st Annual Conference of the American Society for Competitiveness will be held on October 21-23, 2021 in Washington, DC area. The Theme of the Conference is “International Competitiveness in a Turbulent World.” This event is an excellent opportunity to interact with scholars, business leaders, and government officials from all over the world.

The conference this year will focus on many issues related to competitiveness, including economic nationalism, globalization in retreat, Intellectual and income inequalities, global unemployment, and how hegemonic powers have become obstacles to international trade and global integration.

Please mail your submission (full paper, abstract, proposal, etc.) to the American Society for Competitiveness, 304 Eberly, IUP, 664 Pratt Drive, Indiana, PA 15705. 

The submission deadline is June 30, 2021. You can e-mail your submission to:

Email: office.asc2@gmail.com or rgsoni@iup.edu

The 34th Annual Conference of the American Society for Competitiveness will take place in Washington, D.C. area , October 17-19, 2024.  The Conference invites conceptual papers, empirical studies, case studies, proposals, panel discussions or abstracts pertaining to both traditional and contemporary themes related to competitiveness:  

• International Trade and Economic Prospertiy
• New Arenas for Strategic Competition
• Building Marketing Capabilities
• Free Trade and Economic Nationalism
• Strategic Resilience
• Strategic Intent & Initiatives of Firms
• Sustaining Skills
• Building the Right Institutional Capabilities
• Transforming Organizational Culture
• Global Manufacturing and Competitiveness
• Intellectual and Income Inequalities Sustainability
• Geopolitics & Geostrategies
• Competing in Dynamic Global Industries
• Technology, Change, and Artificial Intelligence

Submission Deadline is July 31, 2024.

Please send your submission to: Sami Swaid,  swaids@uhv.edu

Phone: 281-396-3731

Or send copy to: office.asc.conference@gmail.com  and Professor KANSO <Ali.Kanso@utsa.edu>

The era of new industrial revolution and its impact on international business: Implications for Euro-Asia business relations

Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea

7-10 November, 2018

Surrounded by technologies that are effacing techno-human boundaries such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, robotics, virtual/augmented reality (AR/VR), drones, 3D printing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and autonomous vehicles; we are witnessing an unprecedented surge of technical, industrial, and social innovations. This surge is neatly named in some countries as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) or Industry 4.0. With threats to human identity, social stability, and economic security, these 4IR technologies and various changes induced by them cast doubt on the adaptive capacity of individuals and institutions and challenge the current business models. When machines replace not only repetitive labor but advanced intellectual work, what is left for humans? Nevertheless, the new technologies may present possibilities for many firms and industries with unprecedented new business opportunities. The question becomes: How can European and Asian entrepreneurs, companies, and scholars take advantage of and prepare for this new era?

This year’s conference invites academic communities to rethink the roles of firms, industries, and universities in the era of the 4IR within the context of Euro-Asia business relations. We welcome papers addressing—but not limited to— the following topics:

• Current technological advancements in Europe and Asia and how firms in each region adopt them to capture business opportunities and to cope with challenges,
• Policies and programs for 4IR technology development and management and the reactions of businesses
• Modes of solutions or alternative approaches to innovation in the face of blurring techno-human interfaces (such as design thinking)
• The impacts of the new technologies on functional level management practices in Europe and Asia such as manufacturing, supply chain, HRM etc.
• The impacts of 4IR on current economic and business relationships between Europe and Asia with particular reference to trade and investment flows
• Practices and measurement of 4IR-driven entrepreneurship
• How this dramatic industrial transition may affect the future Euro-Asian business relations
• Theoretical perspectives: how 4IR challenges affect existing theories in international and comparative business,
• Spatial perspectives: Regional growth models and cross-regional cooperative relations in Europe and Asia attempting to capture the potential of 4IR and the future of job and the industrial structure in developing countries.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE AND DEADLINES

There are three tracks for individual paper submissions. Please select the most appropriate type of session format from the following:

• Competitive Papers: The most polished and complete papers should be submitted for inclusion in competitive sessions (max. 8,000 words inclusive of all materials, including appendices and references).
• Workshop/Interactive Papers: Papers in progress should be submitted for workshop sessions (max. 6,000 words inclusive of all materials, including appendices and references).
• PhD Track: PhD candidates and other young scholars are invited to present their work, at various stages of progress (from the proposal stage to post-fieldwork analysis, but max. 6,000 words in length).

For all submissions the evaluation will be based on analytical rigor, methods applied, originality, and significance of conclusions.

Full papers—not just abstracts—for all three tracks (competitive, workshop/interactive, and PhD) are due by 21 July 2018 Friday. This deadline will not be extended.

Address any questions regarding this call for papers to the organizers directly by e-mail at eamsa2018@hufs.ac.kr

The 3rd Thought Leaders’ Conference of Marketing Science and Innovation and Special Issue of Journal of International MarketingCall for Papers

Global Marketing and International Customer Behavior: The Case of China

Co-organized by University of International Business and Economics and Journal of International Marketing

International marketing operations constitute an integral part of life and long-term viability for many organizations due in part to the globalization of markets and intensifying competition across countries worldwide. This is particularly the case for companies originating from emerging markets and growth economies, which nowadays play a particularly important role in global world trade. The 3rd Thought Leaders’ Conference on Global Marketing will be co-organized by the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, China, and the Journal of International Marketing, published by the American Marketing Association, on March 16-17, 2019. It aims to enrich understanding of advances and contemporary developments in global marketing theory and management practice within the specific context of China. China has been one of the leading countries in the world whose companies are engaged in international market operations of various forms. The international engagement of Chinese firms exhibits unique characteristics and business relationship development patterns and often is marked by innovative international marketing strategies that are conducive to the achievement of competitive advantage and strong performance in foreign market operations. For instance, factors leading to Chinese firms’ establishment, development, and maintenance of successful foreign customer relationships is an interesting issue for the Conference and the Special Issue. Similarly, drivers of international marketing and exporting strategies that, in turn, facilitate the achievement of enhanced performance outcomes are also of particular interest.

