The 20-member Network of International Business and Economics Schools (NIBES), established in 1996, held its annual meeting June 16-18 at the YSB Business Building, the first time the organization has met in Korea. Schools in the global network are based in 19 nations; the preceding annual meetings were held in France, the United States, Japan, China, and Turkey.

 This meeting drew 21 deans, professors, and other faculty from member universities, including the University of Hohenheim in Germany, the University of Southern Denmark, Hiroshima University of Economics in Japan, and Brigham Young University in the United States. NIBES Secretary General Soren Askegaard and YSB Dean Donghoon Kim spoke at the opening of the event.

Startup Alliance Managing Director Jungwook Lim gave the keynote address, focusing on start-ups, a hot topic around the globe. He discussed the state of the start-up environment in Korea and introduced the latest trends, using examples such as the O2O service.

 Two research sessions were held simultaneously. Professor Sascha Wolf of Pforzheim University and Professor Vesna Žabkar of the University of Ljubljana presented the results of their research on the German healthcare system and discussed how to predict disease patterns in Germany, which has an aging population. Professor Soren Askegaard of the University of Southern Denmark and Professor Mariella Rossini of ESAN University in Peru presented their research on opportunities created through the assertive convergence culture of the global generation.

 In an afternoon session, YSB Professor of Information Systems Seunghyun Kim presented his research on how the application of an electronic health records system in the United States and the Meaningful Use program, which the U.S. government promoted to encourage use of the system, resulted in violation of hospital patients’ private information. Assistant Professor Bo Kyung Kim of YSB presented her research on the moderating effect of location on the relationship between perceived inter-firm ties and changes in a firm’s social status in the U.S. fashion industry. Based on her analysis of advertisements in Vogue magazine, she said, the physical location of firms could unintentionally create perceived inter-firm ties that, in turn, could change the social standing of the firm.

The next annual meeting is expected to be hosted by the Fundação Getúlio Vargas Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (FGV/EBAPE) in São Paulo, Brazil.