Deep and Disruptive Transformations: The New Normal for Organizations and their Stakeholders?
29th & 30th June 2021 TUNIS, TUNISIA
Online Conference
Introduction
Financialization and globalization are generally considered as central and deep transformations (Lapavitsas, 2013; Westra, 2019) in recent decades. Indeed, they have shaped the functioning of organiza- tions worldwide and led to several decisions and actions e.g. remodeling regulation of the economy and the logic of accumulation; internationalizing investor profile; devoting more effort for standardizing financial and accounting systems and governance practices. They have also triggered reactions from individuals and societies to comply with the new conditions and requirements.
Digital transformation and datafication have supplemented these trends; allowing data to be exchanged instantaneously and regularly within organizations, between them and their stakeholders, as well as between individuals. In 2020, the total amount of data created, captured, copied, and consumed world-wide is forecast to reach 59 zettabyte; the amount of data created over the next three years will exceed that created over the past 30 years; and the world will create more than three times the data over the next five years than it did in the previous five (International Data Corporation, 2020).
These extensive transformations have led to new business models and have also significantly influenced the way organizations design, perform and monitor their activities. In addition, they have shaped the power balance between organizations and their stakeholders, have increased the demand for accountabi- lity, transparency, effectiveness and, have paved the way for several transgressions e.g. industrial espio- nage, personal data abuse, etc. Consequently, demand for more strict regulation and disciplinary measures, is growing.
Recently, the COVID-19 outbreak, which is sweeping across the world, has led to severe economic, social, political and cultural consequences that have significantly shaped organizations’ actions and indivi- duals’ behaviour (Donthu & Gustafsson, 2020; He and Harris, 2020). To contain the spread of the virus, governments adopted draconian measures, breaking down economic activities (He and Harris, 2020; El Barnoussi, et al. 2020).
The global economic impact is alarming according to the BBC News (notably the Dow and FTSE saw their biggest quarterly drop in the first three months of the year since 1987; world economies struggle with rising unemployment; and the majority of economies are on the brink of recession, a huge drop in shopping [up to -80% in Mexico]). The pandemic has also caused a decline in demand for some nonessential products and services (Kumar et al., 2020), resulting in the closure of many fashion and apparel retail stores and the halting of the production in global factories (Brydges and Hanlon, 2020).
Similarly, it has deeply affected franchising (Bretas and Alon, 2020), the tourism and hospitality sectors (Donthu & Gustafsson, 2020; He and Harris, 2020), and has been devastating to the airline industry worldwide (Goodell, 2020). Moreover, it could have significantly pushed firms to pursue short-term gains, possibly even fraud and misconduct, and reduce long-term CSR investment (He & Harris, 2020). The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the financial sector, too. Specifically, we have witnessed financial market distortions, miss-aligned prices and funding concerns for many market participants, an inability of individuals and organizations to adequately service their liabilities and pay their debts, and a large increase in borrowers’ defaulting (Becker, 2020; Barnoussi et al. 2020; Couppey-Soubeyran et al., 2020). The pandemic also poses challenges to the insurance industry. The impact is twofold: directly, via health shocks (increases in mortality and morbidity), and indirectly, via financial shocks (higher credit spreads, potentially widespread downgrades, lower interest rates, and lower equity prices). Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced accounting practices (Barnoussi et al., 2020; Heffron & Sheehan, 2020). Indeed, due to this crisis, banks face high uncertainty about the potential scale of bad debts for which they will need provisions. Calls are issued for a prudential application of accounting standards (i.e. International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Accounting Standards Codification (ASC)) and for a clear, fair and strategic taxation policy after the 2020 crisis, particularly in developing countries to allow the development of sustainable and resilient economic growth.
At the organization level, the pandemic is expected to lead businesses to prioritize and optimize expenditures or delay tasks currently considered of little value. Companies, especially start-ups, have imple- mented an indefinite hiring freeze (Donthu & Gustafsson, 2020; Shang-Jin Wei, 2020 in Baldwin and di Mauro, 2020). Moreover, businesses have been experiencing importation problems and staffing deficiencies due to the lockdown measures and the disruption of supply chains (Nicola et al., 2020).