Broadly, marketers must understand customer behavior patterns in different world markets to effectively serve the special needs of different international customer groups. Thus, successful international engagement for Chinese firms is based on their understanding of and response to the particular requirements of individual foreign markets and consumers, which should drive the development of effective marketing strategies in those overseas markets targeted by these firms. Likewise, foreign firms operating in China need to take account of the particular characteristics and idiosyncrasies of Chinese customers. Broadly, despite considerable research efforts, it is not clear whether globalization of markets leads to the homogenization of consumer behavior or consumer behavior becomes more heterogeneous due to differences across nations, countries, regions or cultures. This issue, which is more important now than ever before, is not well understood and clearly requires further study to allow the development of effective international marketing strategies.

The aim of the Conference, and the Special Issue of Journal of International Marketing that is linked to it, is to generate insights on: global marketing and exporting, which add to existing theoretical knowledge and management practices of Chinese firms’ international market operations; and international customer behavior with the view to informing international marketing strategies, decisions, and actions of Chinese organizations operating in foreign markets. Manuscripts that draw on and integrate multiple perspectives (e.g., strategy, industrial economics, psychology, sociology, and/or consumption economics) are especially encouraged. The research approach can be qualitative, quantitative or mixed. Conceptual papers that focus on the strategic possibilities of global or export marketing strategies, and their impact on performance, and international consumer insights are also welcome. All manuscripts should have clear relevance to the international marketing field, share a focus on marketing strategy, competitive advantage and its drivers, or customers and translate customer insights into a strategy discussion.

The purpose is to summarize, draw from, and/or develop new theories and frameworks from the practices of Chinese firms and to provide a platform for scholars and practitioners in global marketing and related areas to share original ideas and discuss valuable insights. We welcome submissions of original academic papers addressing issues concerning global marketing theory- and practice-related topics in general, and international marketing and customer-based strategy and behavior issues in emerging economies (for example, China) in particular. In the Conference, we also encourage submissions of research in progress that provide new thinking and state-of-the-art insights to scholars and business practitioners.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Drivers and performance outcomes of export marketing strategies
• The role of resources and capabilities in driving international marketing strategies and performance
• Building successful trusting relationships in international market operations
• Dark-side relational aspects of cross-border exchange relationships and their impact on performance
• Developing effective international services marketing strategies
• Competitive strategies, positional advantages, and performance outcomes in international market operations
• Competitive strategies, marketing strategies, and performance in export product-market ventures
• International relationship marketing
• Developing effective digital marketing strategies for international operations
• Country of origin effects
• Developing effective global retail marketing management strategies
• Consumption experiences and consumer-brand relationships for local and global brands
• Consumer ethnocentrism, animosity, national identity, and cosmopolitanism
• Customer satisfaction and complaining behavior across cultures
• Consumer adoption and diffusion of innovations across cultures
• Social media, content, and online marketing across cultures
• Customers’ perceptions of CSR across countries

Submission to the Conference

All the submissions should be original work. Both full articles and high-quality abstracts would be evaluated and handled by the conference.

Conference submissions should be sent to: JIM2019@uibe.edu.cn

Important Dates

Deadline for paper submission to the Conference: December 10, 2018

Notification of acceptance: January 25, 2019

Conference Co-Chairs

Prof. Robert W. Palmatier, Co-Editor, Journal of Marketing, University of Washington, U.S.A.

Prof. Constantine S. Katsikeas, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Marketing, University of Leeds, U.K.

Prof. Yonggui Wang, Dean, University of International Business and Economics, China

Keynote Speakers

• Journal of Marketing Co-Editor, Prof. Robert Palmatier
• Journal of International Marketing Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Costas Katsikeas
• Journal of Academy of Marketing Science Editor-in-Chief, Prof. John Hulland
• Journal of Retailing Co-Editor, Prof. Anne Roggeveen
• Immediate-Past Journal of Marketing Co-Editor, Prof. Neil Morgan
• Journal of Service Research Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Mike Brady
• Asia Pacific Journal of Management Senior Editor, Prof. Kevin Zhou

Contact information

Email JIM2019@uibe.edu.cn

Address

Business School, University of International Business and Economics

No.10, Huixin East St., Chaoyang Dist. Beijing, P.R. China, 100029

Submission to the Special Issue of Journal of International Marketing

All manuscripts must follow the guidelines of the Journal and be submitted online through Manuscript Central at

https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/ama_jim

Submission Deadline: Manuscripts for the Special Issue can be submitted during March 2019, and until Friday, MARCH 29, 2019.

Special Issue Editors:

Constantine S. Katsikeas

Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Marketing

Arnold Ziff Research Chair and Professor of Marketing & International Management

Leeds University Business School

Maurice Keyworth Building

University of Leeds

Leeds LS2 9JT

U.K.

Phone: +44 (0) 113-343-2624

Email: csk@lubs.leeds.ac.uk

Yonggui Wang

Dean

Professor of Marketing and Strategy

Business School

University of International Business and Economics

No. 10, Huixin Dongjie

Chaoyang District

Beijing

P.R.China 100029

Email: ygwang@uibe.edu.cn

Papers should broadly address the theme of the conference and issues related to changing business practices. Kindly send a full paper so that it can be published in an ISBN book/Journal besides the conference proceeding.

