9th Annual Global Business Conference 2018 in Dubrovnik (Croatia) primarily focuses on understanding and challenging the underlying assumptions behind the dominant business theories. As multiple markets are evolving into platforms, the validity of certain assumptions behind well-known models can be questioned. Therefore, 2018 GBC aims to analyse the challenges that platform conditions impose at system-, industry-, market-, organisational-, team- and individual levels. Numerous questions arise: (a) What is the macro-level under platform-market conditions? As platforms span across physical boundaries, their own boundaries are also blurred and changing – activities are happening in single-platform and multi-platform conditions; platforms are evolving, cooperating and competing; and the line between an “actor” and a “platform” are blurred and interchanging.; (b) How do organisations compete as platforms vs. on platforms? As platforms are becoming the market, while at the same time competing on “market of platforms”, company strategies need to incorporate within-platform and cross-platform competition.; (c) What is the next level – after the platforms? As platforms are changing the world, we invite participants to question the possibilities for the next level of market-structuring – what will have the power to change the platforms? These and related questions provide us with insights into understanding how businesses and economies are likely evolve to new value-creating paradigms.
Conference welcomes both theoretical and empirical contributions that discuss important issues in their field and how these issues relate to business challenges in global economy. We look toward opening up discussion of new ideas that are likely to shape future business and academic landscapes.
The purpose of the conference is to provide a research platform for academic researchers, doctoral students and practitioners on developing new value-creating paradigms. This conference provides an opportunity for an interdisciplinary take on this issue from marketing, finance, accounting, management, economics and other viewpoints. Through its interdisciplinarity this conference aims at providing a platform for constructive dialogue on these important issues.
We welcome diverse contributions: conceptual and empirical; abstracts and full papers; research in early stages and fully completed papers. All submissions will be arranged in the four tracks (Economics, Finance and Accounting, Management, Marketing), and we provide some ideas on what your research can focus (see Conference Tracks). However, list is just indicative but not exhaustive – so we welcome also ideas that are not covered by our suggestions.
