~ ISC 2024 presented three insightful and thought-provoking keynote speeches covering different aspects of the current state and impact of AI and how can we thrive in a future with AI
~ The conference brought together about 200 researchers, educators, and industry practitioners to a common platform for discussing issues and opportunities that organisations face with the application of AI technologies in the decision-making processes
~ The event had six parallel tracks and hosted a variety of pre-conference workshops and interactive sessions for professional development
December 19, 2024: The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) concluded the 2nd edition of the India Strategy Conference (ISC 2024) yesterday. The event was jointly organised by IIMA, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB), and the Indian School of Business (ISB) from December 15 to 18, 2024, on the theme of “Strategizing in an AI- Dominated World”. ISC is a unique conference that is designed to bring together the CXOs from the industry and the strategy scholars from academia at a common platform.
With six parallel tracks that explored diverse aspects of global business strategy in an AI- dominated world, including Environment, Society and Governance (ESG), Internationalisation, Innovation and Digital Transformation, Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Human Capital, and so on, ISC 2024 drew a wider interest and brought together about 200 researchers, educators, and industry practitioners.
The conference was inaugurated by Professor Bharat Bhasker, Director of IIMA and conference co-chairs Professor Amit Karna and Professor Chitra Singla from IIM Ahmedabad and Professor Seung Hoon Lee from ISB.
Speaking on the inaugural day, Professor Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIMA, said, “India has arrived at the stage where we need to have our own thought processes and our own learnings from the industry and academia and bring it all together to share that advanced knowledge and application of knowledge with the rest of the world.” Professor Bhasker further elaborated on how we all have been slowly using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our lives for the past three decades and explained how AI and strategy-making are similar in nature. “AI and strategy-making both require similar strengths, such as the ability to visualise long-term, the ability to analyse and get insights from the data, and deep-learning from the data. With the emergence of computing power and AI, many of these tasks have been taken over by technology-assisted tools, but the human brain is far more complex and higher in strength. So, it is important to deliberate on how we can make use of the current level of their computing power and AI tools for our benefit. This is a great forum where all the strategy experts from academia and industries have come together for the exchange of knowledge.”, he added. The inauguration ceremony was followed by a thoughtful virtual welcome address by Professor Sharon Alvarez from the University of Pittsburgh.
ISC 2024 presented three insightful and thought-provoking keynote speeches:
Professor Jeffrey J. Reuer, Blake Family Endowed Chair in Strategic Management and Governance at Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue University, delivered the inaugural keynote address on the topic of ‘Corporate Strategy Ramifications of AI’. Elaborating on how AI changes or disrupts the way we think about strategy, Professor Reuer said, “For a decision to be strategic, one has to think about three types of interdependence. interdependence across decisions of the firm competencies, interdependence across decisions with rivals and other factors, and finally, inter-temporal strategic decisions. There are firm boundaries, theories of resource allocation, and so on. But the AI research disrupts and changes the way we should think about our existing theories of advantage. As we go forward in the coming months and years, it will be interesting to see if AI is a threat or an opportunity.” He also talked about AI and the components of strategy and how AI is shaping mergers and acquisitions.
In the second keynote address, Professor Prithwiraj Choudhury, Lumry Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, enthralled the audience with an engaging talk on ‘Shaping the Future of Work with AI’. Speaking of the emerging work trends, Professsor Choudhury said, “The world is witnessing a new phenomenon and that is organisations or companies completely shunning physical offices and still growing up to some scale. They have entirely different organisational processes to manage coordination, resource allocation, and decision-making. If you believe in the idea of working from anywhere, it might lead to more productivity and more happiness for individuals, and it also has the potential to reverse the brain drain. The other thing that is happening globally now which is extremely relevant for ideas and international strategies is the phenomenon of digital nomadism. Countries are coming up with special visas for remote workers because they are not competing for local jobs, they already have a job, but they are still going to spend money in local hotels or restaurants, etc and some of these digital nomads who have startups could also add value to local communities by offering them jobs.” He also touched upon the pros and cons of remote work in comparison with physical work and said that finding a middle ground can work wonders.
He also highlighted that in the future AI is going to take an important role as procedural partner in the world of strategy because of its ability to predict the future based on the past and we need the domain expertise of workers to have any positive productivity by using AI tools.