Academicians and research professionals are encouraged to contribute new ideas, concepts, and paradigms. Abstracts will be published in ISBN numbered publications and selected papers in International Journals. Kindly submit papers for the subjects mentioned below:

1. Marketing and Strategy
2. International Business
3. Brand management
4. Business statistics/Decision science
5. Finance 6. General Management
6. IT and business practices in the current business environment

There will also be a separate track for student’s paper. Papers to be emailed to: rks _pmc@yahoo.com OR rks.pmc@gmail.com

Select paper will be published in the International Journal of Sydenham Management Review published since 1995.

MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT: SPECIAL JOINT CONFERENCE

A special joint conference of the AIB-Africa and the AIB-US-Northeast Chapters will be held at Nairobi, Kenya from January 6 – 9, 2020. The conference will be hosted by the Chandria School of Business at the United States International University - Africa (USIU-A).

CALL FOR PAPERS

While much of the business world is facing unprecedented disruptions due to a combination of factors such as climate change, growing protectionism across the world, gradual erosion in the authority of international trade bodies, and the rise of technologies that threaten millions of jobs, the continent of Africa is experiencing rapid economic growth. Together with a few East- and South-Asian countries, several African countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania rank among the fastest growing economies in the world. Despite this impressive economic performance, the continent of Africa has not received as much attention from academia as some other regions of the world. The conference will bring together the latest research on the prospects and perils of doing business in Africa and also feature the current thinking on how the business world can cope with the disruptions unleashed by forces beyond the control of individual firms or governments.  

Competitive papers, extended abstracts, work-in-progress papers, and proposals for special sessions are invited for the topic areas listed below. Papers, cases and proposals in pedagogy related areas are welcome as well. While submissions from all business disciplines will be considered, those focusing on the conference theme and the continent of Africa will be given special consideration. Doctoral and other students are encouraged to submit papers. There is a special discount on registration fee for students. A limited number of invited papers will also be presented by some distinguished academics and business executives.

All submissions will be blind reviewed, and a select number of papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Publication in the proceedings does not preclude subsequent publication in other journals when proper acknowledgements are made.  By submitting a manuscript, the author(s) certifies that it is not copyrighted or previously published, has not been presented or accepted or is not currently under review for presentation at another professional meeting. At least one author must register for the conference. If more than one author presents the paper, each presenter must register.

BEST PAPER AWARD

The Best Paper Award, based on the recommendations of reviewers, will be given during the Gala Dinner on January 8, 2020.  All full-length papers related to Africa and/or the conference theme submitted before the deadline will automatically be considered for the Best Paper Award.

PROGRAM TRACKS & CHAIRS

• Track 1: International Marketing & Entrepreneurship
  • Track Chair: Dr. Michael Ngoasong, Open University, UK
• Track 2: Ethics, Corporate Governance & Social Responsibility
  • Track Chair:  Dr. Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox, Quinnipiac University & Oxford Consortium
• Track 3: Business & Economic History and International Business
  • Track Chair: Professor Macharia Munune, United States International University-Africa, Kenya
• Track 4: Governments, NGOs, Global Institutions & State-Owned Enterprises
  • Track Chair:  Dr. Beatrice Maisori, Riara University, Kenya
• Track 5: Cross-Cultural Management, International HRM & Leadership 
  • Track Chair:  Dr. Raphael Oseghale, Swansea University, UK
• Track 6: International Accounting, Economics and Finance
  • Track Chair: Dr. George Achoki,  United States International University-Africa, Kenya
• Track 7: Strategic Management
  • Track Chair:  Dr. Veronica Kaluyu, United States International University-Africa, Kenya
• Track 8: Cases and Pedagogical Innovations
  • Track Chair:  Dr. Xiaohong He, Quinnipiac University.
• Track 9: Foreign Direct Investment Theory and Practices
  • Track Chair:  Professor Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, Dhaka University, Bangladesh
• Track 10: Student Papers
  • Track Chair:  Dr. Martin Kang'ethe, Riara University, Kenya

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Following the AIB “rule of three”, no author should be associated with more than three submissions. The manuscripts should be typed in a single Microsoft Word document containing all exhibits and figures.

1. All competitive papers should be double-spaced, NOT to exceed 25 pages (excluding the Title page and references) and follow APA writing style (https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style ).
2. Abstracts (up to one page) and work-in-progress papers (3-4 pages) describing an ongoing research project can be submitted. However, such papers will not be considered for best paper awards.
3. Proposals for special sessions (symposia or panels) focusing on a single issue, single country, or single region are welcome. Any such special session would have a moderator and 3-4 presenters offering their unique perspectives. A proposal for a special session should not exceed three pages and should include the topic and purpose of the session, the names and affiliations of participants, complete address of all presenters including phone number and email address. All presenters of a special session must register for the conference and be present at the time of the presentation.
4. All submissions must have a SEPARATE title page with the title of the paper, the name(s), affiliation(s), and complete address of all authors including phone number and email address.
5. In case of multiple authors, the name of the correspondence author should be clearly indicated.

All submissions must be submitted by November 15, 2019 to AIBNEA@quinnipiac.edu. Electronic submissions will be acknowledged by return e-mail upon receipt. Acceptance decisions will be made by November 30, 2019. Specific instructions will be sent to the authors of accepted manuscripts along with the acceptance notification. The tentative conference program will be uploaded on the website of AIB-Africa and AIB-US-NE by December 15, 2019.

REGISTRATION

The deadline for pre-registration is December 15, 2019. The pre-registration fee is $175 (Ksh 17,500/-) and $75 for students (Ksh 7,500).

