BAEPS Annual Conference 2020- Egypt’s Future Outlook: The Search for New Balances
On Tuesday 24th of November 2020, the Business Administration, Economics and Political Science (BAEPS) Annual Conference was held online and was titled “Egypt’s Future Outlook: The Search for New Balances”. Three different tracks tackled the theme from three different viewpoints: Business, Economics, and Political Science. We received very special welcome remarks, as we had the pleasure of hosting Mrs. Farida Khamis, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Prof. Hamad, BUE President, Prof. Yehia Bahei-El-din, BUE Vice President for Research and Post Graduate Studies, and Prof. Wadouda Badran, Dean of the Faculty of BAEPS, who welcomed participants at the opening session.
The conference provided a platform for academics, practitioners, and policy makers to engage and discuss a variety of issues. The Business track consisted of four panels. The first panel included Prof. Magdy Abdel Kader (Cairo University – CU) as the chair and discussant and was moderated by Dr. Noha Abdelrahman (BUE). It started by a paper presented by Dr. Zeinab Younis and Dr. Ola Mamdouh (BUE), on the role of the participatory approach to increase students’ awareness of solid waste and how to manage it. The presentation was followed by Dr. Dina Hassouna and Dr. Rania Salem’s (BUE) discussion on corporate social responsibility and its relation to firm risk in the Egyptian stock exchange. The second panel on the Business track, had Dr. Dina Kafafy ((Egyptian National Competitiveness Council – ENCC) as the chair and discussant and was moderated by Dr. Dina Hassouna. The session was equally interesting and included presentations from Dr. Maha Dajani and Dr. Bassant Adel’s (BUE) paper on the psychological empowerment of Egyptian women and its relation to work-life balance under COVID-19; followed by an interesting discussion on green banking practices in Egypt through the examination of the impact of blockchain technology on bank profitability by Dr. Rania Pasha and Mr. Bassel Mohamed (BUE). The session concluded with Dr. Noha Bendary’s (BUE) paper on the exploration of antecedents of students’ acceptance of digital learning platforms. The chair and discussant of the third panel was Prof. Wael Kortam (CU) and the moderator was Dr. Noha Abdelrahman (BUE). The session included three exciting presentations, namely; A Proposed Performance Measurement Model Based on Satisfying Organisational Employees, Managers and Customers by Prof. Maged Morcos (BUE), Sustainability from a Human Resource Development Lens by Dr. Sherine Elfeky & Dr. Bassant Adel (BUE), and The Impact of Personality Traits on Counterproductive Sustainability Behaviours (CSB): The Mediating role of Job Satisfaction in Call Centres in Egypt by Dr. Safaa Shaaban & Ms. Nouran Ali. The fourth and final panel included Prof. Wael Kortam as the chair and discussant and was moderated by Dr. Dina Hassouna. The session provided interesting presentations on The Impact of SME Adoption on Financial & Non-Financial Growth of MSMEs: An Empirical Comparison of Facebook and Instagram in Egypt by Dr. Hadia Fakhreldin & Ms. Mahitab Shahin & Dr. Rania Miniesy (BUE); and Enhancing Enterprise Competitiveness and Sustainability through the Use of eWOM: The Case of Egypt by Ms. Nada Ragab & Dr. May Fahmy (BUE).
Moreover, during the sessions focusing on the Economics track, six papers were discussed in two sessions. The chair and discussant for the first session was Prof. John Adams (Heriot-Watt University, UK) and the moderator was Assoc. Prof. Mostafa AboElsoud (BUE). The session brought to the forefront education, environment, and economic trust as three complementary developmental pillars in Egypt. The discussion of the paper presented by Dr. Iman Al-Ayouty, Dr. Hoda Hassaballa & Dr. Maha El Hini (BUE) on the dangers of Egyptian intensive industries’ carbon dioxide emission on the environment was complemented by an in-depth understanding of the ability of Egyptian universities to build their students’ sustainable development competencies. This was the theme of the paper presented by Dr. Suzanna Elmassah from Cairo University and Zayed University. The session could not have ended before highlighting through the paper presented by Dr. Rania Miniesy and Ms. Mariam Abdelkarim (BUE) on how an individual’s trust in the political and economic systems is a necessary building block for an adequate flow of information and responsiveness to governmental policies. The policies suggested in the session and directed towards protecting public goods such as the environment or developing better education cannot take place without trust. The second session included Dr. Ioannis Krostakis (Harokopio University, Athens, Greece) as the chair and discussant and was moderated by Dr. Maha El Hini (BUE). The session took us to a different economic arena, where some of Egypt’s Fiscal and Monetary policies were re-examined. The inclusion of Egyptian economy formalization is a traditional starting point, but it still benefits research from new and cost-effective behavioural economics techniques to be materialized which was presented by Dr. Rania Salah El-Din from Ahram Canadian University. This would not only help in improving Egypt’s tax revenue but may also help in reducing Egypt’s public debt whose effects were highlighted and explained by the second paper of this session by Dr. Sahar Halim (BUE). Associated bargaining power between monetary and fiscal institutions could not have been ignored and was explained using Game Theory in the last paper presented in this session by Dr. Sarah Elkhishin (BUE) and Dr. Dina Kassab (CU).
Finally, the Political Science track was divided into two sessions. The chair and discussant of the first session was Prof. Amany Masoud (Cairo University), and it was moderated by Dr. Gamal Selim (BUE). The presenters of the first session tackled contemporary topics such as Egyptian policy in the East Mediterranean, the paper was delivered by assistant lecturer Moatamer Amin (BUE), who focused on the critical time frame between 2013 and 2019. The presentation was followed by an important analysis of the conflict over power between Egypt and Turkey, delivered by Dr. Dalia Roshdy (Cairo University). The panel concluded with a discussion on the role of Environmental Diplomacy as a mean of maximizing Egyptian interests presented by Dr. Nilly Kamal (Future University in Egypt). The chair and discussant of the second session was the esteemed distinguished scholar Prof. Ali Eldin Hilal, while Prof Amany Khodair was the moderator. This session presented two main topics. The first revolved around Cairo’s Strategic Partnership with Washington and Moscow within the framework of international relations, as discussed by Dr Ahmed Mahdi (BUE). The second paper in this session, focused on Egypt’s strategic partnership with China after 2013 as examined by Dr Gamal Selim (BUE), providing a comprehensive understanding of the role played by Egypt and its foreign policy, vis-à-vis the Western and Easter regions of the world.
All three tracks were very successful as interesting topics were presented throughout the conference. This success was reflected in the number of attendees from multiple institutions and different academic backgrounds. The effort and hard work of the organizing committee paid off in creating a conference that meets international standards. We look forward to seeing you all next year.