Report on the International Conference

An international conference on “The VUCA World: Its Impact on the Business Environment” was organized by the Department of Commerce PG & UG (Afternoon and Evening Section) on the 10th and 11th of March, 2023 for academicians of the higher education fraternity. Researchers submitted their original and unpublished papers concerning the broad theme of the conference addressing their papers to specific sub-themes. Approximately 45 papers were submitted and presented in this conference.

The conference commenced at 10:30 a.m. on the 10th of March, 2023 with an opening address by the compere of the conference by Ms. Arundhati Mazumder followed by the inaugural session with lighting of the lamp by Dr. Subhabrata Ganguly, the Teacher-in-Charge, The BESC; Prof. Dilip Shah, Dean of Student Affairs, The BESC; Dr. Suman Kumar Mukerjee, Director General, The BESC; Dr. Santus Kumar Deb, Professor, University of Dhaka; Prof. (Dr.) Siddhartha Sankar Saha, Head, Department of Commerce; Prof. (Dr.) Pranam Dhar, Head, Department of Commerce, West Bengal State University and Dr. Palash Bandyopadhyay, Secretary, South Kolkata Association for Commerce Researchers and Academicians. The felicitation ceremony then ensued and concluded with the formal release of the conference proceedings by the eminent academicians who had graced the occasion. Dr. Joyeta Bhadury delivered the welcome address to the gathering and enlightened the participants about the relevance of VUCA and set the ball rolling for the discussions of the day.

On that note, Ms. Mazumder introduced the delegates one by one wherein they delivered the key note addresses and deliberated in details on theme of the conference along with it’s relevance in the contemporary world. The session concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by Ms. Paramita Chakravarty, Joint Organizing Secretary and Coordinator PG Department of Commerce.

Post a brief tea break, the first technical session was held where the speakers were Dr. Santus Kumar Deb, Professor and Chairman, Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Faculty of Business Studies, University of Dhaka and Prof.(Dr.) Pranam Dhar. The session was chaired by Prof. Siddhartha Sankar Saha, Head, Department of Commerce, University of Calcutta. This was followed by lunch and thereafter the paper presentations were conducted in two parallel tracks. The first track was chaired by Dr. Suvankar Chakraborty, Principal, Sundarban Mahavidyalaya. Papers were presented on topics in the area of Digital India & Sustainability. The second track of paper presentation was chaired by Prof. (Dr.) Pranam Dhar, Head, Department of Commerce, West Bengal State University. Paper presentations in the area of Stock Market were made in the track. With that, the first day of the international conference was successfully concluded.

 

Day 2 of the conference commenced with the compere welcoming the dignitaries and conducting the felicitation ceremony. The conference then proceeded to the technical session where Dr. Debashish Sur, Professor of Commerce, University of Burdwan and Prof. Ashish Kumar Sana, Professor of Commerce, University of Calcutta, delivered their discourse. The session was chaired by Prof. Amalendu Bhunia, Dean & Professor of Commerce, University of Kalyani. This was followed by a tea break and thereafter the paper presentations were conducted in two parallel tracks, i.e., track 3 and 4. The third track of paper presentations in the area of Banking and Finance was chaired by Dr. Debashish Sur. And, the fourth track was chaired by Dr. Ashish Kumar Sana which saw presentations on Women Empowerment and CSR. During the post lunch session, the paper presentations were conducted in track 5 and 6 parallelly. The fifth track was chaired by Dr. Santus Kumar Deb. Papers were presented on topics in the area of Tourism and Management. The sixth track, in the area of Financial Performance and Capital Structure, was chaired by Dr. Amalendu Bhunia. Later, Dr. Anupa Ghosh, Coordinator, The IQAC, The BESC, addressed the gathering at the valedictory session post which the award ceremony was conducted where Dr. Saha, Dr. Bhunia and Dr. Deb awarded certificates and gave away gifts to the best speakers and best papers from each tracks. A total of 14 best papers and 14 best speakers were recognized. Secretary of South Kolkata Association for Commerce Researchers and Academicians, Dr. Palash Bandyopadhyay felicitated the convenor and the organizing secretary and expressed sincere gratitude for the collaboration.

The conference concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms. Atreyee Ganguly, Coordinator, Department of Commerce UG (Afternoon and Evening Section), The BESC. The link of the feedback form was also shared with all the participants so that they could fill in and submit the same to receive their certificates.