An additional $50 will be charged for registration after December 15. Registration includes a copy of conference proceedings, most meals during the conference, a reception, refreshments between sessions, and the Gala Dinner. Some sightseeing and tours to Maasai market and factory/tea garden will be organized.

Those wishing to join AIB or renew their membership must do so online through the AIB Webpage (https://aib.msu.edu/membership/).

OPTIONAL ACTIVITIES (SEPARATE FEES APPLY)

Wild Safari tour to Nairobi National Park (half-day) – $50 USD on January 6 morning.

Seven-day Trip to Masai Mara /Amboseli National Park – $620 USD (either before or after the conference)

HOTEL AND TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS

The host university, USIU-A, has made special arrangements with two nearby hotels that will provide a special discount to conference attendees. Conference attendees must make their own reservation using a code to be provided with the acceptance letters by the conference organizers.

Safari Park Hotel:  $140/day (including breakfast and tax) 

Kenya Utalii Hotel: $ 80/day (including breakfast and tax)

For more information, please contact Professor Mohammad Elahee (AIB-US-NE) mohammad.elahee@quinnipiac.edu; Professor Abel Kinoti (AIB-Africa) akinoti@riarauniversity.ac.ke; or Dean Teresia Linge (USIU-A) aib@usiu.ac.ke.

AJBS will hold its 32nd Annual Meeting in cooperation with the Academy of International Business (AIB) in Copenhagen, Denmark. The combined conference will run from June 23rd through June 27th. The AJBS conference is June 23 – 24 and the AIB conference is June 24 – 27, 2019. The Program Chair for this year’s conference is H. Richard Nakamura, from University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Program Chair: H. Richard Nakamura, University of Gothenburg

About AJBS: From its genesis as an informal network in 1982, AJBS was officially organized and held its first conference at the Wharton Business School in January, 1987. AJBS holds annual conferences at venues throughout the world, providing an opportunity for discussion of current developments and research on a range of business, public policy and teaching issues related to Japan. Papers for AJBS conference presentation are double blind peer reviewed. Accepted papers are considered for publication in the journal, Asian Business & Management (ABM). AJBS welcomes scholars, students and practitioners from all disciplinary backgrounds who are interested in Japanese business issues.

Why should you participate in both (AJBS and AIB) conferences?  With one trip, you can attend both the most prestigious professional meeting in international business and an intimate conference that focuses specifically on Japanese business issues. The AJBS conference provides additional opportunities for journal publication and best paper awards, as detailed below.

Submission types:  AJBS welcomes papers and panel proposals.  Earlier stage papers may be submitted for inclusion in interactive sessions.  Later stage, fully developed papers should be submitted for competitive sessions.  Please note that final assignment to interactive or competitive sessions depends on reviewer inputs and other considerations. 

Authors may submit papers to either or both conferences. AJBS will consider submissions that have already been presented elsewhere, but not published in a journal or book. Authors are encouraged to consider submitting a paper tailored to the specialized audience at the AJBS conference as well as a modified version appropriate for a wider audience at AIB. As done in past years, we also plan to have one session run by AJBS at the AIB conference.

Panel proposals are also welcomed.  Panels should be focused upon topics relevant to Japanese business.  Also included in the topics welcomed are those relating to what the rest of the world can learn from Japanese business.  The panelists must have relevant expertise or background to inform the proposed topic.  Panel proposals should include the names and affiliation of the panelists, a brief bio for each panelist, a description of the purpose of the panel, and an overview of the topics to be addressed.  Panel submissions are not blind.

Submission Deadline: Tuesday, December 11, 2018.  Please submit your paper or panel proposal via the AJBS online submission system (https://meetings.aib.msu.edu/ajbs/2019/).

We kindly ask you to upload your paper in MS-Word format. Submissions must be on letter paper (8.5"x11" or 216x279 mm), with double-spaced text and a font size of 11 points or larger. For papers, please follow the JIBS style guide (http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jibs/style_guide.html).

Please submit papers in MS-Word format (if MS-Word format is not available, please use a basic text format that can be easily converted to MS-Word. Please do not submit papers in PDF format.). To facilitate the blind review process, remove ALL author-identifying information from the papers. Papers will be double-blind reviewed, with the conference papers selected and authors notified by late February, 2019.

Conference Registration: Registration for the conference is handled through AIB and registration for AIB and AJBS can be done at one time. Membership is required in both AIB and AJBS, but AJBS membership includes a one-year subscription to Asian Business & Management.

Asian Business & Management: In 2003 AJBS established a partnership with the journal Asian Business & Management (ABM), published by Palgrave Macmillan in the U.K. As in recent years, the editor of ABM, together with the AJBS conference committee, will select several papers from this year's conference program to be considered for publication in ABM.

Palgrave Macmillan – AJBS Best Paper Award: Palgrave Macmillan has sponsored a ‘Best Paper’ prize at the annual AJBS meetings. The Best Paper Committee will review the finalist papers and select the winning paper.

For further information: Information on Copenhagen, the meeting venue and AIB conference is available at http://aib.msu.edu/events/2019/.

For questions regarding conference papers and submissions, please contact Richard Nakamura (richard.nakamura@gu.se). For questions or comments regarding AJBS or conference registration, please contact AJBS.org@gmail.com or the AJBS President, Chie Iguchi (iguchi@keio.jp).

