Dear IACMR Members,

Welcome to our biannual IACMR conference!  While it has been delayed a year, and we are experimenting with a new format, we hope it remains an event where all of us can all learn new ideas, get feedback on projects, and meet (virtually) both old and new friends.  

For those of you who have had to switch from in-person to on-line at the last minute, thank you for your understanding and flexibility.   We will do everything we can to help you to engage in on-line discussion and debates with scholars around the world.   

As I look back at the last year, I have to give an enormous “thank you” to all the people who scrambled to adjust to these circumstances.  Above all, Runtian Jing as Program Chair – and all of the track chairs — have had to deal an unprecedented level of change and uncertainty.   And our new Executive Director, Wei Zhang, had to take on her leadership role in the midst of these trying times.   There are many others as well – on the Executive Committee, Local Arrangements Committee – who have put in much more time than anyone expected.  Thanks to all of you! 

Happily, this time of challenge has also brought innovations that we expect to keep beyond the pandemic.  It has been wonderful to see great research presented monthly at our new on-line Research Seminar – now, we do not have to wait until the next conference to hear presentations from IACMR scholars!   We also have a semi-monthly Career Seminar. It makes you wonder “why didn’t we think of that before?!”  Perhaps, we will even find parts of our on-line conference that we want to keep in the future. 

Best Wishes

Ray Friedman
President, IACMR
Brownlee O. Currey Professor of Management
Professor of Asian Studies
Vanderbilt University