Organizational Behavior in an Era of Digitization and Globalization

Call for Papers or Abstracts

The Sun Yat-Sen Business School (SYSBS) is pleased to announce its 2016 annual international symposium on frontier management research in Guangzhou (SYSBS campus), China on December 13, 2016. This year’s theme focuses on two keythemes in a mingled globalization and digitization era: (1) organization behavior and human resources management in the face of a new normal of global connectivity; and (2) interfaces between organizational behavior and strategic management (i.e., micro-macro link) in this new era. We intend to provide a platform to bring together senior and young scholarsin the fields of organizational behavior, human resources management, international business and management, global entrepreneurship and strategic management, from China and beyond. English will be the functional language of the symposium.

Theme 1:The convergence of digitization and globalization creates a new normal of global connectivity, fortifying deeper, broader, and more intricate interconnections between nations, firms and individuals. This connectivity redefines organizational behavior in many ways. It changes the organization of business activities, organizational design, the leveraging of talent, and organizational governance, among other impacts.In particular, this heightened connectivity has the potential to challengethe theory and practice of organization behavior and management, from motivation and locus of control to decision-making and leadership. For example, does the connectivity engendered by digitization and globalization limit the autonomy of organizational members? Does it necessitate a different leadership style? And can extant leadership theories accommodate the new realities? Relatedly, what are the implications of a global war for talent on the effectiveness of organizational incentive systems that must now accommodate individuals of diverse cultural and social background?

Theme 2: The link between strategy and organization behavior has received increased attention in recent years; however, that link becomes even more important in a time of digitization and globalization. For instance, environmental enactment is altered, and possibly corrupted, when individuals are dependent for information on others from a different cultural and social context and when the information is transmitted digitally rather than face to face. Similarly, managerial innovation, team and collaboration, juxtaposition of flexibility and structuration, co-evolution between strategy and structure, are all impacted by reliance on virtual and intranet technologies, and digitization-enabled routines and internal control, to mention a few. For instance, how does the reintroduction of geographic elements in multinational organizational design impact organizational strategy?

We also encourage submissions that tackle the interfaces between digital architecture (e.g., data analytics, information intelligence, cloud computing and linkages, and other information and communication technologies) and organizational behavior traits such as organizational structure and control, team building, inter-unit sharing, and employee productivity. Finally, converged digitization and globalization gives rise to a growing number of paradoxes facing organizations, and we particularly welcome submissions that explore such paradoxes, such as disaggregation (outsourcing) vs. orchestration, networks vs. internal development, digital versus traditional approach, and developing human capital vs. using freelance talent, among others.

This conference is intended to attract papers or abstracts/proposals that will lead the discourse on some fresh or new perspectives on organizational behavior and its interactions with strategic management issues in a new era of combined digitization and globalization. Submissions should extend and deepen our understanding of some new perspectives across multiple domains—organizational behavior, human resources management, international business, strategic management, entrepreneurship, and information analytics, and the like—and at multiple levels of analysis, such as country, industry, organization, and group. To this end, we invite papers or abstracts/proposals (2-3 pages) relating to the conference theme. Only original, unpublished work is sought.

The conference is featured with several world-renowned keynote speakers who are the authority in the field. It will also recognize 2-3 best paper awards based on the quality of the paper submissions.

Please submit your papers or abstract/proposal via sysbsconference@126.com.

IMPORTANT DATES
Paper and abstract/proposal submission deadline: November 12, 2016
Author notification of accepted presentations: November 30, 2016
Conference registration deadline: December 5, 2016

CONFERENCE CO-CONVENORS 
Yadong Luo (University of Miami) & Oded Shenkar (Ohio State University)

SYSBS CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Guangzhong Li, Weiwen Li, Xin Qin &Li Jiang

CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
This conference will be featured with keynote speeches by internationally recognized scholars in the area, such as Yadong Luo, Oded Shenkar, Garry Bruton, Jeff Reuer, among others (to be announced later).

Dr. Garry D. Bruton is professor of management at the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University where he holds Fehmi Zeko Faculty Fellowship. Garry was one of the founders of the entrepreneurship program at TCU which is ranked as one of the top 20 in the United States by US News & World Report -2009. Professor Bruton’s research focuses on entrepreneurship in emerging economies and he has published or has forthcoming over 75 academic articles in leading journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of International Business Studies, and Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice. In addition, Garry has co-authored three text books – small business management (McGraw-Hill), technology and innovation management (Cengage), and international management (Cengage). In 2005, Professor Bruton was the first holder of the Hall Chair in Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets offered by the Fulbright Foundation. He is currently the President of the Asia Academy of Management and editor of the Academy of Management Perspectives. Garry in addition serves on the editorial board of five other academic journals. He is a key note speaker in the International Conference -2011 will be held in Nepal titled: Changing Perspective of Management –Revisit the Existing and Explore the Novel Ideas will be organized by Nepalese Academy of Management (www.nam.org.np) at Kathmandu.

Dr. Yadong Luo is the Emery M. Findley Distinguished Chair and Professor at University of Miami. As an elected fellow of Academy of International Business, Dr. Luo has emerged as the world’s top research scholar in international management since the mid-90s. He has published over 150 articles in major refereed journals in international business and management. He also authored more than a dozen books and about a hundred other publications. His research interests include global corporate strategy, global corporate governance, international joint ventures, and management in emerging economies, among others. Professor Luo’s research record includes seminal pieces on important and timely topics, such as co-opetition in international business, business-government relationships, cross-cultural cooperative strategies, multinational enterprises in emerging markets, and international expansion of emerging market enterprises. Dr. Luo was ranked the world’s most productive author in leading international business journals by International Business Review in 2010 and by Management International Review in 2012, and the world’s most prolific and cited author on Chinese management by Asia Pacific Journal of Management in 2007. Prof. Luo received his Ph.D from Temple University. He currently is a consulting editor of JIBS, editor of JWB, senior editor of MOR, advisor of GSJ, guest editor of AMJ, and review board member of SMJ. He is the recipient of a dozen research and teaching awards at U. of Miami and U. of Hawaii where he taught before joining UM, including the Faculty Senate Distinguished Scholar Award in 2009 (first ever by UM business school faculty) and Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research in 1999 (first ever by UH business school faculty).

