The second edition of the S-TEAM conference kicked off on 27th September 2021 with a strong message of resilience and consilience. S-TEAM, which stands for SCMHRD- Technology, Economics, Analytics, and Management Conference, revolves around pertinent issues of today's times. The topics in the spotlight were circular economy, renewable energy, agility, resilience, disruptive innovation, consumerism, and digital transformation. A pre-conference case writing workshop was held on 25th September by Dr. Amarpreet Singh, who delved deeper into the nuances of case writing by discussing the case titled "Shradhanjali.com: New Address for Memories of our Ancestors." The inaugural ceremony, held two days later, was attended by the Guest of Honour, Prof. Sylvaine Castellano, Professor in Strategy & Dean of Research, EM Normandie Business School, France; Dr. Vidya Yaravdekar, Pro-Chancellor, SIU; Dr. Rajani Gupte, Vice-Chancellor, SIU; Dr. Pratima Sheorey, Director, SCMHRD, and Dr. Netra Neelam, Deputy Director, SCMHRD.
Prof. Castellano spoke about how the world of research has been bringing in waves of change with their findings and solutions. The pandemic was when people had to adapt to a new normal, but the researchers had quite a difficult path cut out for them. Speaking on a study conducted, she says that people have been surprisingly practical about the sudden onslaught of the virus and have become more resilient. But focusing on the good sides, she elaborated on how the pandemic brought people together and gave them a mutual understanding. Dr. Vidya Yaravdekar, too, spoke about how consilience is crucial to today's world. Here at symbiosis, students come from different parts of the world to solve problems. This shows that consilience is at the heart of the Symbiosis family too.
The second day had three panelists speaking on various topics such as sustainable finance and business consilience. Putting a start to the day's first discussions was Mr. Satish Kumar, Associate Professor, Malaviya National Institute of Technology. He spoke about the importance of sustainable finance in today's scenario. Mr. Karthik Swaminathan, founder at FINTASTECH and author of 3F: Future Fintech Framework, hosted the second session of the day and spoke in detail about the evolution of the finance world with fintech emerging as a significant force to be reckoned with. He talked about the use of analytics in financial services too. Dr. Suresh Renukappa, Associate Professor, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Wolverhampton-UK, led the afternoon session, where he enlightened the audience with the impact of COVID-19 and how it brought about resilience in business practices.
On the third day, there were three prominent panelists to take the discussions forward. The first session saw Dr. Brett Trusko, Editor-In-Chief, The International Journal of Innovation Science, giving his two cents on "Innovation Standards." He spoke at length about their history and future possibilities. Next to speak on innovation was Mr. Devdutta Kurne, YES Bank. He enlightened the participants on the importance of AI in innovation and how it opened new avenues for the business world. For the second half of the day, the speaker was Prof Samir Chatterjee, Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Business and Law, Curtin University, who elaborated on the emergence of the Asian region as a significant economic power due to India and China. The last speaker of the day was Dr. Rameshwar Dubey, Reader-Operations Management at Liverpool Business School, who explained how being resilient and open to possibilities is the need of the hour.
The S-TEAM conference commenced on the fourth day, with the first of the speakers being Cecilia Almeida, Professor, UNIP Paulista University. She spoke about the "Journal of cleaner production" and publishing research papers with various topics associated with it. Taking the discussion forward was Dr. Anthony Shun Fung, Distinguished Full Professor and Research Fellow, Gokongwei College of Engineering, De La Salle University, Manila, who enlightened the participants on the crux of the Journal "Cleaner and Responsible Consumption." Continuing the session was Prof. Sanjay Singh, School of Business Maynooth University, Ireland. He elaborated on the various issues in the Asian business setup based on the "Journal of Asia Business Studies." He also briefed on some other research papers under the journal. Dr. Gauri Joshi, Assistant Professor, SCMHRD, ended the session with a Q&A session that touched upon various pertinent topics on research papers and the journey until the paper was published successfully.
The fifth day of the S-TEAM conference started with Dr. Nayan Mitra, Founder Director, Sustainable Advancements; National President, Sustainable Business Council, WICCI, speaking on various topics like sustainability framework, circular economy, and different business models. She also made the audience think about their ecological footprint and its repercussions by conducting an activity during the session. The second half of the day saw Dr. Aviral Kumar Tiwari, Associate Professor, Rajagiri Business School, Kerala, speak on sustainable energy consumption, global trends, the energy sector, and its future. The last speaker of the day was Dr. Georges Enderle- John T. Ryan Jr., Professor of International Business Ethics, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame, Indiana. He discussed the importance of ethics and morals in developing a consilient business scenario and how issues like the pandemic and economic crisis have posed a challenge to the transformation.
The final day of the S-TEAM Conference, on the 4th of October, was hosted by Prof. Wim Vandekerckhove, Professor of Business Ethics, Greenwich University, who spoke about the importance of Moral Imagination and Business Ethics to better organizations of today. He also cited instances where these practices could be applied to daily routines. The six-day conference successfully concluded after a series of insightful and thought-provoking discussions by academicians from different parts of the world. The students were introduced to a world of research, knowledge, and transformation through the conference. As the second edition of the prestigious S-TEAM conference ends, SCMHRD hopes to host future editions with the same zeal and success.