Sustainability and efficiency in the period of turmoil: Economics & Management — 2024 Conference at St Petersburg University

The conference featured participants from 12 Russian universities, as well as universities from China, Colombia, Serbia, Malaysia, Turkmenistan, South Africa, and other countries. The EMC 2024 conference programme was the most extensive in its history. Over three days, five round tables and over 200 sectional reports were held within the framework of 16 research tracks, all united by the theme "Economics, management, finance: sustainability and efficiency in the period of turmoil". 

During the opening ceremony, Elena Rogova, Director of the Centre for Market Efficiency Research at the St Petersburg University School of Management, announced that the conference’s geography spans the entirety of Russian Federation from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok, as well as other countries around the world.

EMC is a unique dialogue between business representatives and academia, resulting in the evolution of methodologies and knowledge in the fields of management, finance, and marketing.

Elena Rogova, Director of the Centre for Market Efficiency Research at the St Petersburg University School of Management

"Over the years, the conference has established a solid reputation as a platform where you can present your research and receive friendly yet constructive feedback, which helps to improve research results and get them published in high-impact journals," noted Elena Rogova. 

The highlight of the conference was a plenary discussion on "Navigating crises: a holistic approach to international diversification, climate Risks and economic value dynamics" with leading global experts from Russia, China and Serbia. 

The "Economics & Management" conference is a traditional large-scale academic event at the St Petersburg University School of Management. Over the years, it has brought together more than 2,500 researchers and experts from around the world. 

Professor Qian Sun of Fudan University’s School of Management presented a study on the process of de-privatisation of Chinese companies. According to him, the transfer of a controlling stake into government hands in China does not always happen by government decree; often entrepreneurs themselves sell their companies to the authorities if they see an advantage in doing so. 

"If the comparison is made with companies selling a significant share of their ownership to other private entities, then de-privatisation is more likely to be motivated by obtaining state protection or support," noted Qian Sun. "Moreover, de-privatisation and the sale of ownership to private entities can to some extent be interchangeable. Overall, it does not lead to significantly better or worse results compared to their counterparts in subsequent years."

Russian Management Journal is a peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal published by St Petersburg University since 2003. The main thematic profile of the publication is organisational management.

The conference’s main tracks covered a broad spectrum of contemporary business issues, including human capital and sustainable development, strategic finance, professional communication, marketing, public sector concerns, and more. Several tracks were co-organised with the School of Finance at the Higher School of Economics. 

Professor Fan Weihua from Beijing Normal University spoke about methods for modelling climate disasters. China has collected data on typhoons for the past 100 years, but it is only now that researchers are learning to predict the potential financial losses from natural disasters, which cause millions of yuan of damage to the country’s economy each year. 

The Dean of the Faculty of Banking, Insurance and Finance at the Belgrade Banking Academy, Zoran Grubisic, presented a report entitled "Diversification in a Crisis: Is there a safe haven?". 

"In the case of gold, despite its extreme volatility, there is no clear evidence of a specific crisis influence. This could be an indication that it can still partially serve as a safe haven in conditions of global turbulence," the expert believes. 

For the first time at the conference, specialists from the St Petersburg University School of Management held a masterclass on how to write and submit a research paper to the Russian Journal of Management. The goal of the event was to broaden the pool of authors for the publication and to share the tips on how to write a good research paper. According to Yuri Fedotov, an associate professor at SPbU, the flow of draft research papers to the editorial office is increasing, with about 130 papers now arriving each year. At the same time, he expressed a desire to improve the quality of research.