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The three-day Academy of International Business (AIB) South Asia Conference (SAC) began here at the Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam (IIMV) on January 23, 2021. The event is being hosted by IIMV in virtual mode. Welcoming the attendees during the inauguration, Prof. Deepika Gupta, faculty at IIMV, and conference chair, AIB-SAC, gave an overview of the program and emphasized the importance of the conference. She added that it would provide a platform to the AIB members and scholars across the globe, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, to collaborate with research professionals, exchange their ideas, present papers, and discuss matters of mutual interest and concerns.

In the keynote address, Prof. Farok Contractor, President-AIB, and distinguished professor, Rutgers Business School, USA, highlighted the agenda of SAC and spoke about the importance of studying international business. He emphasized the roles of international business leading to sustainable development in South Asian economies.

One hundred nine research papers across the globe were submitted at the AIB-SAC covering themes such as the impact of COVID-19 and sustainable development, failures and survival strategies during COVID-19, international entrepreneurship, international finance, impact on SMEs, MSMEs, and new ventures, Atmanirbhar Bharat, Make-in-India initiatives, and role of digitalization in the survival of economies during the tough time.

Out of the 109 research papers, the top 50 papers were selected through the blind peer-review process for the presentation at the conference. These papers will be presented by academicians and scholars from top-notch institutes, including many IIMs, IITs, and other premier business schools across the globe.

Speaking at the inaugural function, Prof. M Chandrashekhar, Director IIMV, said, “Sustainability and profitability go hand-in-hand, hence in the long run, organizations need to invest more in sustainable methods to create wealth. He also spoke about the importance and emergence of the new business models.

The Chair AIB South Asia Executive Board and faculty at IIM Bangalore, Prof. S Raghunath, said “Seeing the current scenario one needs to adopt the 4R’s – reduce, reuse, restore and regenerate methods that will yield a sustainable business environment.” He also spoke about how digitalization helped businesses to thrive during the pandemic.

Dr. Mohammad Tayeenul Hoque, conference co-chair, and faculty at North-South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh, gave concluding remarks for the inaugural and thanked everyone for their contribution to making the conference happen during such uncertain times.

The first day of the conference also witnessed a plenary presentation session on the theme “Digitalization in International Business” by Prof. Maria Tereza Fleury, AIB President-Elect FGV and the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and “Managing Career” by Prof. Ruth Aguilera, Northeastern University, USA AIB Fellow. Apart from paper presentations, the conference will also have case teaching workshops by Prof. Rajesh Upadhyayula, IIM Kozhikode, Prof. Dana Minbaeva, Copenhagen Business School, and Prof. Nitin Pangarkar, NUS Singapore.

The conference aims at providing insights, creating synergies, providing value-addition, and producing positive results in sustainable international businesses. It will focus on what external and internal factors would inspire the South Asian economies to formulate strategies and approaches towards translating the challenges into timely opportunities that can, in turn, foster social progress, economic advancement, balanced development, and inclusive growth for people in the region.