“Statistics, more statistics, lies”. Much of contemporary IB research has become driven by increasingly elaborate and sophisticated research methods. Yet, methodological rigor should not obstruct our understanding of IB phenomena when conducting relevant, as well as impactful research.  This track welcomes all submissions which challenge traditional cookie-cutter methodological approaches, address fundamental assumptions and seek to advance our understanding of IB phenomena by drawing upon appropriate methods in rigorous and/or novel way. In order to address social, multidimensional and increasingly interdependent phenomena, IB research calls for the use of appropriate methods, which address the challenges of capturing the multi-level nature, causality, interdependence and appropriate distributional assumptions behind IB research. This track welcomes quantitative, qualitative and/or mixed-method designs, which advance our understanding of measurement, modeling and analysis within IB research.

Key words: Research, methodology, rigor, relevance, quantitative methods, qualitative methods, mixed-methods, research design, data analysis, models, assumptions, limitations, measurement, causality, validity, reliability, interdisciplinarity

The transformation process which started in Central and Eastern Europe back in the 1990s has led to a wave of FDI which resulted in knowledge spillovers and thus a transfer of innovations to the region. However, the region has recently witnessed an increasing shift from being a recipient of innovations to becoming an actual source of innovations. These can be related not only to products or services, but also to organisational designs, processes or models of business expansion. Also the ongoing evolution on the consumer side, including such trends as the spectacular growth of mobile applications in the CEE region, clearly demonstrates new opportunities.

Not surprisingly, therefore, the region is currently witnessing an emergence of firms driven by innovations which also expand beyond their home markets. These phenomena, which are not only relevant to the CEE region, open ground to a discussion of extant explanations of firm internationalisation, since relevant questions reach beyond the issues of location or entry mode choice. More importantly, it becomes increasingly important to investigate internationalisation from the perspective of business models, as well as to examine how the latter is affected by the former. The track welcomes submissions related to business model re-engineering, internationalisation of firms in innovative service and manufacturing sectors, as well as new models of internationalisation and marketing for foreign markets using online tools.

Keywords: business models, business models of internationalisation, disruptive models, IB theory, concepts of firm internationalisation, strategy adaptation

This track focuses on internationalization, including exports, foreign investments and other foreign entry and/or foreign operation modes. Qualitative, quantitative and conceptual papers on internationalization processes of different firms including e.g. small and large multinationals, slow internationalizers, born-again globals and born globals are welcome to this track. Papers could focus on factors leading to or affecting these firms’ initial internationalization and further growth, but also de- and re-internationalization (complete and/or partial exits and re-entries), including foreign operation mode changes. Papers focused on differences between different internationalizers – for instance, slow internationalizers and born(-again) globals – and those on positive and/or negative consequences of internationalization for different firms are also suitable for this track. Papers can focus on firms from different regions: on CEE firms entering CEE and other regions, other firms entering CEE, but also other firms active in other regions.

Keywords: international business, internationalization process, international expansion, de- and re-internationalization, born globals, MNEs

This track seeks to extend our knowledge about entrepreneurial internationalization of firms. Currently international entrepreneurship (IE) as an area of research is only 25-30 years old, nevertheless IE has been developing very intensively. This track seeks papers that discuss and analyze such issues as: international entrepreneurship as a new field of research, traditional versus rapid internationalisation of firms, role of the entrepreneur in the process of internationalisation of firms, internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs vs. LEs), internationalisation of family businesses, recognizing and exploring international business opportunities, international strategies of businesses (SMEs vs. LEs), international competitiveness of businesses (SMEs vs. LEs).

We encourage submissions of all kind of papers, i.e. papers based on quantitative and qualitative methods as well as mixed method papers are welcome.

Key words: international business; international entrepreneurship; internationalization of firms; internationalisation of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises); international new ventures (INVs), born globals (BGs), international startups, clusters, innovation, international strategies, internationalization of  family firms, international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO), international entrepreneurial culture (IEC)

Recent decades have demonstrated many transformations in global value chains (GVC). Both by technological and organizational changes induced by digitalization as well as changes in business environment due to political risks and new protectionism stimulated new patterns, new business models and regional reorientation. Participation in GVC significantly influence competitiveness of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), firm growth and development. Though CEE firms have been traditionally integrated in GVC through manufacturing industries and foreign direct investment (FDI) as a key channel, they are recently rising their participation with services and services industries. Next, recent analysis show the increased interlinkages between services and manufacturing industries and the increased foreign value in manufacturing exports. The panel welcomes empirical and theoretical reflections on GFV, FDI and trade.