This was followed by an equally thought-provoking keynote session by Professor Charles Dhanaraj, J. Mack Robinson Professor of International Business at Georgia State University, on ‘Beyond AI: Intelligent Strategizing’. Talking about the future of strategy and a world after AI and key sources of advantages of human intelligence, Professor Dhanaraj said, “In the age of AI, we have to think about strategy intelligently. Strategy is not just about data, resources, or positioning. Strategy is more about looking at multiple things, finding the right opportunity, transforming capabilities, and looking at how we can adapt and build new things. It is true that AI can help us and provide us with data and options, but you have to have the ability to see the big picture and how small elements will play, and the moral courage to act upon it. We have real problems, and we can generate real solutions, but they are not going to come purely out of just analytical models. At the end of the day, we need leaders, strategists, who can imagine, make sense out of the data, and act upon it.”
Three prominent panel discussions at the conference proved to be very useful for research scholars and aspiring academicians and strategy officers. In the first panel discussion on ‘Publishing in Top Journals’, the current and former editors of top strategy journals: Professor Deepak Somaya, Professor Jeffrey J. Reuer, Professor Sougata Ray, and Professor Gurneeta Vasudeva Singh discussed the nuances of publishing process. In the second panel discussion on ‘Crafting an Academic Career’, Professor Sumit Kundu, Professor Vikas Kumar, Professor Rajesh Upadhyayula, and Professor Rejie George shared their experience and insights on how to grow professionally as an academic while handling multiple roles of a teacher, researcher, administrator, mentor, and scholar. The third was an eminent Directors’ Panel featuring IIMA Director Professor Bharat Bhasker, IIMB Director Professor Rishikesha Krishnan, and ISB Dean Professor Madan Pillutla, offering participants invaluable insights into the future of management education and strategy research.
The conference also featured the CII-CSO Forum on December 16, 2024, with stimulating keynote speeches and panel discussions by industry leaders and experts. In a keynote, HP India Managing Director Ms. Ipsita Dasgupta shared the impact of AI on corporates and the nature of work as well as different innovations that are coming up. She shared that AI will not replace employees rather it will enable employees to do things smartly. The Forum also saw 12 speakers from industry sharing their insights at the event.
The event showcased 170 paper and poster presentations across diverse tracks and conducted a variety of pre-conference workshops and interactive sessions that provided the participants with a unique opportunity for networking and professional development. ISC 2024 concluded with an awards ceremony in five categories, including the Best Paper Award, Best Emerging Scholar Award, Best Track Submission Award, and Travel Grants, among others.
About IIM Ahmedabad:
The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) is a premier global management Institute that is at the forefront of promoting excellence in the field of management education. In more than six decades of its existence, the Institute has been acknowledged for its exemplary contributions to scholarship, practice and policy through its distinctive teaching, high-quality research, nurturing future leaders, supporting industry, government, social enterprise and creating a progressive impact on society.
IIMA was founded as an innovative initiative by the Government, industry, and international academia in 1961. Since then, it has been consolidating its global footprint and today it has a network with over 80 top international institutions and a presence in Dubai. Its eminent faculty members and more than 44,000 alumni, who are at the helm of influential positions in all walks of life also contribute to its global recognition. Over the years, IIMA’s academically superior, market-driven, and socially impactful programmes, have earned high reputation and acclaim globally. It became the first Indian institution to receive international accreditation from EQUIS. The Institute is also placed first in the Government of India’s National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), India Rankings 2024. The Institute has been ranked 43rd globally in the Financial Times (FT) Executive Education Rankings 2024. The renowned flagship two-year Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) is ranked 39th in the FT Masters in Management Ranking 2024 and the one-year Post Graduate Programme in Management for Executives (PGPX) has been ranked 41st in the FT Global MBA rankings 2024.
IIMA offers consultancy services and more than 200 curated executive education programmes in customised, blended, and open enrolment formats for a diverse audience comprising business leaders, policymakers, industry professionals, academicians, government officials, armed forces personnel, agri-business and other niche sector specialists and entrepreneurs.
To know more about the Institute, please visit: https://www.iima.ac.in/
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Ms. Shivangi Bhatt | manager-comm@iima.ac.in and pr@iima.ac.in
