Conference Proceedings

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  5th International Annual Conference Proceedings: A New Global Order, Yet Again

  Centre for Business and Economic Research (CBER) and School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

  The School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS) and the Center for Business and Economics Research (CBER) at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi, are pleased to announce the 5th International Annual Conference on "A New Global Order, Yet Again" In an era marked by geopolitical realignments, technological innovations, green transitions, climate change, and evolving trade dynamics, the global economic landscape is undergoing an unprecedented transformation. Developing economies today face multifaceted challenges: leveraging new opportunities in a decentralized global system while managing debt insolvency risk, uncertainties in international trade, climate change vulnerabilities, and rising socioeconomic inequality.

  This conference seeks to explore how economies—especially in the Global South—can adapt, innovate, and thrive in these changing policy scenarios globally. Key discussion areas include the growing volatility in international trade flows, the impact of AI on economic governance, strategies for climate adaptation, exploring self-sustaining financial solutions, and delivery mechanisms that enhance economic resilience and foster sustainable development. By bringing together policymakers, academics, experts, and industry leaders, the conference aims to foster dialogue on innovative policies that promote stability, inclusivity, and long-term prosperity in an increasingly uncertain world.

  This conference aims to address critical questions: 1) How can developing nations design and implement sustainable financing models that reduce dependency on external aid while ensuring long-term economic resilience? 2) How can policy reforms and technology-driven solutions be leveraged to address human development challenges and climate change risk in developing nations? 3) How can developing countries adapt to the evolving global trade uncertainties and supply chains? 4) What role should institutions play in fostering equitable growth amid technological disruptions? By bridging research and policy evidence, the conference will contribute to a forward-looking economic agenda.

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  4th SBS International Conference 2025: Transforming Business for People and Planet

  School of Business Studies (SBS)

  The IBA-SBS International Conference (IBA-SBSIC) brings together scholars, professionals, and policymakers from around the world, providing a platform for learning, collaboration, and cutting-edge research. As we enter the 4th edition in 2025, the conference embraces the theme "Transforming Business for People and Planet."

  The business landscape is evolving rapidly, with companies increasingly held accountable for their environmental footprint, ethical responsibilities, and social impact. Governments, regulators, and consumers now demand responsible business practices that align with sustainability and long-term financial resilience. Sustainability is no longer a choice—it is a necessity. Global movements toward climate action, social equity, and responsible governance are reshaping industries, and businesses that fail to adapt risk financial, reputational, and regulatory setbacks.

  In Pakistan, this transformation is particularly urgent. The country ranks among the top 10 most affected by climate change, facing devastating floods, resource scarcity, and socio-economic challenges that demand innovative business solutions. At the same time, companies must navigate evolving green finance policies, ESG requirements, and regulatory changes to remain competitive in a global economy increasingly focused on sustainability.

  IBA-SBSIC 2025 aims to foster meaningful dialogue, research-driven discussions, and collaborative solutions to address these pressing challenges. Through thought-provoking keynote sessions, expert-led panels, and interactive discussions, participants will explore how businesses can integrate a people- and planet-centered approach into their core strategies. By bringing together academia, industry leaders, and policymakers, the conference seeks to inspire actionable insights and drive sustainable transformation for businesses in Pakistan and beyond.

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  4th Annual International Conference Proceedings: Rethinking Economics in the Contemporary World

  Centre for Business and Economic Research (CBER) and School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

  The School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS), through the Department of Economics and the Center for Business and Economics Research (CBER), opens the call for papers for its fourth international conference: Rethinking Economics in the Contemporary World.

  The development of technology, the immediate effects of climate change, complex geopolitical situations, substantial migration, rapid urbanization, increasing income inequality, the emergence of digital economies, and global health crises have all amplified uncertainties and accelerated changes in the economic landscape, underscoring the imperative for better insights and new perspectives in economics profession. This year's conference recognizes the new paradigms and shifts in economic thinking. While the utilization of rich data sets and sophisticated methods aids in achieving a better understanding of complex problems, it also amplifies controversies.

  We encourage scholars and researchers from around the world to consider presenting their work as we understand that different perspectives, methodologies, and frames of reference create a more nuanced understanding of social and economic issues at local, national, and global scales.

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  3rd SBS International Conference 2025: Innovation and Disruption: Business Success Through AI

  School of Business Studies (SBS)

  From the time that Clayton Christensen (1997) highlighted the concept of disruption due to innovation, and its impact on businesses and economies, practitioners and researchers have diverted their attention to the evil it casts and the opportunities it presents. Innovations and improvements in technologies have more often than not resulted in disruption of business models prevalent at that time. The three industrial revolutions have marked definitive shifts in performance and perspectives, and now the world awaits the outcome of the industrial revolution 4.0. Disruptions do not come only from revolutions. This is evident from the very recent incidence of the Coronavirus variants taking over the world and causing disruptions not only in commerce but in every walk of life: businesses have suffered, nations have faced considerable economic losses, and the social life, as we knew it, had come to a standstill. Studies into the various modes of disruption show that businesses that proactively face the challenges that disruptions present, and prepare themselves for the outcomes, have a greater chance of survival than those that wait to ride the wave (Maxwell and Christensen, 2012).

