Background
One of the major highlights of the recently launched Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is the recognition of the central role of the private sector in meeting the objective of international development. Such a realisation in the SDG is a clear departure from its predecessor, the Millennium Development Goals, which expires at the end of 2015.
Sustaining its mission to engage with the pressing and emerging themes in business and management Mona School of Business and Management, the University of the West Indies will be convening its second academic conference around the theme Connecting the Dots: Enterprise, Entrepreneurship, and Sustainable Development. The theme of this second event is guided by the emphasis on the private sector in the SDG and by extension, the focus on business, enterprise and entrepreneurship.
Along with innovation, enterprise and entrepreneurship are major factors of production, receiving increased attention in the discourse on economic growth and development. The recognition of entrepreneurship as an important enabler in the development process has always been acknowledged by economic development scholars such as Sir Arthur Lewis, a Nobel Prize winner in Economics who was born in the Caribbean. Today, with the Caribbean struggling to find a strong growth pole on which to anchor its future development, it is acknowledged that entrepreneurship and innovation will be the key factors of production that it must harness within an SDG world. It is critical therefore, that rigorous academic attention be paid to these important pillars of future growth for the region in order to build a strong conceptual and empirical base from which to launch.
Themes
To this end, the conference welcomes practical and theoretical contributions, position papers and works in progress that focus on these themes from a global perspective, but also from the viewpoint of the Caribbean and other small developing regions. Other quality submissions more broadly within the area of business & management will also be considered. The following is a general guide as to the type of issues that will be discussed at the conference:
- Entrepreneurship, Enterprise and Sustainable Development
- Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Competitiveness
- Factors Influencing MSME Performance
- Caribbean Businesses Going Global: Strategies and Perspectives
- Accessing Finance for New and Established SMEs Business-Government relationships within the MSME community
- Business, Government and the International Economy
- The Role of the Diaspora in Networks
- Social Enterprise Creation and Development
- The Sustainable Development Goals: What is in it for Business?
- The role of the private sector in in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals
- Can we dance? Business, self-interest, sustainability and inclusive growth/ Are these anachronistic or can harmony be achieved?
- The Business Creation Process
- Business & Management Education in an SDG World
- Business strategies in an SDG world
Doctoral Consortium: Submissions are also being invited for a Doctoral Consortium, which will offer students a collegial atmosphere to share their work and receive constructive feedback.
Publications & Awards: A special issue on “Enterprise and Entrepreneurship in the Caribbean” will be published in the highly rated journal of Entrepreneurship and Regional Development with guest editors Professor David Storey and Drs Indianna Minto-Coy and Jonathan Lashley. Submissions will be double-blind reviewed and should follow the Journal's guidelines available at: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/tepnauth.asp. Additionally, all abstracts will be published in the Conference Booklet with a special ISBN. Other publication opportunities may become available. Only original works (i.e. not published elsewhere) will be considered for presentation & publication.
A number of awards will be given, including for the Best Paper.
Submission Guidelines: Please send a 200 word abstract with 6-8 keywords and the sub-theme.Include a separate cover page with title, name, institutional affiliation & contact (Email, Tel & Fax).
Host Institution: Mona School of Business and Management, The University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica
Contacts: Individual abstracts, papers, panel proposals and queries must be submitted to Dr Indianna D. Minto-Coy, Indianna.MintoCoy@gmail.com & copy to msbm-conference@uwimona.edu.jm.
Conference Website: http://businessconf.msbm-uwi.org/
