Hosted by the Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, in collaboration with the Academy of International Business, Northeastern University, Villanova University, and University of Groningen
Conference chairs: Tatiana Kostova and Valentina Marano
Submission deadline extended to July 27, 2022!
About the Conference
2022 Conference Theme: Multinational Companies and Sustainability in Global Supply
Chains
The issue of sustainability has become one of the central “big challenges” of our times. The role of corporations for both negative and positive impacts on sustainability has been front and center in social discourse as well as board rooms around the world. International business scholars have contributed to this conversation specifically by examining the role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in the diffusion of sustainable practices and the conditions that facilitate or impede this process. Increasingly, though, multinationals are also expected to consider the sustainability implications of their sourcing decisions and take some responsibility for the social and environmental performance of the other actors in their supply chains, including first- and even second tier suppliers. Moreover, a number of countries, such as the U.K., U.S., Australia, and France have adopted legal provisions requiring companies to seek to mitigate business and human rights violations along their supply chains or report on what steps they have taken to do so (e.g., Section 1502 of Dodd–Frank Act of 2010, 2012, Californian Transparency in Supply Chains Act, UK Modern Slavery Act). The combination of social and legal expectations has led to unprecedented pressures for MNCs to contribute to the sustainability agenda in their global supply chains. Yet, international business research in this area is rather limited, with only some notable exceptions.
The objective of the conference is to address this gap and strengthen the role of IB scholarship in studying MNCs’ social and environmental impacts in global supply chains. We look for cutting edge scholarly contributions that offer novel theoretical insights and practical understandings. We recognize the importance of methodological diversity and a multidisciplinary approach, and hope to engage with ongoing research in a number of related fields including business ethics, corporate governance, strategy, supply chain management, development studies, labor and employment relations, political science, and economic geography.
View the detailed conference call [PDF].
Conference Details
To ensure a vigorous discussion with novel ideas and insights, we seek participation from both leading scholars as well as colleagues who are newer to these areas of research. We encourage multidisciplinary submissions as well as manuscripts that are in different stages of development.
- If interested, please submit a single-spaced, 7-page maximum proposal or extended abstract of your paper through the AIB portal during the period of July 1 – 27, 2022. Please note that the submission portal will not become active until July 1, 2022.
- Proposals will be reviewed by a committee and acceptance decisions will be conveyed to authors by Aug. 10, 2022.
- The conference will be limited to about 16-20 presentations and 40 participants.
Conference registration will be available after all acceptance decisions have been communicated to the authors on Aug. 11, 2022.
- Registration fee is $100
- Deadline for registration is Aug. 31, 2022
The conference will be held over two days, starting in the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 20 and ending at noon on Saturday, Oct. 22. There will be a full day of conference sessions on Friday, plus a Saturday morning paper development workshop for those who choose to participate.
In addition to the academic program, we will organize several social events including:
- A sightseeing tour of Charleston: Thursday, 3-5 p.m.
- An opening reception on Thursday evening.
- A conference dinner on Friday.
- A detailed conference program will be posted later on this website.
The conference venue is the Francis Marion Hotel in beautiful Charleston.
- For the accepted proposals, we will cover the hotel costs for two nights (Thursday and Friday) for one person per proposal.
- More co-authors per team are welcome to join, but they will need to cover their own hotel expenses.
- All social events as well as breakfasts and lunches on Friday and Saturday will be covered for all attendees.
The conference will be held in-person in Charleston, SC, barring new COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. We will be monitoring closely the situation and will make changes if necessary.
- For questions regarding the academic program, please contact conference chairs Tatiana Kostova or Valentina Marano
- For questions on conference housing and logistics, contact Tina Poindexter