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United Kingdom AIB Chapter Annual Report 2002
Report on the 29th Annual Conference
The Conference
The 29th Annual Conference of the UK Chapter was held on 12/13 April 2002 at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, hosted by the Department of International Business and Accounting within Lancashire Business School. The theme of the conference was "International Business in the Global Knowledge Economy - Economic Growth: Competition, Co-operation, Resistance".
The conference attracted 113 delegates from 37 higher education institutions (28 institutions in the UK, 3 in Finland, 2 in Portugal and 1 in each of Belgium, Spain, Poland and USA) and from two companies (1 in UK and 1 in Sweden). The conference was a truly multi-cultural event, since delegates represented cultures from further afield than their institutions suggested; for instance, Italy, France and Greece in Europe, the Middle East, China and Malaysia in Asia and, even Namibia and Botswana in Africa to name but a few. Rosedale Associates and Lancashire Business School sponsored the delegate bags.
In addition, the Publishers' Exhibition included stands from 7 publishers: Edward Elgar Publishing, Elsevier Science, Elsevier Science/Butterworth Heinemann, Palgrave Macmillan, Pearson Education, Sage Publications and Thomson.
The Conference Dinner was held at Simply Heathcotes, the restaurant owned and established by a Fellow of the University of Central Lancashire, a local young entrepreneur. The venue provided a good setting for the renewing of friendships and lively discussions, many of which continued until well into the night.
Keynote address
The keynote address was given by Professor Sue Cox, Professor of Risk and Safety Management, Dean of Lancaster Management School, Lancaster University, who spoke on "Cultures in Crisis: Learning from Disasters". Her address, based very much upon her own work with companies in the offshore oil and gas processing industry, reflected upon the changes in the manner in which organisations have managed health and safety and discussed the relevance of cultural approaches for preventing future disasters across a variety of high-risk organisations. She took us on a journey from the start of the 20th century with the sinking of the Titanic and the Hindenberg Airship disaster to the Ladbroke Grove rail crash and Piper Alpha fire in the 1990s. Her talk also focused on World Bank models of safety, the Cullen Report (1990), which changed the way risk was managed, and Business Continuity Management ĉ the hot topic for 2002.
The Proceedings
A total of 53 papers were presented over the two days of the conference. The Palgrave Prize for the best paper presented at the conference was won by Chengqi Wang, Pamela Siler and Xiaming Liu (respectively, of the universities of Leeds, Abertay and Aston) for their paper entitled "The Relative Economic Performance of Foreign Subsidiaries in UK Manufacturing". The prize (a prize of £200 and winnerıs certificate) was awarded at the Conference Dinner by Caitlin Cornish from the Professional Business and Management Division of Palgrave Publishers. Copies of the Conference Proceedings: "International Business in the Global Knowledge Economy - Economic Growth: Competition, Co-operation, Resistance", edited by Irene Greaves, ISBN: 1 901922 36 7, can be obtained from Business Services, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, PR1 2HE. A book of some of the best papers from the conference, including the best paper, will be published in April 2003 by Palgrave, edited by Colin Wheeler, Frank McDonald and Irene Greaves.
The successful Doctoral Colloquium, organised by Dr Marian Jones of the University of Glasgow, involved 14 doctoral students, who presented papers to distinguished panels of experts, comprising: Professor Jim Bell, Dr Sue Bridgewater, Dr Keith Brouthers, Professor Peter Buckley, Dr Malcolm Chapman, Professor David Crick, Professor Pervez Ghauri, Frank McDonald, Roger Strange, Colin Wheeler, Professor Jeryl Whitelock and Professor Stephen Young. The prize for the best doctoral paper was awarded to Carla Margarida Barroso Guapo da Costa from the Centre of Research on European and International Economics, Lisbon, Portugal, for her paper on "Portuguese Investments in Brazil - traditional determinants and the contribution of cultural proximity".
Evaluation
The 29th Conference was considered to be very successful, despite prior concerns by some AIB members that the town of Preston, in Lancashire, would not be an attractive location. Success was due in part to the accommodation of the Conference in one single building and the staffing of the enquiry desk for the full two days. Points which might have been improved during the conference include the provision of refreshments on the same floor as the publishers' exhibition and access for delegates to photocopying facilities. In the preparation stage leading up to the conference, it is essential that the academic burden is carried by a team of two or more academics in the host institution. Unfortunately, on this occasion, this did not occur and the full weight of organisation fell on the conference chair alone.
Thanks for their assistance in contributing to the success must be extended to Dr Jeremy Clegg, the Chair of the UK Chapter; Dr Marian Jones, Organiser of the Doctoral Sessions; Colin Wheeler (AIB UK Secretary); Frank McDonald (Immediate Past Conference Chair and now AIB UK Treasurer); those who took part in the Doctoral Panels; the many reviewers of papers prior to the Conference and to Business Services, University of Central Lancashire, for their expertise in administration and preparation of the conference proceedings.
Irene Greaves
Conference Chair
June 2002
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