The recent financial crisis has both local and global implications for the business environment. In particular, emerging economies are at crossroads. Should they emulate the Western developed world or focus on regional/ local development in order to drive economic growth? This formulates a pertinent question, in view of the recent calls (in US and Europe) to overhaul its economic data, and restructure its economic, social and organizational systems, which have been profoundly affected by the recent financial crises. This conference invites participants in all fields of business and management to engage in this debate, and present their viewpoints. Such a discussion is relevant from local as well as global perspectives, as it is being suggested that the worldwide problems could have been avoided, if ideologies supporting the current economics/ management models weren’t so vocal, influential and inconsiderate of others’ viewpoints and concerns.

SAICON 2010 will gather experts from around the globe to address critical issues with respect to thriving in a post-financial crisis environment. Emphasis will be placed on issues related to innovation, entrepreneurship, investment and public-private partnerships as the primary sources of global competitiveness. It will explore how business and national leaders can establish appropriate mechanisms and implement action plans to succeed in a global market.

AGBA, the Academy for Global Business Advancement, is a worldwide network of professionals and academics committed to facilitating dissemination of scholarly findings in the field of global business and entrepreneurship.

The main purpose of AGBA is to provide ongoing open forums to discuss and analyze global business and global entrepreneurship from different perspectives and viewpoints, in order to improve understanding of underlying forces that

(1) have an impact on global developments and

(2) shape the destiny of developing countries in the contemporary globalized economy. AGBA bridges geographic, cultural, disciplinary, and professional gaps by integrating the business disciplines while actively enhancing practitioner-academician interaction on a global basis. The objectives of AGBA are to foster education and to advance professional knowledge and standards in various areas of global business and global entrepreneurship by:

(1) facilitating the exchange of information and ideas among educators and professionals, entrepreneurs, and bureaucrats, and between the business and academic fields;

(2) encouraging and assisting basic and applied research activities that advance knowledge of global business and entrepreneurship development and operations, and increase the available body of teaching materials;

(3) facilitating the interdisciplinary dialogue concerning global business and global entrepreneurship issues as they relate to academic, business and government sectors. We envision AGBA to be growing into one of the leading academic organizations investigating and analyzing contemporary global business and global entrepreneurship challenges.