20041: Role of the Business Academic in the Face of Existential Crises

Sunday, July 27, 2025

14:30 - 16:00 CEST (GMT+2)

Location: Bella Center: Hall A- A1-m3

Session Type: PDW (workshop)
Orientation: Teaching,Research
Shareable link: https://cdmcd.co/yKAw6M

Participant(s)

GF

Gerard F. Farias

Fairleigh Dickinson University, United States
SS

Suneetha Saggurthi

Indian Institute of Management Raipur, India
CF

Christine Farias

City University of New York
SK

Sanjeeb Kakoty

Indian Institute of Management, Shillong
PS

Paul Shrivastava

The Pennsylvania State University, United States

In light of the current existential polycrisis that threatens the planet and all its inhabitants, we take a long, hard, and critical view of ourselves to examine the role we have played as academics in causing and perpetuating this crisis. We are deeply concerned that, even though there have been many calls for urgent action, key indicators make it abundantly clear that an extremely dystopian world looms, unless we launch a proportionate response to the grand challenges of our time. The irony is that we educate the youth to perpetuate the polycrisis that threatens their own futures! This PDW calls business school academics to rise up to the challenges and develop a manifesto and action plan for change that is proportional to the grand challenges and force change at scale, scope, and urgency by countering the dominant and powerful forces that work hard to maintain the status quo.