  Following up on Gans' (2016) observation that management academics had not really researched on the main issues of disruption, a steady stream of interest has been diverted towards studying the concept as a phenomenon (Gans, 2016) as well as a process (Cozzolino, Verona, and Rothaermel, 2018) in areas such as technology (Skog, Wimelius, and Sandberg, 2018), education (García-Morales, Garrido-Moreno, & Martín-Rojas, 2021; Mishra, Gupta, and Shree, 2020), global disasters (Crick, Crick, and Chaudhry, 2021), service industry (Pemer, 2021), management (Volberda, Bosch, and Heij, 2018), finance (Bussmann, 2017; Jiafu & Rau, 2021), and marketing (Dev, Shankar, Zacharia, & Swami, 2021), to name a few.

  The IBA-SBS International Conference (IBA-SBSIC) aims to provide a platform for scholars, professionals, and policymakers from all over the world to share the latest research on globalized businesses' burning questions. The conference theme for the 03rd IBA-SBSIC 2024 is Innovation and Disruption: Business Success Through AI, which involves how businesses can harness the power of AI to drive innovation and thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape. The conference invites contributions from scholars in Management, Marketing, Finance, Accounting, and law to discuss the opportunities and challenges in businesses that can be improved through technology. The event aims to provide unique opportunities and challenges to further the knowledge and understanding of businesses and policy connections needed to progress towards AI.

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  2nd Annual International Conference Proceedings - Development: Discourses and Critiques

  Centre for Business and Economic Research (CBER) and School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

  The Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) at School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS) IBA has organized the 2nd Annual conference on 25th-27th March 2022. The theme for this year invites works from a wide range of disciplines to critique, question and reconsider the experiences of transnational, national and sub-national actors with the development process. What does ‘development’ mean for different actors, and how has this narrative shifted over time? How does development define and redefine power relations and what implications does this have for different groups? How have colonial experiences shaped futures and how does one deconstruct ideas rooted in these experiences?

  Our conference programme includes keynote speakers, technical research paper sessions and panel discussions on the actual effects of development in terms of human experiences. Student circles are led by student societies, who along with their faculty mentors have organized workshops on calligraphy, poetry, and wellbeing.

  We are wary of hierarchies within academia and have taken several steps to be more inclusive. We have provided alternative programme formats and a discussion on inclusive development and disability rights. We have made efforts to make our programme as diverse as possible and encourage participation from minorities and underrepresented groups. We have a daycare facility and work with participants who require other facilities. We are also working towards creating a culture of sustainability and reduced waste.

  At CBER, we support research that leads to an inclusive, open and critical dialogue. We welcome attendees from Pakistan and other countries to be a part of this much needed conversation. A lot more needs to be done, but we hope that every year we take one step forward to make academia more diverse, vibrant and self-aware.

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  3rd Annual International Conference Proceedings: Challenging Linearity

  Centre for Business and Economic Research (CBER) and School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

  As we live in an era where the knowledge landscape is rapidly changing and becoming more complex, answering age-old questions about our society, economy, and environment has become more challenging today than ever before. In the wake of this change and challenge, falling back on linear and myopic conclusions is sometimes all too irresistible. A fatigue of imagination that leads to easy answers seems to be prevalent within several disciplines and is sometimes driven by ideological biases. Resultantly, the progress in addressing economic disadvantage, social isolation, and discrimination, psychological distress remains suboptimal often because of linear conceptual frameworks which fail to recognize institutional biases, power imbalances, and historical legacies and their differential impact on individuals and communities.

  Such realizations reinforce the need to re-examine what we perceive as self-evident, the-only-logical, and the-only-workable solutions. How can we register and process the most important social, technological, economic, institutional, and environmental questions of our time without succumbing too much to linear thinking? Instead of simplifying (and undermining) complexity, how do we equip ourselves to acknowledge, embrace and work with it? In what ways does linearity manifest itself in our lives and our world? Is there a substitute for linear thinking? What are the generative possibilities of non-linearity and what fears do they evoke?

  This year's conference will acknowledge these challenges and shall strive to understand how these changes and challenges are reflected in different disciplines of social sciences and deliberate on pertinent social sciences questions, particularly concerning the following themes.

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  Proceedings - Climate Change: Threats, Risks and Vulnerabilities

  Centre for Business and Economic Research (CBER) and Hanns Seidel Foundation, Pakistan

  Pakistan is one of the world’s most climate vulnerable countries ranking fifth in the list. It has experienced various disasters in recent decades, including floods, droughts and intense heat waves causing thousands of fatalities. Moreover, due to the deterioration of the Indus Delta approximately 1.2 million people dispersed and shifted to urban hubs like Karachi. Researchers have projected an increase in frequency and severity of these catastrophic environmental events, causing food and water scarcity, health and socio-economic issues in coming decades.

  Climate change is no longer a threat but has become an existential crisis. There is a need for immediate attention and action to move towards environmental sustainability. Therefore, realizing the urgent call of the most complex and challenging issue faced by humanity today, academic institutions need to be playing the role of creating spaces and opportunities for collaboration and conversation. Furthermore, active student involvement in such collaborations is crucial for their mobilization out of academic institutions.

  This conference was the inaugural event for the Social Sciences and Liberal Arts Department’s focus on interdisciplinary climate and ecologies research where the objective was to produce knowledge that is rooted in indigenous scholarship, experience and practice. To this aim, we will continue to work with non-traditional security challenges as a theme for future conferences and seminars.

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  1st International Conference on Economics and Sustainable Development Conference Proceedings

  IBA School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS) and Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER)

  The IBA School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS) and the Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) organized the 1st International Conference themed "Economics and Sustainable Development", in the month of April, 2021. The conference brought together academics, practitioners and advocates to have a dialogue on creative ideas, local and global best practices, and evidence-based solutions for sustainable development.