Management and Organization Review
Research Frontiers Conference and Paper Development Workshop on ‘China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment to Africa’

September 9–12, 2021 *NEW DATES*
Local Host: Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria

Conference Organizers and Program Committee

Helena Barnard,1 Arie Y. Lewin,2 Elizabeth L. Rose,3 and Hinrich Voss4
1University of Pretoria, 2Duke University, 3Leeds University, and 4HEC Montreal

Co-Sponsors

Asia Pacific Studies Institute, Duke University
Centre for International Business at the University of Leeds (CIBUL), University of Leeds
China Business Studies Initiative, University of San Francisco
China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Africa (Ghana Campus)
Technology and Management Centre for Development (TMCD), Oxford University

Submission Deadline (full paper): May 5, 2021 *NEW DEADLINE*

CALL FOR PAPERS

Chinese investment is transforming the African landscape. Pot-holed roads are being replaced by double-lane highways. In urban areas, Chinese-built office complexes, hotels, and shopping malls are an increasingly common sight and in even remote rural areas, Chinese traders are selling Chinese-made essentials to locals. Africa is the last frontier to offer abundant investment opportunities to an economy with national capabilities in executing large-scale infrastructure projects.

FDI projects in Africa are an integral aspect of the Bridge and Belt globalization national initiative. It contributes to maintaining employment of Chinese workers in strategically important infrastructure industries, an important national consideration as China balances the transition to a service economy, increased domestic consumption, spiralling domestic debt and an ageing population. China, being the largest foreign investor in Africa, has attracted mixed views from inside and outside Africa for its investment on this continent and has been criticized by Western Countries for neo- colonialization behavior.

China OFDI into Africa helps create new opportunities given current environment in China and is taking place in an era during which global economic activity is transforming. A range of pressures suggest increasing de-globalization that will transform global trade, give rise to more regional trade compacts, and redefine global value chains. This highlights the huge opportunities for the development of technologically less advanced economies – markets.

European and American multinationals have been slow to take advantage of investment opportunities in Africa. Large-scale infrastructure development requires huge capital investment financing. The Western developed economies are either not willing or not able to match China OFDI policies for such projects. Even when financing can be arranged, there has been a lack of interest and the quite recent colonial history complicates the relationship between Africa and especially European countries.

This does not mean that reported concerns of neo-colonialism and power dependencies are absent from the China/Africa relationship. Facing the pressures of economic development and projected population growth, many African countries are attracted to the top-down state capitalism approach exemplified by the history of China since opening up in 1978 and by President Xi’s aspirations for China to challenge the dominance of the US. Chinese FDI into Africa also reinforces an affinity between countries that question the efficacy of liberal democratic institutional configurations in how they govern. In an era of increasing populism, rising forces of de-globalization and the ratcheting economic competition between the US and China, such an affinity has far-reaching implications.

The MOR Research Frontiers Conference on China OFDI to Africa is therefore seeking papers that provide insight into why and how Chinese FDI into Africa is playing out. Especially welcome are scholars whose research can contribute to elucidate how Africans understand Chinese FDI on their continent, as well as exploration of the Chinese perspective. The conference seeks to feature rigorous scholarly contributions, including micro perspectives of how individuals experience Africa/China interactions, large-scale macro perspectives on the phenomenon, conceptual contributions, and qualitative case studies. But beyond that, we do not wish to impose specific themes or research questions.

SPECIAL ISSUE

Guest Editors

Helena Barnard,1 Abdoulkadre Ado,2 Peter Ping Li,3 Stephan Manning,4 and Michael A. Witt5
1University of Pretoria, 2University of Ottawa, 3Nottingham University Ningbo China 4University of Sussex, and 5INSEAD

A special issue of MOR focused on exploring the history, experience, and implications of Chinese FDI into Africa is already in process. This Management and Organization Review research frontiers conference and paper development workshop will also feed into that special issue. Given the wide range of topics, disciplinary perspectives, empirical approaches, and the nature of the questions raised by Chinese FDI into Africa, the hope is to attract scholars from a range of disciplines such as international business, political science, corporate strategy, organization theory, cross cultural research, social movements, and others. 

Exemplary contributions from the conference will be considered for the special issue.

Submission Information

Please submit full papers by May 5, 2021 via the MOR submission website by selecting the ‘China Outward FDI in Africa’ special issue designation: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mor

It is important that all papers conform to MOR’s submission requirements.

Transitional Entrepreneurship

We use the term Transitional Entrepreneurship to describe entrepreneurs who are in a stage of significant life or career transition. The conference will focus on scholarship and initiatives launched across the world on individuals transitioning from the following backgrounds:

1.            Military Veterans

2.            Individuals in economic distress

3.            Women

4.            Immigrants

Format:

Panel discussion and Paper sessions

Keynote speakers/Panelists:

Garry Bruton, Texas Christian University, Maija Renko, DePaul University Peter Roberts, Emory University

Journal: Select papers from the colloquium will be published in a special issue of Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship.

Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE) provides a forum for the dissemination of descriptive, empirical, and theoretical research that focuses on issues concerning microenterprise and small business development, especially under conditions of adversity. The intended audiences for JDE are scholars who study issues of developmental entrepreneurship and professionals involved in governmental and non-governmental efforts to facilitate entrepreneurship in economic and community development programs around the world.

Special Issue Co-editors:

Anil Nair and Li-Wei Chen, Strome College of Business, Old Dominion University

Editor:

Mike Morris, University of Notre Dame

Timeline:

January 15th: submission deadline

February 15th: Registration opens

March 15th: Decisions on Manuscripts

May 31st: Registration closes

June 30: Select papers invited for special issue and go through additional reviews.

Call for Papers

Colloquium in Transitional Entrepreneurship June 19th and 20th 2020, Virginia

Select papers from colloquium to be invited for special issue of Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship

After successfully hosting the Kauffman funded Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI) symposium on social ventures, Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University plans to host a colloquium in Transitional Entrepreneurship on June 19th and 20th, 2020.

