... Challenges to International Business and Management

Between December 5th and 8th, 2004 the annual EIBA conference will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The theme of the 2004 EIBA conference refers to one of the major developments in Europe in the last few decades, i.e. to the integration of large number of once socialist countries in the EU. Central to the conference are the consequences and challenges the EU enlargement brings to International Business theory and practice, to the firms, to old and new member states, as well as to the European countries that will not (yet) become part of the EU as well as to all other countries.

The conference does not only refer to the issues and challenges of EU enlargement, but is also related to the classical issues in IB research, such as knowledge management, creation and transfer in MNCs, management and organization in MNCs, internationalization strategies, international finance and accounting, cross-cultural management, legal and policy issues of international business, internationalization of small firms and countries, of emerging markets and transition economies, business ethics etc.

For most of these topics, the issue of EU enlargement represents a specific aspect, which is extremely pertinent during the period that ten new countries enter the EU.

The conference has invited both theoretical and empirical contributions that may help reach a synthetic understanding of the consequences and challenges of the EU enlargement both for the theory of the MNC and for their managers and policy makers.

Furthermore, special sessions, led by eminent scholars, will be organized on topics like international business management education, on companies’ perspective on strengthening competitiveness by internationalization, on new trends in FDI and IB theories and on potential convergence of new trade theories and international business theories.