Dr. Jeffrey J. Reuer is the Guggenheim Endowed Chair and Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado. Previously, he was the Blake Family Endowed Chair in Strategic Management at Purdue University, where he was also the Area Head. He has also served as the Boyd W. Harris, Jr. Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Strategic Management at the University of North Carolina. He started his academic career on the faculty of INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. Professor Reuer has led courses and seminars on business and corporate strategy, strategic investment decisions, and collaborative strategy in many graduate degree programs and organizations (e.g., Areva, Eli Lilly, Ernst and Young, Euroforum, Kiewit, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, LG, McKinsey, NEC, Owens Corning, Pfizer, Philips International BV, and the World Bank). He has taught in executive education programs at Harvard Business School, Duke University, INSEAD, the Indian School of Business, the University of Mannheim, the University of St. Gallen, and Peking University. He is the recipient of several MBA teaching awards, including the Excellence in Teaching Award from Duke University for the best core course in the weekend executive MBA program, and the Salgo-Noren Outstanding Master’s Teaching Award at Purdue University. Professor Reuer serves as an Associate Editor for the Strategic Management Journal and as a Consulting Editor for the Journal of International Business Studies. He has received five best reviewer awards for his service. He is a Past Chair of the Business Policy and Strategy (BPS) Division of the Academy of Management, and has also served on that organization’s Executive Committee and Research Committee. He was a program chair of the Strategic Management Society’s (SMS’) conferences in Washington, DC and in Guangzhou, China. He is a co-founder of the SMS’ Cooperative Strategies Interest Group. With colleagues at Northwestern he co-founded the Midwest Strategy Meetings, an annual conference geared towards paper and career development for junior faculty and doctoral students at a consortium of business schools. He has guest-edited several special issues and has organized a number of specialty conferences, and he is currently co-editing a special issue of the Strategic Management Journal on the interplay between competition and cooperation (with Hoffmann, Lavie, and Shipilov). He is also a co-editor of a Virtual Special Issue devoted to Alliance Governance (with Ariño, Poppo, and Zenger).

Dr. Oded Shenkar is currently the Ford Motor Company Chair in Global Business Management and Professor of Management and Human Resources at the Fisher College of Business, the Ohio State University, where he heads the international business area. Professor Shenkar has published a hundred scientific articles in leading journals such as Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Relations, Journal of International Business Studies, Strategic Management Journal, and Harvard Business Review, among many others. His books include Organization and Management in China 1979-1990 (M.E. Sharpe), International Business in China (Routledge, w. L. Kelley), Global Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Prentice-Hall), The Handbook of International Management Research (University of Michigan Press, with B.J. Punnett), International Business (Wiley; Sage -2nd edition- with Yadong Luo), The Handbook of Strategic Alliances (Sage, with Jeff Reuer), The Chinese Century (Wharton School Publishing), which has been translated into twelve languages, and Copycats: how smart companies use imitation to gain a strategic edge (Harvard Business Press), which has been translated into six languages. His work has also been cited by Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, Daily Mail (UK), Liberation (France), International Herald Tribune, Time, Business Week, Economist, Chief Executive magazine, the Associated Press, Reuters, Nikkei Financial Daily, the China Daily, Reference News (China), and The China Business Weekly, as well as on radio (e.g., NPR, CBS) and TV (BBC, CNN, Reuters, ABC, Canada Business TV, Korean TV, Bloomberg). Professor Shenkar is a past Vice President and Fellow of the Academy of International Business.

VENUE
International Conference Hall, MBA Building, SYSBS, South Campus, SYSU

SCHEDULE
08:30-09:00 (30 min)
Registration

09:00-09:10 (10 min)
Opening Remark by SYSBS Dean, and Conference Convenors

09:10-09:40 (30 min)
Keynote Speech I by OdedShenkar

09:40-10:10 (30 min)
Keynote Speech II by Garry Bruton

10:10-10:30 (20 min)
Coffee break and group photo

10:30-11:00 (30 min)
Keynote Speech III by Jeff Reuer

11:00-11:30 (30 min)
Keynote Speech IV by (to be announced later)

11:30-12:00 (30 min)
Keynote Speech V by YadongLuo

(All morning events and keynote speeches take place in International Conference Hall)

12:00-14:00 (120 min)
Lunch break

14:00-15:00 (60 min)
First set of parallel sessions (Venue: Classrooms in MBA Building)

15:00-15:10 (10 min)
Coffee Break

15:10-16:10 (60 min)
Second set of parallel sessions(Venue: Classrooms in MBA Building)

16:10-16:30 (20 min)
Coffee break

16:30-17:30 (60 min)
Meeting editors and keynote speakers – PPT presentation and round table

17:30-17:50 (20 min)
Best paper award ceremony and concluding remark by conference convenors

REGISTRATION
Like previous symposiums hosted by SYSBS, there will be no registration fee for this year’s symposium, a commitment made by the School to support the academic community and frontier research on international management. Please fill in the form below and send it tosysbs@mail.sysu.edu.cn before December 5, 2016.

2016 SYSBS International Management Symposium Registration Form

Further information and updates will be provided later.