We invite scholars and practitioners to submit manuscripts for presentation at the colloquium.

Strome College of Business will cover hotel accommodations for one author of every paper accepted for presentation.

Location:

Old Dominion University’s primary campus is located in Norfolk, VA, one of the seven cities that make up the historic Hampton Roads region of Virginia, a major recreation area with a population of 1.7 million.  Home to the world’s largest natural deep water port and third busiest port on the East Coast, the Atlantic headquarters of NATO, and Naval Station Norfolk, which houses the U.S. Navy and U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Norfolk was recently named a ‘Best City for Entrepreneurship’ by Entrepreneur Magazine. The Hampton Roads region as a whole is experiencing a surge in entrepreneurial activity through collaborative initiatives between the university and local businesses and government agencies. Norfolk, Virginia, has one of US Navy’s largest base, and the region has one of the highest concentration of veterans.

Norfolk/Virginia Beach is a great location to visit particularly during summer.

Registration site:

https://www.odu.edu/business/calendar/2021/7/transitional_entrepr.html

The World Bank’s Senior Vice Presidency for the 2030 Development Agenda, the Academy of International Business (AIB), and the Journal of International Business Policy (JIBP) invite to the special conference:

Localization of the SDGs: Accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda

Date: December 7th, 2018 

Universidad EAFIT, Medellin, Colombia

There are 17 SDGs and 169 targets included in the 2030 sustainable development agenda. These were defined to have a universal coverage, with an emphasis in “ensuring no one is left behind”. This means not only that inclusion, empowerment, and non-discrimination are at the core of the agenda, but also underlining the national and sub-national contexts are different, and therefore localizing the SDGs is critical in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and a sustainable and inclusive territorial development. 

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Implementation of the 2030 agenda at the sub-national and local levels
  • Determining means of implementation at the local level
  • Prioritization of goals and targets 
  • Defining implementation timelines
• SDGs as a framework for local and national development policy
  • Political and legal framework for the SDGs
  • Multi-level governance
  • Aligning national, regional and local plans with the SDGs
• Advocacy, awareness-raising, dissemination and mainstreaming the 2030 sustainable development agenda
  • From consultation and dialogue to action
  • Democratic accountability 
  • Successful campaigns to communicate the SDGs
  • Identifying local and regional champions
  • Bottom-up approaches
  • Top-down approaches
  • Evaluating and monitoring the implementation of SDGs at the sub-national level
  • Right indicators and proxies
  • Data collection 
  • Big data analytics and the SDGs
• Developing financial and institutional capacity for localizing the SDGs
  • Budget and financial strategies
  • Fiscal reforms and financial transfers
• Partnership for the goals        
  • Measuring effectiveness of partnership between the private and public sector to localize SDGs
  • Working together with local communities to translate the SDGs at the local level
  • Contribution of MNEs and local business to end poverty in all its forms everywhere 
  • The role of academia in the SDGs
  • SDGs working groups
• Learning experiences
  • What works? 
  • Leadership by local authorities: Mayors and city councils as champions of the location of the SDGs
  • Multinational corporations that have adopted the SDGs as part of their corporate strategy
  • Transformative agendas led by the private sector
  • Peer-to-peer learning
• What is next?

Potential publication:Papers submitted to the conference can be considered for inclusion in a Special Issue of the Journal of International Business Policy on the SDGs with a provisional deadline in September 2019.

Important Dates:

• Expressions of Interest: June 18th, 2018
• Full Paper Submission Deadline: August 18th, 2018
• Communication of Decisions: August 30, 2018

Host: Universidad EAFIT, Medellin, Colombia

Organizers: 

• The World Bank’s Senior Vice Presidency for the 2030 Development Agenda
• Academy of International Business (AIB)
• Journal of International Business Policy (JIBP)

Contact Details:

Prof. Dr. Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez

Vice-President of Administration of the Academy of International Business (AIB) (2015-2018). 

Full Professor of Management, Universidad EAFIT, Colombia

Email: mgonza40@eafit.edu.co

This conference will be divided into two parts. First, drawing on their editorial experience in JWB, JIBS and IBR, three keynote speakers will provide an in-depth overview of how the field of international business is developing. They will highlight certain opportunities that can serve as fruitful avenues for future research, but they will also discuss what challenges we should overcome to advance current thinking in international business. 

In the second part of the conference, a number of selected participants will have the opportunity to give short presentations on exciting and interesting new ideas that have the potential to create new research trajectories in international business.

The conference is sponsored by the University of international Business and Economics and there is no registration fee. To participate at the conference, please submit a short summary of your research idea (no longer than a page) as well as your name and affiliation to Dr Wei Zheng (zhengwei@uibe.edu.cn). For logistic-related enquiries, please contact Ms Dingding An (andingding@uibe.edu.cn).

Submission deadline: 03 May 2019 but participants are encouraged make their submission as soon as possible.

