The 5th Asian Conference on Business and Economic Studies – ACBES 2023

On August 16 and 17, 2023, The 5^th Asia Conference on Business and Economic Studies (ACBES 2023) attracted more than 200 scholars from 33 countries in the world. This event, once again, marked the success of the prestige and academic quality of the annual conference series organized by Journal of Asian Business and Economic Studies (JABES) under the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH).

Following the success of the 4 previous Annual International Conferences, ACBES 2023 was honored to receive the scientific cooperation of 3 universities: Universitas Padjadjaran (Indonesia), Krirk University (Thailand), Queen Mary University of London (United Kingdom); sponsored by 7 prestigious international journals: Journal of Asian Business and Economic Studies (SCOPUS Q1, ABDC: B, ESCI), Financial Review (ABDC: A, ABS: 3, SCOPUS, ESCI), International Journal of Finance & Economics (ABDC: B, ABS: 3, SCOPUS, SSCI), Socio-Economic Review (ABDC: A, ABS: 3, SCOPUS, SSCI), Evaluation Review (ABDC: A, SCOPUS, SSCI), International Finance (SCOPUS), SSCI), International Economics and Economic Policy (ABDC: B, SCOPUS Q2, ESCI); and financed by 4 units: Ministry of Education and Training under the SCOPUS Accession Scheme (2020-2023), International School of Business (ISB), the French-Vietnamese School of Management Ho Chi Minh City (CFVG), and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF).

The conference invited 4 keynote speakers as leading scholar in the world, including: Prof. Almas Heshmati (Jönköping International Business School, Sweden), Prof. Rosalie L. Tung (Simon Fraser University, Canada; Editor-in-Chief of Journal of International Business Studies), Prof. Han Woo Park (YeungNam University, Korea; Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia; Editor-in-Chief of Quality & Quantity), and Prof. Van Pham (Baylor University, USA).

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the ACBES 2023, Prof. Su Dinh Thanh - President of UEH and Head of the Steering Committee of the Conference - shared about JABES’ recent achievements (officially listed in SCOPUS ranked Q1, ABDC Grade B, ESCI and so on); concurrently, Prof. Su Dinh Thanh also affirmed that compared to the previous conferences, ACBES 2023 attracted a larger number of prestigious international experts, scholars and high-quality articles related to the contemporary academic topics and the current global context. Prof. Su Dinh Thanh expected that ACBES 2023 would bring many research ideas, make academic contributions and be a place for young researchers to exchange and foster, contributing to enhancing the academic position of UEH.

Prof. Su Dinh Thanh – President of UEH - delivering the opening speech of the ACBES 2023

Representative of ACBES 2023 Organizing Committee, Prof. Nguyen Trong Hoai – Head of the Organizing Committee - sent greetings to the speakers, attendees, partners, and sponsors. Prof. Nguyen Trong Hoai asserted that JABES had been indexed in ESCI, SCOPUS, and ABDC and was striving to be listed in other major international categories in the future such as ERIM and ABS. Through the initial statistical results, Prof. Nguyen Trong Hoai commented that ACBES 2023 was an influential scientific conference beyond Asia, a place to exchange ideas for global scientists on current global issues: socio-economic influence from the COVID-19 Pandemic, war issues, and foreign trade sanctions. Prof. Nguyen Trong Hoai also specially thanked the partners, keynote speakers, sponsors, session chairs and moderators/coordinators for their valuable contributions to the success of ACBES 2023.

Prof. Nguyen Trong Hoai – Head of ACBES 2023 Organizing Committee - giving the opening speech

Prof. Su Dinh Thanh and Prof. Nguyen Trong Hoai giving souvenirs and thanking the Keynote Speakers

At ACBES 2023, 4 Keynote Speakers presented topics related to current new economic issues in turn, each presentation and discussion was attended by reputable scholars with the role of main coordinators from The City University of New York (USA), National Economics University, and UEH. Presentation sessions of the Keynote Speaker are conducted through a Hybrid format to create the best conditions for all attendees to be able to follow in all situations. The topics presented are as follows:

Prof. Almas Heshmati (Jönköping University, Sweden) presented the topic “Green Innovations and Patents in OECD Countries”. The research by Prof. Almas Heshmati estimates knowledge production consisting of a system of input and output creativity with productivity and feedback effects on innovation investment. The model takes into account productivity shock, endogeneity of inputs, simultaneity and interdependence in which the productivity shock is an unobserved latent component. The model was estimated by Bayesian methods combined with Marco Chain Sequential Monte Carlo iterative technique, also known as Particle Filtering. In the empirical part, the study uses panel data from 27 OECD countries in the period 1990–2018 to provide implications and lessons learned for the innovation process in Vietnam and other emerging economies.

