New Connections in International Business

An Academy of International Business (AIB) Special Themed Conference at the School of Management, Zhejiang University in Hangzhou.

Scheduled for 8^th to 10^th May 2026.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Conference Themes

In 2017, ‘The Determinants of Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment,’ published by Peter Buckley and co-authors in 2007, was the 2017 AIB JIBS Decade Award Winner. Almost 20 years on from this publication we are in a very different global environment. Geopolitical disruption, technical change and economic turbulence are challenging the resilience of MNEs to adapt. At the same time, China has evolved to become a leading innovation nation and a key player in the global economy.

This conference will be an opportunity to reflect on the evolution of China and Chinese firms in the international arena, but we welcome papers across the IB studies field, with a preference for our key themes listed below.

Zhejiang University, Hangzhou city and Zhejiang Province are recognised as innovation leaders, the birthplace of entrepreneurial firms from Alibaba and Geely to DeepSeek. 107 of the top 500 Chinese private enterprises are based in the province. Appropriately, our first conference theme (below) is international innovation and entrepreneurship in the digital era. This includes, but extends beyond digital internationalisation, digital platforms and AI as new enablers for international expansion and managing global businesses.

Keynote Speakers

Confirmed speakers include Professor Peter Buckley (Manchester Alliance Business School), Professor Grazia Santangelo (Copenhagen Business School), Professor Yadong Luo (UM Herbert Business School), Professor Torben Pedersen (Copenhagen Business School), Professor Jiatao (JT) Li (HKUST), Professor Xufei Ma (CUHK Business School), Professor Changqi Wu (Guanghua School of Management).

Conference Tracks

1. International business, innovation and entrepreneurship in the digital era. Including: digital internationalisation, digital platforms and AI as new enablers for international expansion and managing global businesses; the impacts of innovation races on global value chains; the changing linkages between regional innovation (eco)systems; the evolving role and impacts of digital born global firms.

2. Changing patterns of trade, FDI and MNE internationalisation. Geopolitical disruption, risk, resilience and changing global governance structures, institutions and regulation. Policy impacts on MNEs and internationalisation.

3. The corporate social responsibility (CSR) of MNEs. Global sustainability and circular economy business models. Global supply chains in transition. Measuring progress towards ESG’s (environmental, social and governance) or SDGs (sustainable development goals) and enhancing the positive impacts of MNEs.

4. Developing context sensitive theories, methods and empirics. How different are Chinese multinationals? The evolution of Chinese management research. Chinese business practices, culture, markets, institutions and finance.

5. International comparative research methods and data analysis. Including: new insights from AI tools; interdisciplinary approaches to international business research; multimethod approaches; the potential for causal inference approaches to provide new international business insights.

6. PhD Symposium. A conference track dedicated to papers with PhD students as lead authors. These can be across, or beyond, the above conference themed tracks. There will be a focus on paper development and publishing advice.

Journal Special Issue Workshops

We are in discussions with the Editors of leading journals to organise Special Issue (SI) workshops alongside the main conference. There will also be opportunities for PhDs to hear from members of Editorial Boards on publishing in leading journals.

Key Dates and Submission Details

· The programme team invites full papers, or extended abstracts.

· The conference presentations and all papers will be in English.

· Each submission must include an abstract, not to exceed 200 words.

· Please state which one of the 6 conference tracks the paper should be considered for by putting the Track number and title on the front page at the top right.

· Only PDF and Word files will be accepted.

· PhD student-led papers should be marked for Track 6 (although they may be accepted and invited for presentation in one of the other 5 themed Tracks).

Following AIB conference guidelines, full papers must be fewer than 12,000 words inclusive of all materials, including appendices and references. Papers must follow the JIBS Style Guide. Extended abstracts should be between 2 and 6 pages, not including references.

All participants must be or become AIB members to register for the event.  

Non-members can join the AIB here: https://www.aib.world/membership/

Please send all submissions to: zju-aib2026@zju.edu.cn 

We will post further details at the conference website:

https://tiabs.zju.edu.cn/2025/1021/c75232a3095472/page.htm

The submission deadline is December 30^th, 2025.

Acceptance decisions will be communicated before the end of January 2026.

Registration fee: Full fee for Professors is CNY 1,500.

Reduced fee for PhD students: CNY 800.

Hosts

This conference is supported by the School of Management and the Tsingshan Institute for Advanced Business Studies (TIABS), Zhejiang University.

Hangzhou is famous for the West Lake (Xihu), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, temples, tea and silk. It has historical significance, serving as the capital for several dynasties including the Southern Song Dynasty. It is also known as the Chinese Silicon Valley with established multinationals and Fortune 500 companies including Alibaba, WZ Group, Zhejiang Rongsheng Holding Group, Geely Holding Group, and Hengyi Petrochemical Co., alongside technology start-ups such as DeepSeek and Unitree Robotics.

A series of company visits will be organised as part of the conference event by the hosts.

Contact information

Full details about the Conference venue, registration fees, and accommodation will be posted soon. For any questions, please contact Ms. Meng:  0924235@zju.edu.cn