Ajai S. Gaur, Rutgers Business School, US

Ajai Gaur is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and International Business at Rutgers Business School.  He is serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of World Business and as a consulting editor of the Journal of International Business Studies. For details, please visit www.ajaigaur.com

Mario Kafouros, Alliance Manchester Business School, UK

Professor Mario Kafouros holds the Chair of International Business and Innovation at Alliance Manchester Business School (UK). He serves as Associate Head of Research in the University of Manchester and as Associate Editor of International Business Review (IBR). For details, please visit: https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/marios.kafouros.html

Rajneesh Narula, Henley Business School, UK

Rajneesh Narula is the John H. Dunning Chair of International Business Regulation at the Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK. He is currently an editor of Journal of International Business Studies. He was Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Development Research from 2009-2014, and Editor-in-Chief of Multinational Business Review from 2014-2016. For details, please visit: http://www.linkedin.com/in/narula1

Keynote Speaker: Dr Eva Roberts, CEO and Founder Morvigor, Sierra Leone 

Special Guest: Dr Sangu Delle, Managing Director Africa Holdings, Investor and Author

Organizers: Penelope Muzanenhamo, Andreas Hoepner, Kenneth Amaeshi, Emmanuel Adegbite and Konan Seny Kan

Background

Globally, the role of business is changing. “People are using business models and ideas to attack age old problems of poverty, education, disease, and more participation in society” (Freeman, 2017, p. 462). In Africa, entrepreneurship is transforming the continent. There now prevails a new generation of international entrepreneurs driven by commitment to Africa’s sustainable development (McDade & Spring, 2005), which is seeking novel ways to give something back to its continent (Financial Times, 2017). 

Many such entrepreneurs are going beyond corporate philanthropy (Amaeshi et al., 2016), while increasing their presence in multiple African countries (Boso, Adeleye, Ibeh, & Chizema, 2019). They are making decisions which not only shape the continent’s development trajectory significantly (Forbes, 2012) but also impact the integration of African firms in global value chains. For example, IT entrepreneurs in Kenya are engaged in outsourcing projects that span across USA, Asia and Europe (see, for example, Guardian, 2014), and thereby contributing to Africa’s sustainable development.

The objectives of many international entrepreneurs are no longer merely about maximising profits for shareholders. Instead, their business purposes and goals endorse social responsibilities, which put ethics, humanity and dignity at the core of what companies do (Freeman, 2017; Freeman, Wicks, & Parmar, 2004). However, in what way are all these trends related to place, belonging and sustainable development, particularly in a world where prominent socio-political actors are advocating ‘putting their countries first’, and climate change is threatening livelihoods globally? This question represents the main theme that the workshop Place, Belongingness, and International Entrepreneurship in Africa: Impact on Sustainable Development, seeks to explore with researchers, business practitioners and policy makers.

Conceptually, international entrepreneurship refers to “the discovery, enactment, evaluation, and exploitation of opportunities–across national borders – to create future goods and services” (Oviatt & McDougall, 2005, p. 540). International entrepreneurship accommodates corporate entrepreneurship, and may involve the formation of new organisations, or not (Oviatt & McDougall, 2005). Place (e.g. Africa) is a complex construct that alludes to people and their geographical habitat (Muzanenhamo, 2019). As worlds of meanings, places play a crucial role in shaping human-beings’ sense of belonging (Tuan, 1977). The latter, a sense of belonging or belongingness reflects individuals’ perception of themselves as part of an entity, e.g. social group or the environment (Hagerty, Williams, Coyne, & Early, 1996). Belongingness fundamentally motivates human behaviour (Maslow, 1943). Hence, a sense of place and belonging fosters place attachment, and potentially influences entrepreneurial initiatives that aim to tackle poverty across generations in Africa (Amaeshi and Idemudia, 2015).

There are multiple factors pointing to the potential impact of locally implemented business activities upon sustainable development in Africa. For instance, international entrepreneurship is evolving in a continent that is now better connected within itself and the rest of the world through improved information and communication technology. Furthermore, African countries are now experiencing more economic growth and political stability as compared to about a decade ago (African Development Bank, 2019). In addition, international business is likely to benefit more from the recent Continental Free Trade Agreement committed to by 44 African states in May 2019 (African Union, 2019).

Research and policy areas

The international entrepreneurship trends and evolving role of business in the context of sustainable development in Africa are yet to be matched with more systematic research. Such inquiry is crucial for informing business strategy for sustainable development, and policies of relevance to business that is adopted by African actors and their international development partners. In view of these observations, we invite papers from scholars, business practitioners and policy makers, that are based on qualitative, quantitative, or a mixture of both research methodologies, and which address but may not be limited to the following areas:

• What forms and types of entrepreneurial initiatives are undertaken due to a sense of place and belonging, and how do they impact on sustainable development?
• In what ways do environment factors (competitive forces, growth opportunities, national culture, industry profitability, institutional environment, climate change, etc.) impact upon entrepreneurs’ sense of place and belonging, and potential contribution to sustainable development?

• How does gender influence an entrepreneur’s sense of place and belonging, and potential contribution to sustainable development?
• What role do NGOs play in facilitating a sense of place and belonging, entrepreneurship and sustainable development?
• What is the relationship between MNEs, a sense of place and belonging, and sustainable development?
• How does belongingness affect the participation of African firms in global value chains and potential impact on sustainable development?
• How does belongingness influence competition and collaboration, and sustainable development?
• How does nationalism influence belongingness and potential contribution to sustainable development among international entrepreneurs?
• How is the relationship between a sense of place and belonging, entrepreneurship and sustainable development evaluated?

What role do African consumers play in the context of place, belongingness, entrepreneurship and sustainable development?

Paper Submission

We invite extended abstracts of not more than 1500 words, to be submitted by the 10th of November 2019 to: penelope.muzanenhamo[at]ucd.ie. Papers that address any issues within the theme of the Workshop are highly preferred, and their authors will be invited to present their work. The organisers of this workshop are in the process of liaising with a few leading International Business Journal outlets for a special issue addressing the theme of the Workshop. Therefore, the workshop will include a paper development component.

References

African Development Bank. (2019). African Economic Outlook. Retrieved from https://www.afdb.org/fileadmin/uploads/afdb/Documents/Publications/2019AEO/AE O_2019-EN.pdf / Accessed 01 June 2019

African Union. (2019). Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area. Retrieved from https://au.int/en/treaties/agreement-establishing-african-continental- free-trade-area / Accessed 01 June 2019.