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown have also altered consumer buying and shopping habits (Sheth, 2020; Donthu & Gustafsson, 2020). This is reflected in: hoarding or stockpiling essentials, panic buying, cuts in spending for non essentials products, feelings of anxiety and loneliness, increased demand for takeaways, snacks and cleaning products, improvisation, recycling, increase in Internet and social media usage, pent up demand, working at home, more frequently getting in touch family; etc. Other behaviours are also undesirable, and include: a rise in domestic abuse, particularly against women and children (a 60% increase in emergency calls from women subjected to violence by their intimate partner has been reported in the World Health Organization Europe member states); and increases in racial and anti-immigrant biases (Mahase, 2020; Donthu & Gustafsson, 2020).
The COVID-19 Pandemic has also triggered positive responses on behalf of organizations as well as individuals. Many firms have been proactive and engaged in various CSR activities (Hi & Hariss, 2020; Brydges & Hanlon, 2020). It has also accelerated digital transformation and the growth of digital organizations. Driven by such disruptive change, the need for digitalization is greater than ever.
Nevertheless, some organizations are still lacking in terms of their technological readiness and companies are looking to gain visibility across value chains (Donthu & Gustafsson, 2020). Moreover, the digital divide is deepening the inequalities between people, cities, countries, regions and continents. For a country like the UK, the advent of COVID-19 has thrown a spotlight on the digital divide, increased digital inequality is reported, according to Watts (2020). The digital divide is even sharper in many other countries than the UK. Consequently, the inequality is exacerbated in such countries, e.g. Asia and the Pacific (the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, 2020), Latin America (The World Economic Forum, 2020). The UN Secretary-General, pointed to another facet of digital techno- logy use related to the threats posed by its ungoverned use, e.g. exclusion and inequality, intrusive surveillance, human rights abuses and cybercrime (ransomware attacks on hospitals and health care facilities). He warned of the danger of increased digital fragmentation exacerbated by geopolitical divides, technological competition and polarization.
From the above, numerous topics and questions emerge. Have we reached a point of no return where organizations and their stakeholders have to adjust to the “new normal”? What are the opportunities and risks of this new trend, if any? Will the observed changes in consumers’ habits and behavior become permanent and what will be their impacts, if this is the case? How can we alleviate such deep changes? What are the consequences of the unprecedented changes on the meaning of value and on the value creation processes in the exchange systems? How might organizations confront these grand challenges? What are the requirements for a resilient and sustainable ecosystem? How could the civil society and the Nonprofit sector help in reducing the negative consequences of the pandemic? To which extent are the current fiscal measures effective in reducing global recessionary pressure? What are the risks associated with the application of accounting standards without accounting for the difference between countries? Which digital investments and moves are suitable and for which domains to build a sustainable future? Will ‘artificial’ become the norm? What are the ethical issues related to this digital transformation?
We invite authors to address these issues that are facing organizations and their stakeholders currently, in the near future and long term. Such issues call for new insights and perspectives for both theories and practice, from different stakeholders’ perspectives e.g. organizations, institutions, clients, civil society. By adopting such perspectives, we align with Westley et al. (2017) portrayal of the transformation phenome- non: “rarely a clear-cut, one-step change. But it is messy, fraught, contested, and happens at different scales and in different domains” (c.f. in Blythe et al. 2018). We also endorse the importance of local communities, NGOs, corporations, government actors, indigenous groups, scientists, etc. as actors who are invested to build the resilience of the ecosystem (Westley et al., 2013; Tashman, 2020). Moreover, we invite authors to adopt multi-disciplinary perspectives and integrative frameworks to better grasp the transformative phenomenon (Westley et al., 2013; 2017; Tashman, 2020).