What are the changes in international trade, FDI and GVC due to industry 4.0 and services 4.0? What are the recent changes GVC, how do CEE firms participate in GVC and how (if) they develop into lead firms of global value chains? How has been the process of upgrading in GVC proceeding after global economic crises, what are structural changes and impacts of FDI in the region, are FDI and GVC seen as the key driver of national development and what are strategies of upgrading and value capturing in GVC? Are existing frameworks on GVC useful and sufficient to understand changes in CEE?

The track welcomes the papers analysing the changing nature, dynamics and structural impacts of GVC and FDI, both extra and intra-CEE FDI, macro, regional or fir-level evaluations, but also case studies. Papers related to government policies, GVC trade policy and investment promotion are also welcomed to this track.

Key words: global value chains, FDI, international trade, competitiveness, macro, regional or fir-level evaluations, GVC trade policy, investment promotion

There is no doubt about the significance of international marketing to foreign activities of firms. Every year, thousands of products and services of small and medium-sized enterprises, multinationals or born globals exceed national markets. The innumerable marketing activities undertaken are aimed at making this international activity effective. However, this is not always the case. Technological progress and digitalization have transformed international marketing strategies, offering many new opportunities for firms but at the same time threats. What is more, contemporary social and cultural changes, trends affecting consumer behavior, competitive forces and general market dynamics make all marketing activities very complex and demanding. Thus, this session focuses on broadly understood international marketing – its current development, future trends and directions seen from different perspectives: firms, consumers, competitors, suppliers, employees, ect.

Conceptual and empirical papers are expected to this track considering the cases of firms, industries, regions as well as individual economies or group of countries. The other issues related to the topic are also welcome.

Key words: international marketing, global marketplace, comparative marketing, marketing strategies, societies, cultures, markets, consumer behavior, environment, institutions

The importance of our track lies in the on-growing cooperation between companies from differing cultural backgrounds. Today’s manager increasingly has to work in international and cross cultural environments. The human aspect in the multinational context can be characterized by two important fields. The first approach of this track is cross-cultural management which investigates the influence of culture on management across countries.  Coping with diverse cultural and institutional frameworks is just one of the challenges faced by an international venture planning to enter or expand its presence in Central and Eastern European (CEE) markets and in other transitional countries. Regarding this matter can be developed discussion around three major topic areas: (1) Introducing into similarities and differences of transitional environment; (2) Managing cultural differences in local subsidiaries of multinational firms from and emerging world and (3) Learning about the implementation of an international business plan in transitional environment. (4) Today, the free movement of labor has led to an estimated 7 million workers leaving the Central and Eastern European region according to IMF statistics. Many solutions have been introduced to replace missing workers. Among other things, the German “Welcome in Germany” solution, the importing labor force from the more distant countries, the strengthening of childbearing and, last but not least, robotization. The second approach of this track is focused on Human Resource Management (HRM) in multinational firms. Topics to be explored include internationalization/globalization and its impacts on the personnel function, the different fields (staffing, pay and benefit, competency model, performance management, expat management, training and development, new training tools – e.g. e-learning etc. – and industrial relations) of IHRM in the international environment, and the debate over the transportability of specific HR tools into Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries of the world.

Key words: Migrations, Labor movement, Cultural diversity, Cultural Similarities and Differences, Cultural Models, Cross-Cultural Communication, Team-Building within Virtual International Projects, Transportability of HR  Tools, Cultural Aspects of Ethics, Comparative HRM, Internationalization and Globalization in HRM, Personal Function in Local Subsidiaries, Expatriates, Inpatriates, Role of Consultants and Impacts of  Migration, Central and Eastern Europe and Transitional countries.

Conceptual and empirical papers devoted to both current state and changes of the international competitive position of the CEE region, its national economies, selected industries, and firms, are expected for this track. Contributions on theoretical foundations of competitiveness, particularly interrelatedness of national-, industry- and firm-level concepts are welcome.

There have been some recent advancements, which provide new lenses for competitiveness investigations. Just a few, for which the track provide a platform for discussions: given the evolving industrial revolution what its competitiveness implications on sources of competitive advantage and positions of CEE countries and their firms; academic and professional insights into competitiveness consequences of backlash of globalization; and the essence, impacts and potential of so called unconventional economic policies to boost the competitiveness at national level in some CEE countries. However, other contributions broadly related to the aforesaid aspects are also welcome.

