RBS Panel Explores Quest for Sustainability in Business in World of Uncertainty

Rabat- UIR’s Rabat Business School is hosting the second edition of the “International Conference on Sustainable Business Practices (ICSBP),” taking place on May 9-10 in Rabat.

The inaugural panel shed light on the challenges facing the business field to achieve sustainability in a world characterized by Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA).

The International Conference represents a pivotal element of RBS’s research strategy, reflecting its dedication to multidisciplinarity. By giving precedence to this approach, the objective is to foster a lively ecosystem that fosters impactful research and advances sustainability themes.

The inaugural plenary session featured esteemed speakers, including editors-in-chief of international business journals and experts from diverse professional backgrounds, who provided diverse perspectives on the subject of sustainability.

In an interview with Morocco World News, Ikram Jebabli, chairing the conference and serving as an Associate Dean for research, shared insights about the organization of the second edition of the International Conference on Sustainable Business Practices.

“The conference is aligned with the research strategy of Rabat Business School, which focuses and gives priority to the main topic, which is sustainability. We wanted to be purely disciplinary to answer the topic from different perspectives,” stated Jebabli.

Jebabli expressed her delight in hosting over 200 participants from 21 countries, bringing together academia, researchers, and industry experts to debate sustainability from various academic perspectives.

Following his presentation, Professor Stephan Minner, Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Production Economics, touched upon key points of his presentation mainly focused on supply chain sustainability.

“We are all driven by the challenges of digital transformation, resilient supply chains, and also sustainable development of supply chains. Here it’s important to look at how the world has changed and moving from volatility, uncertainty, complexity to disruptions, nonlinear supply chains,” he told Morocco World News.

“Looking at the ambiguity that we have here and how we need to transform our typical supply chain sinking and supply chain planning to adjust for resilience and sustainability. Here in particular highlighting the importance of visibility and data, which is crucial for making the world better and more resilient and more sustainable,” explained Minner.

John Goodell, Editor-in-Chief of Research in International Business and Finance, reflects on his participation in the second edition of ICSBP in Rabat. “One of the things I really love about Morocco in addition to the tea, is that it’s a nation and a people that form a bridge between the Islamic world and the European world,” he told Morocco World News.

Professor Goodell reflected on his discourse at the conference titled “Is ESG Pecuniary?” exploring various perspectives on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues in the business field.

“It’s about the division, the social division in the US, and how there’s different political constituents and social groups that view things very differently. And this issue actually relates to both ESG, which is tremendously important for climate issues, as well as finance research,” he stated.

Philippe Defraigne, the founding director of Cullen International, expressed his delight at participating in the second edition of ICSBP at the Rabat Business School campus.

“I’m really impressed by the variety of participants you have, people from many countries around the world, from different professions, bringing different perspectives on this, on this important question of building a more sustainable world,” he said in an interview with MWN.

“When looking at the program, this question of sustainability is looked at from a technology point of view, from a financial point of view, from a mathematical point of view,” he added. “There are really so many dimensions that will shed light on this important challenge and will collectively, I hope, help us build a better world.”