The Academy of International Business (AIB) South Asia
Conference 2025 was held in Dhaka from 13 to 14 January 2025, and the World
University of Bangladesh was the solitary host of this event. The conference
was accomplished through a virtual platform due to geopolitical dissonance
in the host country. The event was partnered by The University of Leeds (UK),
Aston University (UK) and AIB South Asia Chapter, India. The conference's
keynote speaker was Professor Dr. Gary Knight, the President of the Academy of
International Business and Professor of Global Management at Willamette
University. The patrons of this conference were Professor Dr. Abdul Mannan
Chowdhury, Vice Chancellor of the World University of Bangladesh (WUB), and
Professor Dr S. Raghunath, president of AIB South Asia Chapter. The
conference began with a welcome speech by Professor Dr S. Raghunath on behalf
of the AIB South Asia board as the current chairman. On the other
hand, Professor Dr. M. Nurul Islam, Pro-Vice Chancellor of World
University Bangladesh (WUB) delivered introductory remarks on behalf of the
host institution. This conference was chaired by Professor Dr Surender Munjal,
Aston Business School, Aston University, UK and co-chaired by Professor Dr
Faisal Ahammad, International Business Department of The University of Leeds,
UK and Professor Dr Selim Ahmed, Dean, Faculty of Business Studies at the World
University of Bangladesh.
The
conference's theme was “The Emergence of Global South – Challenges and
Opportunities in the 21st Century." At this conference, 38 papers were submitted from different
institutions, which include the areas of institutions and
internationalization, finance, marketing, sustainability, career and workplace,
leadership, technology, big data and industry 4.0. The format of
this conference was a combination of interactive paper presentations and panel
discussion sessions. Besides the paper presentation sessions, four panel
sessions were conducted with renowned speakers. The first panel session was “Global
Emergence of South Asia," moderated by Professor Dr. Rafiuddin
Ahmed, Department of Marketing, University of Dhaka.
In this session, four speakers joined as
panel experts, namely Professor
Dr. Farok J. Contractor, Distinguished Professor,
Rutgers Business School, USA; Professor
Dr. Surender Munjal, Aston Business School, Aston University, UK; Professor Dr.
Abu Waheeduzzaman, College of Business, Texas A&M University-Corpus
Christi, USA; and Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, Associate Professor, Department of
Management, Laval University, Canada. The second panel session was a
masterclass focused on “Strategic Alliances in the Digital and AI Era".
Professor Dr. Farok J. Contractor moderated this session, and the speaker was Professor Dr. S. Raghunath. The
third panel session was “Grand Challenges in South Asia”
and it moderated by Professor
Dr. Surender Munjal. In this session, four speakers joined from the International
Business Department, University of Leeds, UK, namely Professor Dr. Lawrence Jeremy Clegg,
Professor Dr. Mohammad Faisal Ahammad, Dr. Elizabeth Yi Wang, and Dr. Amrita
Manohar. The last panel was an editorial session which moderated by Professor
Dr. Selim Ahmed. This spell contained three speakers who gave vital feedback
regarding the topic. Professor
Dr. Gary Knight Professor Dr. Faisal Ahammad joined this session along
with Professor Dr. Lawrence Jeremy Clegg.
The best paper awards were presented to the presenters at the
end of the conference. The winners of the best paper award were Sai Chittaranjan
Kalubandi, IIM Bangalore, India and Shweta, University of Delhi, India. The runner-up
of the best paper awards were Fahmida Mostafiz, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
and Nazam Bhuiyan, Bangladesh. The conference was concluded with the closing remarks by Professor Dr. S. Raghunath, Professor
Dr. M. Nurul Islam, Professor Dr.
Faisal Ahammad and Professor Dr. Selim Ahmed.