Keywords: competitiveness, industrial policy, industrial revolution, backlash of globalization, regional cooperation, development, international economics

Conceptual and empirical papers focusing on financial and accounting issues with respect to international economics, business and research (especially in the CEE region) are expected for this track. Papers can cover issues or topics related to, but not limited to international economics, international and corporate finance, financial risk management, financial market development, financial integration, access to local and international financial markets, ratings, international capital market, FinTech, RegTech, financial reporting as well as international accounting standards, international taxation and auditing.

Key words: international economics, international and corporate finance, financial risk management, financial market development, financial integration, access to local and international financial markets, ratings, international capital market, FinTech, RegTech, financial reporting as well as international accounting standards, international taxation and auditing.

Industrial companies are embracing digital and technological transformation in the context of tendencies constituting new competitive context of “Industry 4.0”. The Digital Economy and Digital Business Track addresses theoretical and empirical issues of digital transformation with an emphasis on research of disruptive digital technologies impact on consumers, organizations, industries and regions. Consistently with the interdisciplinary nature of this field, the track aims at cross-fertilisations with colleagues from economics and management, technology engineering, law, philosophy, who investigate the conditions and circumstances under which organizations may implement digital transformation.

The track welcomes research that explores how digital transformation impacts:

• economic growth at a wider scale
• socio-economic environment of industries
• business models, development of business/innovation ecosystems
• internal business processess, data analytics
• platforms, social media, supply chain
• consumer behaviour changes
• human resources management

Key words: digital transformation, digitalisation, business models, human resources, platforms, Industry 4.0.

Digitization, innovation and entrepreneurship stand at the core of business dynamics and competitiveness. The internationalization of R&D and innovation, and new business models, supported by digital solutions, cause the rapid transformation of the international business landscape, its operations, organization, communication, knowledge sourcing and creation across international networks and locations. Internationalization of value chains has opened entirely new perspective in terms of opportunity recognition, and entrepreneurial opportunity creation. The later is associated with the niche specialization across technologies, markets, or institutional settings, thus leading to the formation of “hidden” champions, and international venturing from CEE and other relatively young economies in transition. Knowledge sourcing and entrepreneurial learning across these value chains often takes an asymmetric character, which is embedded in the evolutionary character of innovation networks, and often caused by the variations in industrial, geographical and cultural peculiarities, micro foundations of the innovating firm, entrepreneurial behavior and cognition patterns, to mention a few. Given this complexity of innovating, managing knowledge and executing entrepreneurial orientation in international business settings, we seek for the contributions that would shed light on this new business landscape. These might look at but are not limited to the following questions:

• How industrial learning and knowledge management is organized across boarders?
• What are the opportunity creation and opportunity recognition behaviors while executing international business orientation?
• How innovation and knowledge management networks affect business internationalization and business models?
• How international innovation, including open innovation, and knowledge management is organized within and across firms?
• How organizational ambidexterity is manifested and managed in seeking to combine innovation and entrepreneurial, including international venturing, efforts?
• How creativity, knowledge, and innovation is organized across international teams, including virtual teams, and organizations?
• What is the role of entrepreneurial cognition and behavior in innovating and managing knowledge across borders?
• How different national and international institutional settings shape innovation and entrepreneurial landscapes and ecosystems?
• Micro foundations of innovation, knowledge management and entrepreneurship

We welcome both, theoretical, conceptual, and empirical contributions, based on qualitative and quantitative approaches, and mixed methods. Longitudinal studies, devoted to the development of entrepreneurial endeavors and innovation across borders would be of special interest as we seek to evaluate the changes in business landscape and understand the motivations behind them. Sectorial, multilevel, as well as single case studies are welcome as well.

Key words: innovation, knowledge management and entrepreneurship, opportunity creation, opportunity recognition, entrepreneurial cognition, ambidexterity, creativity, international teams, virtual teams.

Education has always played an important role in a society. In today’s globalising world IB education is even more important. But how to educate the coming generations of students that had been brought up in a new technologically advanced world? How to improve the transfer of knowledge for a more effective teaching process? How to strengthen the collaboration between universities and companies? How to disseminate knew knowledge created through scientific research? How to facilitate networking between scientists and educators in CEE region? These and also other related questions can be answered in paper and panel proposals submitted to this track.

Key words: Experiential learning; Blended learning; Transfer of knowledge; Development of an IB curriculum; New technologies in education; New teaching methods; Effectiveness of teaching methods; Internationalisation of the business school curriculum; Short students’ exchanges; Research and educational centres and networks; Networks in education; Effectiveness of education support; Rates of returns of educational investments; National and international accreditations; Rankings of educational institutions.