Prof. Almas Heshmati presenting the topic “Green Innovations and Patents in OECD Countries” and discussing it with academicians at ACBES 2023

Prof. Rosalie L. Tung (Simon Fraser University, Canada; Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Business Studies) presented online the topic “Reflections on Publishing Impactful Research in Top Journals in International Business Research”. Based on decades of research in the field of international business and his current role as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Business Studies - the leading Journal of International Business with an Impact Factor of 11.6 in 2022, Prof. Rosalie presented the impact of publishing in leading international business journals and proposed new global research directions including population aging, digital transformation of economies towards interdependence in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Prof. Rosalie L. Tung presenting the topic “Reflections on Publishing Impactful Research in Top Journals in International Business Research” online and discussing it with academicians at ACBES 2023

Prof. Han Woo Park (YeungNam University, Korea; Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia; Editor-in-Chief of Quality & Quantity) presented the topic “Measuring Innovation and Collaboration System Using Big Data”. Prof. Han Woo Park stated that, in the past 10 years, big data analysis has become popular. As big data comes in many different formats, his research focuses on the most common type of big data in measuring innovation and knowledge-based collaboration: academic publications and citations. Prof. Han demonstrates how to derive meaningful insights in a semi-automatic way using traditional Bibliometrics, social media data, site citations, and Triple Helix-Based Networks to describe the characteristics of knowledge-based social systems and the interactions captured by different actors and organizations. In a broader sense, these systems can be viewed as the networks of many different actors communicating in both directions. Both feedback and forward-looking systems are important for long-term social progress and technological progress. Identifying the mechanisms driving science and technology development can lead to a better understanding of socio-economic forecasting dynamics. This will be extremely beneficial for academic researchers, industry professionals, government policymakers, and social activists.

Prof. Han Woo Park presenting the topic "Measuring Innovation and Collaboration System using Big Data" and discussing it with academicians at ACBES 2023

Prof. Van Pham (Baylor University, USA) shared the topic “Present Predictions vs. Future Narratives: Unraveling GPT-4’s Predictive Power with Contrasting Prompting Approaches”. Prof. Van Pham explored the potential applications of artificial intelligence tools to economic analysis. In this study, Prof. Van Pham and Scott Cunningham investigated the impact of different Prompting Styles on the predictive accuracy of the GPT-4 modern language model. The focus of the research was on two contrasting approaches: direct predictions from the present and stories set in the future where events have been happening. The study assessed GPT-4’s ability to predict the 2022 Academy Award winners and macroeconomic variables in late 2021, and early 2022 using these descriptive styles. Interestingly, direct predictions perform poorly, while stories set in the future demonstrate significantly improved accuracy. To guide further studies, Prof. Van Pham emphasized the importance of carefully choosing descriptive styles when using language models such as GPT-4 for human needs prediction tasks and emphasized that artificial intelligence tools still make mistakes and people still play an important role in all activities.

Prof. Van Pham (Baylor University, USA) presenting the topic “Present Predictions vs. Future Narratives: Unraveling GPT-4's Predictive Power with Contrasting Prompting Approaches” and discussing it with academicians at ACBES 2023

Regarding the number of articles sent to ACBES 2023, the Organizing Committee sent invitations to domestic and international scholars from December 2022 to June 15, 2023. There were 280 articles sent to ACBES 2023. During the preliminary process, the Academic Committee selected 118 quality articles (the acceptance rate was 42% of the total number of articles), of which, approximately 65% of the selected articles came from international scholars and divided into 39 key topics presented at the Conference. For each key topic, the Organizing Committee invited an academic chairperson (these academic chairpersons are prestigious researchers from Sweden, the UK, the US, Japan, Netherlands, China, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam) and coordinators to best assist participants in presenting, sharing research results, and taking notes from scholars on the same research topic.

39 discussion sessions on key topics of ACBES 2023 being very lively and exciting and recording many interesting and highly academic ideas.

