International Conference of Business, Management and Social Sciences (ICBMASS) 2025
Main Theme: Governance, Structural Transformation and Development
Tentative Dates: 6-7 May 2025
Concept Note
Pakistan is facing enormous challenges on the socioeconomic fronts as it has been facing consistently high inflation and unemployment, and low economic growth for last many years. Political issues add to the deterioration of macroeconomic indicators that affect significantly the overall wellbeing in the country. The economy cannot recover fully from the effects of COVID-19 because of devastating floods in 2022 that killed 1,739 people and caused ₨ 3.2 trillion ($14.8 billion) of damage and ₨ 3.3 trillion ($15.2 billion) of economic losses. These disasters along with high energy prices hike in the aftermath of the pandemic increase poverty and inequality and macroeconomic imbalances. As a result, the government went to IMF for a bailout package.
Domestically, the economy remains narrowly based on production and exports primarily comprising of unprocessed agricultural commodities and semi-finished textile products. Literature suggests that developing countries need diversified economy and structural transformation, with highly productive industrial and services sectors. Political stability and robust institutions produce a conducive environment for business and small enterprises. This requires an enabling environment for investment and competitiveness. Failing to these, we witnessed an exodus of young Pakistani graduates looking for opportunities abroad.
Governance is a multifaceted concept that goes beyond the traditional conception of exercise of authority or power to manage an entity’s economic, political and administrative affairs. It refers to the dynamic framework of rules (formal and informal), norms, values, structures, relationships, systems and processes by which an entity (public and private/corporate or state and non-state) is directed, controlled and held to account and whereby power/authority within the entity is exercised and maintained for the attainment of specific outcomes. It encompasses broad-based participation, rule of law, accountability, transparency, responsiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, stability and safety, equity and inclusiveness, empowerment, and control of corruption.
On the other hand, structural transformation, which refers to “the reallocation of economic activity across the broad sectors of agriculture, manufacturing and services”, is indispensable for developing countries like Pakistan to significantly reduce poverty and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by ensuring that the sources of growth are diversified through industrialization, value-addition and structural transformation. It turns out that one of the preconditions for the successful transformation of the economy is good political, economic and environmental governance. In other words, structural transformation requires good governance underpinned by responsive, transparent and accountable systems of governance; sound macroeconomic policies; adequate institutional and human capacities to design and implement development programs; ‘social contract’ between Governments and citizens on mutual roles and responsibilities; sufficient investment in social and economic infrastructure; and an enabling environment for competitive manufacturing, agribusiness and services sectors.
The gains in good governance are more attributable to achievements in human development. However, the key challenges include security, rule of law, and extensive migration of human resources. It is worthy to note that in their attempts to achieve structural transformation, Pakistan has failed to prioritize the application and practice of the principles of good governance, which calls for political representativeness, institutional effectiveness and robust economic management. These principles of good governance enable a country to formulate and implement sound structural transformation agendas. In Africa, evidence shows that countries with limited transparent, accountable and responsible Governments and institutions, or weak socioeconomic systems, have experienced slow progress in diversifying the economy, increasing highly intensive labor productivity, improving the environment for business and investments, creating sustainable job opportunities, and upscaling human well-being.
The goal of the 2025 International Conference of Business, Management and Social Sciences will be to identify more specific governance policies and strategies for successful structural transformation, building on existing best practices and developing countries’ perspectives leading to structural transformation. The Conference will bring together policymakers, researchers and development practitioners from within the country and from around the world to make strategic contributions to make structural transformation a beneficial reality development and good governance. The Conference will also provide an opportunity for participants to assess the impact of current economic and political governance strategies on economic transformation such as, proposed policy of Restructuring and Rightsizing, reducing subsidies by making them more targeted that can affect poverty, inequality and human development in developing countries especially Pakistan. The Conference will encompass in-depth presentations of policy-oriented research by both established academics and emerging researchers interested in development, who will debate and recommend policy options on how to upscale governance for the structural transformation of Pakistan’s economy and society.
Sub-Themes
- Governance for structural transformation
- Institutions and economic development
- The role of the State in overcoming barriers to effective structural transformation
- Financing structural economic transformation
- Role of decentralized government institutions in structural transformation
- Governance of energy resources as a driver of structural transformation
- Human and institutional capacity development
- Governance, migration and structural economic transformation
- Regional and international competitiveness
- Digital and AI Technology Developments
- Regional Economic Integration
- The Political Economy of Corruption and the Rent-Seeking
- Regional infrastructure and CPEC
- Macroeconomics
- Taxes, subsidies and social insurance
- Energy resources development and pricing
- Environment and climate change
- Mental Health in the Digital Age
- Positive Psychology: Empowering Individuals and Communities
- Psychologically driven Interventions for Positive Behavior Change
- Gender, labor participation and structural transformation
- Sustainable Development goals
- Public policy of Health care and education
- Rural development and development policy
- Peace and security in an age of transformation
- International relations and Diplomacy
- Entrepreneurship and structural transformation
- Population and Urbanization
- International Economic Law and Global Justice
- Contemporary Approaches in Corporate and Commercial Law
- Marketing in the digital age
- Sustainable marketing for social change
- Innovation for transformational and sustainable impact
- Employee wellbeing
- Leadership and organizational transformation
- Digital supply chain technologies such as Blockchain, Industry 4.0, Artificial Intelligence etc.
- Sustainable production and operations management
- Digital Finance: Revolutionizing Access, Efficiency, and Transparency in the Global Financial System.
- Sustainable Finance: Driving Innovation in Green Investment and Impactful Capital Allocation.
- Future outlook of finance: Leveraging Technology, Ethics, and Inclusivity for Resilient Economies