This promotes a better understanding of these issues, assessing their time span and multi-level, multi-domain consequences. Authors are invited to consider a large spectrum of reactions, decisions, policies, etc. and to dig into their impact on organizations and their stakeholders’ decision-making process, their attitude and behavior as well as on the requirements to successfully navigate the post-pandemic environment for a sustainable future. Papers addressing new methodologies in dealing with these issues are also welcomed.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following
- The “new normal” opportunities and risks;
- Efficiency of COVID containment measures for policy makers and their stakeholders;
- Block Chain and corporate governance in the post COVID era;
- Data-driven approaches to organization management post-pandemic;
- Post-COVID Business-to-Business, Business-to-Consumer, Government to Businesses and Government to Citizens and digital strategy and implementation;
- Digital transformation and legislation responsiveness in the pandemic crisis;
- Resilience, adaptive innovation and sustainability of the organizations and their stakeholders in the post-
COVID era; - Datafication work and accountability standards in face of the pandemic crisis;
- Learning from the experience of previous worldwide crises;
- Impact of Firm and Brand responsiveness and kindness;
- Going digital barriers and facilitators;
- CSR in the COVID and post COVID era;
- New organizational, institutional, political and social reforms for sustainable societies;
- Disruptive innovations and organization resilience;
- Digitalization and financial services, accounting reporting and auditing in face of the COVID-19 crisis;
- Consumer habits and behavior changes in face of the pandemic consequences;
- Ethics in the digital age and accountability requirements;
- New governance issues and disruptive acute digital transformation.
- Financial services marketing adaptive strategies and value creation
- New technology-driven solutions trustworthiness and risk.
- Methodological approaches and constraints to study high-speed transformations.
- Internet and social media literacy and contribution to the acute digital transformation.
- Digital divide and the COVID-19 crisis.
- Digital transformation and human resources management in the COVID-19 crisis.
- Business complexity in a changing condition context.
- Modeling and forecasting stakeholders’ behaviours in the digital transformation era.
- Political trust and digital transformation initiatives.
- Regulations, norms and values in an on-going changing context.
- Supply chain management and digital transformation.
- The effect of digitalization on decision-making process.
- The not for profit organizations, social enterprise, sharing economy and central transformations.
- Online learning, academics and researchers and education transformation and efficiency.
- UN 2030 Agenda implementation in the post COVID19 Era.
- The dark side of transformation in the COVID era.
References
- Baldwin R., and di Mauro, B. (2020) Mitigating the COVID Economic Crisis: Act Fast and Do Whatever It Takes, CEPR Press VoxEU.org eBook
- Barnoussi, A. E., Howieson, B., & van Beest, F. (2020). Prudential Application of IFRS 9:(Un) Fair Reporting in COVID-19 Crisis for Banks Worldwide? Australian Accounting Review.
- Blythe, J., Silver, J., Evans, L., Armitage, D., Bennett, N. J., Moore, M. L., Morrison, T.H & Brown, K. (2018). The dark side of transformation: Latent risks in contemporary sustainability discourse. Antipode, 50(5), 1206-1223.
- Bretas, V. P. G., & Alon, I. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 on franchising in emerging markets: An example from Brazil. Global Business and Organizational Excellence, 39(6), 6-16.
- Brydges, T. & Hanlon, M. (2020), » « Garment worker rights and the fashion industry’s response to COVID-19 », Dialogues in Human Geography, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 195-198.
- Couppey-Soubeyran, J., Perego, E., & Tripier, F. (2020). European banks and the COVID-19 crash test (No. 30). EconPol Policy Brief.
- Donthu, N., & Gustafsson, A. (2020). Effects of COVID-19 on business and research. Journal of business research, 117, 284.
- Heffron, R. J., & Sheehan, J. (2020). Rethinking international taxation and energy policy post COVID-19 and the financial crisis for developing countries. Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, 1-9.
- https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/5-digital-technology-trends-for-2020/, accessed 28/8/2020.
- 10- Kumar, A., Luthra, S., Mangla, S. K., & Kazançoğlu, Y. (2020). COVID-19 impact on sustainable
- production and operations management. Sustainable Operations and Computers, 1, 1-7.
- Lapavitsas, C. (2013). The financialization of capitalism: ‘Profiting without producing’. City, 17(6), 792-805.
- Mahase, E. (2020). COVID-19: EU states report 60% rise in emergency calls about domestic violence. BMJ: British Medical Journal (Online), 369.
- Tashman, P. (2020). Socioecological Systems Framework, COVID-19 and Organizations, https://corporate-sustainability.org/the-socioecological-systems-framework-COVID-19-and-organizations/, accessed 4/9 2020.
- Watts, G. (2020). COVID-19 and the digital divide in the UK. The Lancet Digital Health, 2(8), e395-e396.
- Westley, F. R., Tjornbo, O., Schultz, L., Olsson, P., Folke, C., Crona, B., & Bodin, Ö. (2013). A theory of transformative agency in linked social-ecological systems. Ecology and Society, 18(3).
