30 June 2026
Research and Policy: A Day of Cross-Cutting Dialogue
New Frontiers for International Business Research in a Diverging World
Venue: Manchester Metropolitan University Business School
Coordinated by the AIB UK & Ireland Chapter and Open to all AIB-2026 Conference Delegates
Coordinated by the AIB UK & Ireland Chapter and Open to all AIB-2026 Conference Delegates
International business is being rewritten in real time —by geopolitical fragmentation, technological disruption, sustainability pressures, and shifting global governance. This flagship day brings together international business (IB) scholars with senior policymakers, industry leaders and international organizations to connect frontier research with the policy choices that will shape our futures. Designed as a high-level, two-way forum, the day makes audience contributions part of the exchange with insights from policy challenges sharpening research agendas, and cutting-edge IB scholarship informing policy debate and action.
If you have registered for the conference, please answer
a few questions about your planned attendance at the Research and Policy Dialogue Day
to help us plan space and catering. Many thanks!
a few questions about your planned attendance at the Research and Policy Dialogue Day
to help us plan space and catering. Many thanks!
PROGRAMME
(subject to change and further panellists may be added)
10.15 - 10.45
Welcome Refreshments
10.45 - 12.15
Welcome, Keynotes and Debate
Unprecedented challenges confront the international community. This opening session sets the intellectual and policy agenda for the day. It links the most pressing policy dilemmas facing IB stakeholders at the regional, national and international levels to cutting-edge research and ahead-of-the-curve thinking from the IB research community.
Chair: Noemi Sinkovics, Newcastle University and Chair of the AIB UK & Ireland Chapter
Keynote Speakers:
Chair: Noemi Sinkovics, Newcastle University and Chair of the AIB UK & Ireland Chapter
Keynote Speakers:
- Nan Li Collins, Director of Division on Investment and Enterprise, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
- Lucian Cernat, Head of Global Regulatory Cooperation and International Procurement Negotiations, European Commission
- Ulrich Hoppe, Director of the German-British Chamber of Industry & Commerce
12.15 - 13.30
Lunch
13.30 - 14.45
The Past, Present, and Future of the Multinational Enterprise:
Implications for International Business and Policy
In honour of the 50th Anniversary of Buckley and Casson’s “The Future of the MNE”
The panel examines which insights from the Future of the Multinational Enterprise are relevant, enduring, and applicable to present day international business and public policy contexts, and those perspectives that require updating, adapting, or abandoning in the present-day global environment. It further projects 50 years into the future, asking what we expect the role of MNEs, governments, and other international organizations to be and how they would compare to the perspectives from the book published a century prior.
Panellists:
Jonathan Doh, Villanova University (Chair)
Peter Buckley, University of Manchester
Mark Casson, University of Reading.
Sarianna Lundan, Aalto University
Jun Du, Aston University
The panel examines which insights from the Future of the Multinational Enterprise are relevant, enduring, and applicable to present day international business and public policy contexts, and those perspectives that require updating, adapting, or abandoning in the present-day global environment. It further projects 50 years into the future, asking what we expect the role of MNEs, governments, and other international organizations to be and how they would compare to the perspectives from the book published a century prior.
Panellists:
Jonathan Doh, Villanova University (Chair)
Peter Buckley, University of Manchester
Mark Casson, University of Reading.
Sarianna Lundan, Aalto University
Jun Du, Aston University
14.45 - 15.15
Coffee Break
15.15 - 16.30
Parallel Panel Sessions
* = Chair
1. International Business and the SDGs in an Age of Global Disruption: A Policy Dialogue
With less than four years until the 2030 deadline, the UN SDGs are “woefully offtrack”. How can international business activities help when global disruptions shift attention away from the sustainability imperatives? Looking forward, how can IB research help shape the SDG-related policy landscape?
2. Migration in a Fragmenting World Order: Can We Talk Policy Without International Business?**
As geopolitics fragments the world order, this panel brings together leading scholars, policy experts, and business leaders to rethink the role of multinational enterprises and IB scholarship in shaping a forward-looking migration policy. The questions we will address should be of interest to most IB domains, especially those working on social sustainability and human rights, IB policy, global value chains, and human resource management.
3. Globalization at a Crossroads: Investment, Production and Policy in a Contested World Economy (2026 UNCTAD World Investment Report Special Session)
The global economic order is being reshaped by geopolitical rivalry, industrial policy activism, economic security concerns and supply chain restructuring — yet deep interdependencies persist in reconfigured forms. Drawing on the UNCTAD World Investment Report 2026 and diverse analytical perspectives, this panel examines what has fundamentally changed and what has not, exploring intensifying competition for strategic-sector investment, supply chain rerouting, and the rise of regional economic blocs. The panel pays particular attention to implications for developing economies and the policy challenges and policy options for governments, firms, and multilateral institutions.
4. Beyond Borders, From Theory to Thrust: International Business Policy and the Commercialization of Outer Space
Space is no longer science fiction. Who governs this new frontier market, and who profits? This panel examines how international business policy and governance shape the commercialization of Space under extreme constraints, and what lessons return to Earth. The panel is of particular interest for academics, policymakers, and industry practitioners engaged in innovation and global regulation.
5. Challenges for Inward Investment Attraction Strategies in a Turbulent Global Environment: Regional, National and International Perspectives
The key challenge for inward investment attraction policies is to adjust to the radical realignment of MNE investment strategies under geopolitical pressure, especially techno-nationalism and protectionism. Employment, skills, and innovation policies at all levels must be urgently re-imagined. Inward investment attraction agencies need to set clear development goals that can incorporate the new reality of volatile MNE strategies.
