Conference Overview
“It will appear that a measurable uncertainty, or ‘risk’ proper… is so far different from an unmeasurable one that it is not in effect an uncertainty at all.”
Frank H. Knight, Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit (1921: 23)
Uncertainty is a chronic, structural feature of the global economy. Today’s global businesses operate in a world of true uncertainty that cannot be reliably predicted, priced, or planned for, a condition that is fundamentally distinct from measurable risk (Knight, 1921). For decades, most global businesses have ignored this reality. They pursued hyper-efficient global strategies, treating resilience as a cost to cut rather than a capability to build (Sheffi & Rice Jr., 2005). Recently, the pandemic and the escalation of geopolitical tensions have shattered this complacency, revealing how quickly optimized global operations can become points of vulnerability. This has compelled global businesses to rethink the foundations of global strategy, emphasizing adaptation and renewal rather than efficiency alone. International business scholars had long anticipated this shift. Buckley and Casson (1998) cautioned us that strategic flexibility under uncertainty would prove central to international business theories, arguing that firms must balance the efficiency gains of global coordination with the costly but essential capacity to adapt when conditions shift. Luo (2000) anticipated that global businesses would need to go beyond mere survival and proactively build adaptive capacity to convert turbulence into competitive advantage. This year’s conference theme, ‘Rethinking Global Strategy: Adaptation, Resilience, and Renewal,’ is a homage to the prescient thinking of these IB scholars. We invite scholars and practitioners to explore how multinational firms can design strategies that are inherently resilient, continuously adaptive, and oriented toward long-term renewal in an era of persistent change.
The possibilities for exploring how global businesses can build resilient strategies and adapt to persistent uncertainty are vast. A growing body of research shows that resilience is not a single capability but a system of them. Agility, redundancy, collaboration, and a deeply embedded culture of risk awareness together enable firms to sense, adapt, and transform in the face of shifting global conditions (Ponomarov and Holcomb, 2009; Tukamuhabwa, Stevenson, Busby, and Zorzini, 2015). At the same time, Industry 4.0 technologies are reshaping what resilience looks like in practice. Artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and digital twins are giving firms the power to anticipate disruptions before they strike, not merely react after the damage is done (Lücker, Timonina-Farkas, and Seifert, 2025). At this year’s conference, we will bring together leading researchers, business leaders, and policymakers to examine how organizations are harnessing these capabilities to renew their global strategies, e.g., reconfiguring supply networks, investing in adaptive capacity, cultivating collaborative ecosystems, and pursuing new models of sustainable international growth. Boston is a city of intellectual restlessness, a place where competing visions of the future collide and where the tension between established ways and radical renewal is a defining feature of its character (James, 1886). Suffolk University will host participants from around the globe to engage with the forward-looking strategic questions that will define the next era of international business. Our theme topics include, but are not limited to:
- How are firms rethinking the foundations of global strategy to build resilience, foster adaptation, and pursue renewal in an era of persistent geopolitical, economic, and technological uncertainty?
- What strategic frameworks best explain how firms compete, grow, and create value across borders in an increasingly fragmented global landscape?
- How do firms develop, transfer, and protect technological capabilities across national boundaries, and what role does innovation play in sustaining international competitiveness?
- How do entrepreneurs identify and exploit opportunities across borders, and what enables new ventures to internationalize successfully under conditions of uncertainty?
- How do firms navigate competing ethical expectations, stakeholder demands, and sustainability imperatives across diverse institutional and cultural environments?
- How do cultural differences and workforce management practices shape organizational effectiveness, talent mobility, and employee experience in multinational settings?
- How are firms redesigning supply chains, logistics networks, and global operations to balance efficiency, resilience, and responsiveness in a disruption-prone world?
- How do firms adapt to marketing strategies, brand positioning, and consumer engagement across markets with different preferences, regulations, and competitive dynamics?
- How do cross-border differences in financial systems, regulatory regimes, and macroeconomic conditions affect firm valuation, capital allocation, and economic performance?
- How should educators prepare for the next generation of global business leaders, and what pedagogical approaches best develop the competencies demanded by an uncertain world?
We emphasize that while we are particularly interested in proposal abstracts (200–250 words) on the conference theme, we welcome submissions on any international business topic within the broader global business research agenda.