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SEAANZ 2022 Symposium

Jul 1, 2022 | 2022, Symposium

Looking Ahead to the Future of Work in SMEs

Tuesday 25 October 2022

9:00 am to 5:00 pm (AEDT)

Online and in person (Monash Business School, Caulfield, Building H, Room 9.02)

Main Session Program

Symposium Summary

Building on the success of our symposium last year (SMEs and COVID-19: Just Surviving or Thriving?) as well as our 2019 White Paper (Inspiring Future Workplaces), we are turning our sights this year to what the future may hold for small business. While recent years have been traumatic, they have also highlighted the critical role small to medium enterprises play, not just in increasingly complex value chains, but as the bedrock of everyday lives.

What we found last year was that while there were many ‘doing it tough’ and going out of business, there are also those who are not just surviving but thriving and looking to the future with hope and optimism. Our symposium this year thus provides the opportunity to explore this richness and diversity together. We envisage that the symposium will provide the opportunity to learn with and from each other as well as to strengthen SMEs.  Symposium papers are invited but not limited to the following topics:

  • What is happening in the Australian (and other) SME labour market?
  • Have the events of the last two years changed how SMEs work forever?
  • What do young people want from work and how can SME employers engage them?
  • What tools can help SME practitioners, policy makers and researchers to plan for an uncertain future?
  • How can we work together to build healthier, happier SME workplaces?

Academic Stream Program

Symposium Participants

  • Policy makers
  • University academics
  • Industry practitioners
  • Think tanks
  • Research students
  • Government organisations

Symposium Output

  • Enhanced understanding of the future of work for SMEs
  • Policy conversations and research
  • Academic and practice conversations and collaboration
  • Publication of symposium abstracts on the SEAANZ website
  • Invitation to paper contributors for inclusion in our SEAANZ journal SER

Key Dates

  • Extended Abstracts Due (500 words) – 15th August 2022
  • Feedback on Extended Abstracts – 5th September 2022
  • Full Papers Due (5000 words including references, tables and figures) – 3rd October 2022
  • Symposium – 25th October 2022
  • Invitation for submission to SER – 28th October 2022

Submission

Submissions have closed.

Symposium Fee

Current SEAANZ members pay:

  • Attendance in person (Monash Business School, Caulfield, Building H, Room 8.13) $150 AUD
  • Attendance online only $50 AUD

Non-SEAANZ members pay:

  • Attendance in person (Monash Business School, Caulfield, Building H, Room 8.13) $250 AUD
  • Attendance online only $100 AUD

The 3 best presentations will be awarded certificates as judged by the expert panel.

Event Registration

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SEAANZ Online Symposium – November 2021

Oct 25, 2021 | Symposium

SMEs and COVID-19

SMEs and COVID-19: Just Surviving or Thriving?

Sorting the Rhetoric from the Realities of COVID-19 for SMEs

11 November 2021

To view the program, click here

 

Event Registration

Symposium Summary

We are now well over a year down the track from the first cases of COVID-19 being reported; however, we still seem a long way from a COVID-normal world. The pandemic continues to provide unprecedented challenges to businesses and there is no doubt that small to medium enterprises (SMEs) are amongst the hardest hit across the globe. SMEs capture the tension the pandemic has presented leaders around the world with the need to balance economic versus health outcomes. This balancing act is on both supply and demand sides. While SMEs are recognised as major contributors to the nations’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and account for over 60 percent of total employment, they are also recognised as the drivers for growth and innovation.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause major disruptions for SMEs, with many facing the stark options of closure, shutdown or transformation. They are options that are being faced within a dynamic environment, where traditional risk management and contingency plans need to be continually updated and the rhetoric of small business innovation and agility is sorely tested. What we are seeing already is that many SMEs and business owner-managers are showing much higher levels of resilience and dynamism than their larger counterparts. While there are many that are ‘doing it tough’ and going out of business, there are also those who are not just surviving but thriving. Our symposium is a chance to
explore this diversity and to see not only what we can learn from this incredible sector of the economy, but how we can work with them to help strengthen the recovery effort. Post-COVID, SMEs’ survival and revitalisation will be key to rebuilding economies across the globe. To achieve this, the rhetoric and realities of COVID-19 and SMEs must be critically examined.

We envisage that the proposed online symposium focuses upon strategies to learn from as well as to strengthen SMEs. Symposium/conference proposals may relate to, but not limited to the following topics:

SMEs and COVID-19
SMEs workforce
SMEs Government stimulus packages
SMEs business transformation
SMEs and gender
SMEs resilience
SMEs workforce
SMEs digital transitions
SMEs survival
SMEs future

Symposium Objectives

  • To understand and assess the impact of COVID-19 on SMEs
  • To identify the theoretical, practical, social, and societal implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on SMEs
  • To spotlight resilience and transformation of SMEs amid COVID-19 uncertainty
  • To investigate transferable models of contextual relevance for the long-term sustainability of SMEs

Symposium Participants

  • Policy makers
  • University academics
  • Industry practitioners
  • Think tanks
  • Research students
  • Government organisations

Symposium Output

  • Enhanced understanding of COVID-19 on SMEs
  • Policy conversations and research
  • Academic and practice conversations and collaboration
  • Publication of symposium abstracts on the SEAANZ website
  • Invitation to paper contributors for inclusion of work as chapters in an edited book

Key Dates

  • Submission of Extended Abstracts (500 words) by 25th May 2021
  • Feedback on Extended Abstracts to be provide by 25th June 2021
  • Submission of Full Papers (5000 words, including references, tables and figures) by 25th August 2021
  • Feedback on Full Papers (peer reviewed double blind) to be provided by 25th September 2021
  • Online Symposium held on 11th November 2021
  • Invitation for Book Chapters Due by 25th November 2021

 For PDF Version, click here.

 

 

 

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