2017 Annual Conference - Santiago, Chile

Surpassing the Emerging Country Threshold: Challenges for Businesses and Government

Hosted by University of Chile

Program Chair: Sergio Olavarrieta

FEN UChile held the annual conference Business Association of Latin American Studies (BALAS 2017)

The Business Administration Department of Universidad de Chile's Faculty of Economics and Business (FEN) organized the BALAS annual conference 2017.

A total of 110 leading academics, managers and decision makers had the opportunity to participate in the BALAS 2017 Conference: these came from more than 12 countries, such as Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Japan, among others. BALAS 2017 represented a very special opportunity to share ideas regarding research interests and policy development between American and European countries.

After a rigorous blind review using the highest academic standards, 80 papers were accepted and selected out of the 123 papers that were submitted. With this revision and selection process, it is possible to ensure that the conference excels at bringing together, in a consistent manner, a group of the world's leading academics in the disciplines related to business. Thus, BALAS fulfills its objectives of providing new knowledge, and experience and the opportunity overcome the barriers that thwart the creation and sharing of knowledge. The papers that were presented at the conference were distributed in a total of 25 parallel sessions.

The event began with a plenary session where the lecture, "Surpassing the Emerging Country Threshold: The Role of Companies", was given by Oscar Landerretche, Chairman of the Board of Coldeco, the largest state-owned copper mining company in the world. In his presentation, Mr. Landerretche analyzed the performance of Coldeco, and the main changes implemented during his management, which, not only, have helped increase production, but also have ensured greater transparency.

At this same plenary session, the Commercial Engineer Hans Eben, well-known for his role as director of several companies, and also alumnus of our Faculty, presented the lecture "Challenges for companies and governments of emerging markets in the XXI century". Eben explained the main changes of the world in which we are living, and how to adapt to them within the work market, family, and interpersonal relationships.

On the second day, the plenary session was in charge of Peter Brews, Dean of the Marla Moore, School of Business of the University of South Carolina. His lecture was "Challenges for government, business and business schools." 

The President of Chile's National Productivity Commission (CNC) andformer Dean of FEN, Professor Joseph Ramos, participated in the final     plenary session, where he addressed the challenges for the development of emerging countries, in which the productive diversity is essential for aspiring to a permanent and sustainable progress over time. The second speaker in this final session was the Assistant-Secretary of Finance of the Chilean Government and former scholar at FEN, Alejandro Micco. Mr. Micco highlighted the strengths of Chile in macroeconomic issues, and elaborated on the efforts the country is making to become a relevant services exporter in Latin America.

Additionally, a Paper Development Session was held with the editors of  two prestigious Latin American journals: Carlos Pombo, Editor-in-Chief of  Academia Revista Latinoamericana de Adminstración (Emerald Group), and Carlos  Heitor Campani, Chief Editor of the Latin American Business Review (Taylor and Francis). 

Santiago 

The conference was held in Santiago, capital of Chile, and its economic, political and cultural center. The academic activities of BALAS 2017 were carried out in the Universidad de Chile's Faculty of Economics and Business campus, which is located in the historic center of Santiago. 

The participants were able to enjoy a tour to the Concha y Toro vineyard, visited its park and manor house, tasted several kinds of grapes and learned about the wine production process in Chile. 

The official gala dinner was held at the top of the city, where every partaker was able to enjoy impressive views of the city and the mountain range. They also had the opportunity to enjoy typical Chilean dances presented by the Antumapu group, Universidad de Chile's distinctive folkloric dance troupe. 

We would like to thank the following sponsors for their contribution to make the conference possible: Graduate School of the Faculty of Economics and Business of Universidad de Chile, UNegocios FEN, BALAS, Euromonitor International, Cengage Learning and Crowne Plaza Santiago Hotel.