- Westra, R. (2019). Problematizing capitalism in the era of globalization and financialization. In Periodizing Capitalism and Capitalist Extinction (pp. 179-214). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Panelists and contributors
- Prof. Christos Apostolakis, Audencia Business School, Audencia, China;
- Prof. Michael J. Baker, Emeritus Professor University of Strathclyde, U.K;
- Prof. Karim Ben Slimane, ISC-Paris, France;
- Dr. Elvira Bolat, University of Bournemouth, U.K;
- Prof. Salma Damak, University of Carthage, Tunisia;
- Dr. Anne Foy, Westburn Publishers Ltd, U.K;
- Prof. Khaled El Hussainey, University of Portsmouth, U.K;
- Prof. Jouhaina, Ghrib, University of Manouba, Tunisia;
- Prof. Wafa, Khlif, TBS-Barcelona, Spain;
- Prof. Sangeeta, Khorana, University of Bournemouth, U.K;
- Prof. Kaouther, Kooli, University of Bournemouth, U.K;
- Prof. Riadh, Ladhari, FSA-University of Laval, Canada;
- Prof. Hamadi Matoussi, University of Manouba, Tunisia;
- Dr. Hiroko Oe, University of Bournemouth, U.K;
- Prof. Julie, Robson, University of Bournemouth, U.K;
- Prof. Hamida Skandrani, University of Manouba, Tunisia;
- Prof. Nizar, Souiden, FSA-University of Laval, Canada;
- Prof. Len, Tiu Wright, University of Huddersfield, U.K;
- Prof. Samir, Trabelsi, University of Brocke, Canada;
- Prof. Nektarios, Tzempelikos, University of Anglia Ruskin, U.K.;
- Prof. Ferid Zaddem, University of Manouba, Tunisia.
Conference General Chairs
Prof. Hamadi Matoussi & Prof. Hamida Skandrani
Submissions Guidelines
Submissions addressing issues related to the conference themes are highly encouraged. All submissions will be subject to a double-blind review process. Authors should submit full papers (maximum 12 pages, references not included) to: colloque@ligue.rnu.tn. Papers should be of a standard appropriate for highly ranked journals and in English or French.
Manuscripts must be original and unpublished and not under review for publication elsewhere. Success in the review process will not guarantee publication in the special and regular issues supporting this event, but to be accepted for special issue publication, papers need to be presented at the conference.
Please prepare your manuscript before submission, using the following guidelines: Article files should be written in English or in French and provided in Microsoft Word format.
Please ensure that the text is in Times New Roman font style, font size 12, with 1.5 spacing. Articles files should include:
1-A cover sheet (page 1) including the title of the paper, the author’s name(s), title(s), institutional affiliations
and contact details, with the primary contact person designated.
2- A structured abstract on page 2: authors must supply a structured abstract (maximum 250 words in total) set out under 7 sub-headings. The authors’ name(s) should not be on the abstract itself.
• Purpose
• Design/methodology/approach
• Findings
• Research limitations/implications
• Practical implications
• Social implications
• Originality/value
• Keywords: authors should provide appropriate and short keywords that encapsulate the principal topics of the paper. The maximum number of keywords is 4.
3- Starting from page 3, a full paper of 12 pages maximum in length (not including references), prepared as follows:
• Introduction
• Literature review
• Design/methodology/approach
• Findings/discussion
• Research limitations/implications
Publication opportunities
A selection of the best conference papers will be considered for publication in the following special and regular issues of ranked journals and in an edited book (Palgrave):
1-International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation » (ABDC)
2- Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing (Scopus, Web of Science)
3- Journal of Customer Behaviour (ABS)
4- Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting (ABDC)
5- Journal of Risk and Financial Management (ABDC)
6- Social Business (ABDC)
7- Sustainability (Clarivate, Scopus)
8-Edited book: Contemporary Research in Accounting and Finance – Case Studies from the MENA region. (https://www.palgrave.com/gp, Scopus)
Conference fees
● No registration fees are required for this 5th Edition of the LIGUE International Conference
● Registration Hyperlink : Registration Form
Important dates
– 29 and 30 June 2021: Conference
For further information, please contact
Prof. Hamida Skandrani: hamida.skandrani@iscae.uma.tn
Pro. Hamadi Matoussi: hamadi.matoussi@iscae.rnu.tn