6. Transnational Economic Blocs – Is a Transformed Global Order Emerging?
Are transnational blocs redefining the rules of international business? As global fragmentation intensifies, blocs are reshaping MNE strategy, emerging market integration, supply chains, and technological standards. This panel engages core IB debates on institutions, geopolitics, and the evolving architecture of globalization, and is relevant amongst others to scholars and practitioners working on IB policy, MNE strategy, geopolitics, and global value chains.
1. International Business and the SDGs in an Age of Global Disruption: A Policy Dialogue
With less than four years until the 2030 deadline, the UN SDGs are “woefully offtrack”. How can international business activities help when global disruptions shift attention away from the sustainability imperatives? Looking forward, how can IB research help shape the SDG-related policy landscape?
- Axèle Giroud, University of Manchester*
- Noemi Sinkovics, Newcastle University*
- Rashmi Banga, Chief of Development Research Branch, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs – UNDESA
- Christoph Ernst, Lead Structural Transformation, International Labour Organization (ILO)
- Rhiannon Bearne, Deputy CEO and Executive Director of the North East Chamber of Commerce**
- Martin Wermelinger, Head of Sustainable Investment Unit, OECD
- Hinrich Voss, University of Bristol
2. Migration in a Fragmenting World Order: Can We Talk Policy Without International Business?**
As geopolitics fragments the world order, this panel brings together leading scholars, policy experts, and business leaders to rethink the role of multinational enterprises and IB scholarship in shaping a forward-looking migration policy. The questions we will address should be of interest to most IB domains, especially those working on social sustainability and human rights, IB policy, global value chains, and human resource management.
- Aida Hajro, University of Leeds*
- Milda Zilinskaite, Vienna University of Economics and Business*
- Jason Gagnon, Senior Policy Advisor and former Head of the Migration and Skills Unit, OECD
- Rachel Cowburn-Walden, Strategic Business and Human Rights Consultant, former Global Head of Human Rights at Unilever and former Head of International Relations of the UK Labour Party
- Auret van Heerden, Founder & CEO at Equiception Business and Human Rights Consultancy, and the former President and CEO of the Fair Labor Association.
3. Globalization at a Crossroads: Investment, Production and Policy in a Contested World Economy (2026 UNCTAD World Investment Report Special Session)
The global economic order is being reshaped by geopolitical rivalry, industrial policy activism, economic security concerns and supply chain restructuring — yet deep interdependencies persist in reconfigured forms. Drawing on the UNCTAD World Investment Report 2026 and diverse analytical perspectives, this panel examines what has fundamentally changed and what has not, exploring intensifying competition for strategic-sector investment, supply chain rerouting, and the rise of regional economic blocs. The panel pays particular attention to implications for developing economies and the policy challenges and policy options for governments, firms, and multilateral institutions.
- Amelia Santos Paulino, Chief of Investment Research, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)*
- Ari van Assche, HEC Montreal*
- Steven Altman, New York University, Stern Business School
- Lucian Cernat, Head of Global Regulatory Cooperation and International Procurement Negotiations, European Commission
- Claudia Trentini, Economic Affairs Officer UNCTAD
- Jun Du, Aston University
- Sarianna Lundan, Aalto University
4. Beyond Borders, From Theory to Thrust: International Business Policy and the Commercialization of Outer Space
Space is no longer science fiction. Who governs this new frontier market, and who profits? This panel examines how international business policy and governance shape the commercialization of Space under extreme constraints, and what lessons return to Earth. The panel is of particular interest for academics, policymakers, and industry practitioners engaged in innovation and global regulation.
- Bo Nielsen, University of Sydney and Aalto University*
- Kazuhiro Asakawa, Keio University
- Alan Cross: North West Space Cluster Development Manager and Programme Manager for the UK Beyond Earth Network (UK-BEN, ) Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
- Sven Modell, University of Manchester
- Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez, Universidat EAFIT Colombia
5. Challenges for Inward Investment Attraction Strategies in a Turbulent Global Environment: Regional, National and International Perspectives
The key challenge for inward investment attraction policies is to adjust to the radical realignment of MNE investment strategies under geopolitical pressure, especially techno-nationalism and protectionism. Employment, skills, and innovation policies at all levels must be urgently re-imagined. Inward investment attraction agencies need to set clear development goals that can incorporate the new reality of volatile MNE strategies.
- Nigel Driffield, University of Warwick*
- Sean Duggan, Director and lead consultant on location strategy and investment, ILSA Consulting Ltd and former Regional Program Coordinator – Pacific Region at the World Bank Foreign Investment Advisory Service
- Joe Manning, Managing Director of the Manchester Investment Development Agency (MIDAS)
6. Transnational Economic Blocs – Is a Transformed Global Order Emerging?
Are transnational blocs redefining the rules of international business? As global fragmentation intensifies, blocs are reshaping MNE strategy, emerging market integration, supply chains, and technological standards. This panel engages core IB debates on institutions, geopolitics, and the evolving architecture of globalization, and is relevant amongst others to scholars and practitioners working on IB policy, MNE strategy, geopolitics, and global value chains.
- Surender Munjal, Aston University*
- Klaus Meyer, Western University, Ontario
- Alain Verbeke, University of Calgary
- Arif Zaman, Bloomsbury Institute and Commonwealth Trade & Investment Group
- Sangeeta Khorana, Aston University
Conference Co-chair |
Conference Co-chair |
Emeritus Conference Chair |
Professor Matthew Allen
Professor of International Business Manchester Metropolitan University |
|
Acknowledgement: The organisers sincerely thank Professor Peter Buckley and Professor Axele Giroud of Alliance Manchester Business School for their valuable collaboration and support.