The discussion sessions on 16/8/2023 met the needs of the majority of international scholars who could not come to Vietnam to attend the conference in person, including 14 topics presented online: Environment and Sustainability; Leadership, Social Justice, and Employment; Corporate Sustainability and Performance; Risk Analysis; Corporate Finance and Investment; Economic Development and Political Economy; Environmental and Social Development; International Economics; Fintech and Financial Markets; E-Commerce and Digitalization; Consumption Behavior Studies; Financial Markets and Uncertainties; Technology and Society; and Business Issues and Economic Development.

Online presentations and discussions on August 16, 2023 at ACBES 2023

On the morning of August 17, 2023, after 2 presentations by keynote speakers, 12 topics presented in person include Corporate Governance; Technology and Leadership Transformation; Social Media and Digitalisation; Cybersecurity and E-commerce Behavior; Corporate Finance; Ethical Dilemmas and Cultural Economics; Post-COVID and Businesses; Innovation and Business Research; Social Impact and Organizational Behavior; Sustainable Development and Environmental Impact; Trade Policies; and Law and Economic Development.

Presentations and discussions in the morning of August 17, 2023 at ACBES 2023

On the afternoon of August 17, 2023, the last 13 topics were presented face-to-face at ACBES 2023, including Political Economy and World Business; Organizational Studies and Behaviors; Financial Markets and Investment; Technology, Businesses, and Entrepreneurship; Tourism and Urban Studies; Financial Markets; Human Resources and Development; In the Times of Uncertainty; Financial Economics; Customer’s Behaviors and Attention; Economics and Sustainable Development; Business and Consumer Behaviors; and FNF invited with Inflation.

 

Presentation and discussion sessions on August 17, 2023 at ACBES 2023

After exciting and effective working sessions, ACBES 2023 ended with a Gala Dinner on a boat on the Saigon River - also a unique experience, bringing many interesting things about Vietnamese culture in Ho Chi Minh City for attendees, especially international guests.

The cultural exchange on the Gala Dinner stage of the conference attendees

At the Gala Dinner, the Organizing Committee integrated the ACBES 2023 Closing Ceremony, awarded the Best Paper Award for 3 articles, along with the introduction of Vietnamese culinary culture and ethnic music. The Gala Dinner created a space to connect scientists from many countries worldwide.

At the Gala Dinner, the Conference Organizing Committee awarded the Best Paper Award for the 3 best research articles in ACBES 2023 in three fields: Finance, Economics, and Management (2 awards were financed by CFVG and 1 by UEH’s funding):

1. “Does export promotion enhance firm-level intensive margin of exports? Evidence from meta-regression analysis”.
2. “Farmers’ preferences towards organic certification scheme: Evidence from a DCE in Northern Vietnam”.
3. “Credit constraints and corporate tax aggressiveness: Is bribery an effective way out?”.

Prof. Nguyen Trong Hoai and Dr. Huynh Luu Duc Toan presenting excellent research awards to representatives of the authors

At the end of the Gala Dinner, the Organizing Committee announced the official information regarding the ACBES 2024 to be held in Indonesia, expected in 2024 August. ACBES 2024 promises to continue to be a bridge to create opportunities for global academicians and researchers to share and discuss ideas, scientific findings and topics about Business and economics that are of interest to academia.

The Organizing Committee announcing the official information about the ACBES 2024 to be held in Indonesia

At the end of ACBES 2023, many academicians thanked the ACBES 2023 Organizing Committee for their efforts in creating an annual conference series and opportunities to connect scientists to exchange, share, and contribute comments for studies. In particular, Prof. Bryan Weber – Member of the JABES Editorial Board - who assisted as a session coordinator, keynote speaker, and academic chair, shared: “ACBES is a great opportunity to network between researchers from all over the world. I think this is a very good learning opportunity for dozens of PhD students. Many researchers presented their work for the first time to leading scholars from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Baylor University, City University of New York, UEH, etc. I think ACBES will open up research opportunities among researchers in ASEAN and beyond. I hope to be invited to ACBES next year.”

More photos related to the conference:

Overview of the opening session of ACBES 2023

Further information:

New information about JABES and outstanding events listed as ACBES International Conference, JST Talk series, and a variety of other events will be continuously updated on JABES official channels as follows:

JABES Facebook: 

JABES Website: //www.jabes.harthi.net/

JABES on Emerald Group Publishing: 

ACBES Website: //acbes.harthi.net/

JABES Youtube: 

News, photos: JABES, UEH Department of Marketing and Communication