The international forum on "Global Business in Uncertainty" hosted by BNUBS was held in JIINGSHI HOTEL on April 9, 2023.

More than 30 experts and scholars attended the forum, including Hwy-chang Moon, Chair professor of Seoul Graduate School of Science (aSSIST), Ambassador for Investment and Trade Promotion of the Korean Government, and former Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University; Kimio Kase, former president of International University of Japan; Lin Cui, tenured Professor, Australian National University; Li Jun, Director of Service Trade Research Institute, Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, Ministry of Commerce; Lu Yi, Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management professor, Dean of the Department of Economics; Shen Guobing, professor of the Institute of World Economy, Fudan University; Qiu Bin, Distinguished Professor of Southeast University, Director of the Institute of International Economics; Chen Yan, Director of International Division and Professor of School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications; Wang Xiaosong, professor of Economics at Renmin University of China and researcher at the National Academy of Development and Strategy; Lin Faqin, Professor, School of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Executive Director, Institute of International Economics; Chen Lin, Professor of School of Economics and Vice President of Industrial Economics Research Institute, Jinan University; Huo Da, Central University of Finance and Economics Professor of International Economics and Trade School, Dean of International Business Department and experts and scholars from Tianjin University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics and other institutions.

Qi Yudong, Dean of BNUBS, delivered the first speech. He mentioned that the General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the report of the Party's 20 National Congress that the great changes unseen in today's world are accelerating, the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are deepening, and the international power balance is profoundly adjusting. This has created more and more opportunities for theoretical research and practice in the field of global business. Scholars from home and abroad have gathered here for exchange and discussion, which is a vivid embodiment of increasing certainty in uncertainty.

Cai Hongbo, Associate Dean of BNUBS, presided over the keynote speech. With the title of "Global Strategy in the Uncertain Era", Professor Hwy-chang Moon proposed the use of pioneering ABCD model, in which he combined with the development of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence systems, as well as hard power and soft power. It would surely achieve the purpose of creating value. In his speech "How to Face Uncertainty: Asian and Western Management Thinking", Professor Kimio Kase illustrated the dual perspectives of uncertainty in the differences between Eastern and Western reasoning through inductive and deductive methods.

Prof. Lin Cui, with the topic of "Uncertainty in the Current International Business Environment and New Research Propositions", summarized the three possible main sources of uncertainty in international business and the OLI framework to explain these uncertainties. Based on the interaction between the two, he proposed nine research propositions and suggests directions for future research in this field. With the title "Thoughts on Promoting the Standardization of Digital Trade", researcher Li Jun analyzed eight trends of the current overall development of digital trade and shared his in-depth thinking and exploration on the construction of digital trade standard system. Professor Lu Yi pointed out that uncertainty is the main keynote with the title of "The change of global industrial chain and China's industrial policy". Everything is uncertain, but we need to find the policy of certainty to deal with uncertainty. Professor Shen Guobing, with the speech titled "The New Changes and Uncertainties of Biden's Policy and the Outlook of China-Us Economic and Trade Relations", analyzed the great changes of China-Us relations from the political, economic, monetary and other perspectives, and also predicted the future trend of China-Us trade from five perspectives.

The two keynote speeches in the afternoon were hosted by Associate Professor Guo Feng from Tianjin University and Associate Professor Deng Wei from Northwestern Polytechnical University. With the speech titled "Service Trade Liberalization, Position in Global Value Chains and China's International Circulation", Professor Qiu Bin proposed methods in how to enhance China's position in global value chains through RCEP and other regional trade liberalization. The topic of Professor Wang Xiaosong's speech is "Deindustrialization, Resource mismatch and trade network". He proposed that deindustrialization would have a significant adverse effect on the promotion of comprehensive status in China's trade network, but it would promote the status of import trade network. Professor Chen Lin, with the title of "Certainty Innovation of Free Trade", pointed out that based on the practice of China's free trade zone, free trade generates great incentives, which provides unique impetus for innovation-driven development. With the title of "Local Spillovers of Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Foreign Investment Deregulation in China", Xu Yuan, Associate Professor at BNUBS, pointed out that FDI spillovers had a significant positive effect on local, regional and private businesses. It would benefit private enterprises and workers, but for state-owned enterprises, the negative impact is not significant.

With the title of "Time Compression Diseconomy and Global Uncertainty in the Digital Age", Professor Chen Yan proposed that Chinese enterprises present a kind of leap internationalization and face a lot of uncertainties in the digital age. He proposed micro strategies to digest the uncertainty of international business. With SOS as the topic, Professor Lin Faqin pointed out that the effect of Soybean-Overweight Shock has caused the obesity of Chinese people to rise by 8%, and the effect on men is much greater than that on women. He also discussed the problems of soybean import and grain trade in China. With the title of "Artificial Intelligence and Economic Restructuring in the Post-pandemic Era," Huo Da presented four major viewpoints regarding digital technology accelerating the transformation of modern service industries. Wang Zifu, associate professor of Business School of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, titled "Sino-US Trade Conflict: From Tariff War to Industrial Policy Competition", pointed out that both tariff war and industrial policy competition are actually protecting the relevant industries of their own countries. If only a tariff war is allowed, both countries will suffer from a tariff war. If they were allowed to use industrial policy to compete, welfare losses would be greatly reduced in both countries, and it would be good for other economies.

Edited by Hong Xiuling

Reviewed by Cai Hongbo