Amaeshi, K., Adegbite, E., Ogbechie, C., Idemudia, U., Seny Kan, K. A., Issa, M., & Anakwue, O. I. (2016). Corporate Social Responsibility in SMEs: A Shift from Philanthropy to Institutional Works? Journal of business ethics, 138(2), 385-400.

Boso, N., Adeleye, I., Ibeh, K., & Chizema, A. (2019). The internationalization of African firms: Opportunities, challenges, and risks. Thunderbird International Business Review, 61(1), 5-12. doi:10.1002/tie.21977

Financial Times. (2017). Special Report: African Philanthropy. Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/8d05f2a2-c619-11e7-b2bb-322b2cb39656 / Accessed 01 June 2019.

Forbes. (2012). The 20 Most Powerful People In African Business 2012. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2012/04/23/the-20-most-powerful- people-in-african-business-2012/#c365079719ba / Accessed 01 June 2019.

Freeman, E. R. (2017). The New Story of Business: Towards a More Responsible Capitalism. Business and Society Review, 122(3), 449-465. doi:10.1111/basr.12123

Freeman, E. R., Wicks, A. C., & Parmar, B. (2004). Stakeholder Theory and "The Corporate Objective Revisited". Organization Science, 15(3), 364-369. doi:10.1287/orsc.1040.0066

Guardian. (2014, 14 June). https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable- business/2014/jun/19/outsourcing-extreme-poverty-africa-south-asia-call-centres-ddd. Guardian.

Hagerty, B. M., Williams, R. A., Coyne, J. C., & Early, M. R. (1996). Sense of belonging and indicators of social and psychological functioning. Archives of psychiatric nursing, 10(4), 235-244. doi:10.1016/S0883-9417(96)80029-X

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-396. McDade, B. E., & Spring, A. (2005). The 'new generation of African entrepreneurs':

networking to change the climate for business and private sector-led development. Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, 17(1), 17-42. doi:10.1080/0898562042000310714

Muzanenhamo, P. (2019). What does Africapitalism have to do with brand Africa? In U. Idemudia & K. Amaeshi (Eds.), Africapitalism: Sustainable Business and Development in Africa (pp. 126-143). London and New York: Routledge.

Oviatt, B. M., & McDougall, P. P. (2005). Defining International Entrepreneurship and Modeling the Speed of Internationalization. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 29(5), 537-553. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6520.2005.00097.x

Tuan, Y.-F. (1977). Space and place: The perspective of experience. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota

Workshop Organisers 

Penelope Muzanenhamo, Assistant Professor in Business in Africa at UCD College of Business, University College Dublin, Ireland. She is also the Africa lead within the Centre for Business and Society (CeBaS) at UCD College of Business, and a member of the UCD Earth Institute. Her research focuses on brand Africa sustainable development, Africapitalism and African consumer markets. She has published a number of peer reviewed book chapters and conference proceedings on brand Africa and sustainable development. Her work has been honoured with a best track paper award by the Academy of Marketing 2011, and a Plague by Morgan State University, USA, 2018.

Andreas Hoepner, Professor of Operational Risk, Banking & Finance at UCD College of Business, University College Dublin, Ireland. He serves as the School’s Vice Principal for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). He is also the sole inventor of a US patent titled ‘Investment Performance Measurement’ who has also won several awards including a 2015 PRI/Sycomore Best Quantitative Paper and the 2010 PRI Academic Research Award. Among other leadership roles, he heads the ‘Practical Tools’ research group of the Mistra Financial Systems (MFS), and serves on the European Union’s Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance as one of three independent members. He has published interdisciplinary research numerous journals that include Accounting, Auditing & Accountability; Brain & Behavior; Ecological Economics; Environment & Planning C; European Journal of Finance; Journal of Business Ethics and Journal of Business Finance Accounting, among others.

Kenneth Amaeshi, Professor of Business and Sustainable Development and Director of the Sustainable Business Initiative at University of Edinburgh Business School, UK. He is also committee member of the Gifford Lectures, a policy adviser and public philosopher. He was a Chevening Scholar, a Scholar of the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, University of Nottingham, and a Visiting Scholar at Said Business School, University of Oxford (where he is currently an External Examiner). He has led interdisciplinary research projects spanning European and African universities. His work has been published in multiple research journals that include Journal of World Business, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Corporate Citizenship, Management and Organization Review, Accounting, Auditing & Accountability, Africa Journal of Management, International Business Review, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Organizational Change Management, International Journal of Financial Services Management, and Business Ethics: A European Review, among others.

Emmanuel Adegbite, Professor of Accounting and Corporate Governance at Nottingham University Business School, UK and visiting professor at James Cook University, Singapore. His interdisciplinary research has been honoured with awards, for example the 'International Business Review Best Journal Paper of the Year Award' in 2016. He has published across a range of Journals that include Accounting Forum, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Review of Quantitative Finance, International Review of Financial Analysis, Journal of World Business, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Management Studies, International Journal of Business and Society, and International Business Review, among others. Emmanuel Adegbite has also published several book chapters and a book in the area of corporate governance.

Konan A Seny Kan, Senior Lecturer at Otago Business School, New Zealand. He was the Head of the Accounting Department at Toulouse Business School (France). His interdisciplinary research covers the areas of Accounting, Governance and CSR, Organizations (MNCs and Emerging economies), and Configural Thinking, and has been widely published in Sustainability, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Society & Business Review and African Management Studies, among others.

This Workshop is sponsored by UCD College of Business, UCD Earth Institute and Irish Aid. We are very grateful to our sponsors.