ICBE 2026

Mini Track Chair: Vlad Roșca, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania This track is dedicated to scholars, practitioners, professionals and students who want to share their knowledge and experience about the growing global sports industry. Although the global sports industry declined about 15% in 2020 due to the Covid-19 slowdowns, it is still evaluated at nearly $400bn, being expected to reach $500bn by 2025. We invite participants to submit their works on relevant and current sports management, sports business or sports marketing topics, in national or international cases. The main topics covered by the hereby [...]

Mini Track Chair: Ahmed RHIF, CEO & Director, National Centre for Science and Innovation Promotion (CNPSI), Tunisia Adriana MIHNEA, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Unexpected social and political events worldwide developed in the last three years conflicted with theoretical assumption, practical predictions, and reasonable expectations. Conspiration theories and unorthodox economic measures walked hand in hand leaving passage to extremists, polarization, and disputable pandemics. Praised artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and FinTech innovation showed their weaknesses in scandals and bankruptcies. Composite indicators aiming at describing multi-dimensional characteristics and general classifications abound, while researchers struggle to ensure consistency [...]

Mini Track Chair: Francesco Bellini, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy Marco Savastano, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy Sorin Anagnoste, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania In the last year, technology, with a strong emphasis on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI, has become an indispensable catalyst for growth and transformation across industries. Organizations and institutions have rapidly embraced these innovations, redefining the paradigms of operation and interaction. This swift technological evolution, while continuing its momentum, has significantly disrupted traditional business practices, paving the way for novel services and products: from Chat GPT-4 [...]

Mini Track Chair: Mihail Busu, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Enrico Prinz, University of Strasbourg, France Cristina State, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania This Minitrack focuses on the application of statistical methods and data-driven approaches in the fields of economics and management. It aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss innovative methodologies, empirical analyses, and practical applications of statistics to address complex problems in business, finance, marketing, operations, and economic policy. Topics include, but are not limited to, regression analysis, time series modeling, multivariate analysis, panel data, forecasting, risk [...]

Mini Track Chair Adriana Dutescu, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Inna Paiva, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL) , Portugal The new paradigms in the development of economy practices are forcing managers to rethink the strategies on sustainability and long-term development.  The role of accounting in this context is significant, not only in the area of cost estimation of a new agenda, but also on the scalability of the solutions proposed. Environmental management systems, corporate social responsibility, financial reporting, accountability and other environmental accounting practices are impacting the capabilities of   economic entities in the VUCA world. [...]

Mini Track Chair: Corina MURAFA, Bucharest University for Economic Studies, Romania Europe has committed to reach climate neutrality by 2050 and the race to net zero has spread to other geographies as well. Generous fiscal stimuli are directed towards decarbonizing our energy systems, yet the transition is rising major questions and policy dilemmas. Given technological unknowns and infant industries shaping a new energy market model, as well as the unequal pace of the transition worldwide, how can decision-makers support the competitiveness of the energy sector while advancing towards climate neutrality? What will be the socio-economic impacts [...]

Mini Track Chair: Ionuț DUMITRU, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Cristian PĂUN, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Radu MUȘETESCU, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Carmen DOROBĂȚ, Manchester Metropolitan University, England On the free market, everyone earns according to his productive value in satisfying consumer desires. Under statist distribution, everyone earns in proportion to the amount he can plunder from the producers.” – Murray N. Rothbard Capital is the most important production factor. Without the existence of capital, other resources such as labour or raw materials are difficult to [...]

Mini Track Chair: Corina Pelău, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Mirko Gati, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary Dan-Cristian Dabija, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania With the development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual realities, social media, companies have changed the way they do marketing. These new technologies intervene more and more in the relation between companies and consumers, by triggering a bi-directional communication which addresses both to consumers and technology. In this way companies, not only have to focus on how to convince consumers to buy their products and services, but also to [...]

Minitrack Chairs: Florina Pînzaru, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Romania Dragos Vespan, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Costin Baroiu, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Digitalization in the era of IoT, cloud computing, big data and artificial intelligence changes the profile of the consumers, employees and the practice of management and business administration as we know it: new IT software, tools and smart connected devices, through their dynamic evolution, are continuously modifying the way consumers keep themselves informed and make purchasing decision. Within organizations, these new technologies have changed the structure of the [...]

Mini Track Chair: Vanesa VARGAS, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Dileta JATAUTAITĖ, Vilnius University Business School, Lithuania Tough times are critical moments in a leader’s development path, resulting in either greatness or failure. Great leaders emerge whether difficulty stems from conditions or unpredictable changes in direction that challenges them to the limit. The COVID-19 period and the economic and social crisis, that followed are testing today’s leaders and managers in terms of balancing the needs of their organizations, employees and other stakeholders through a variety of innovative economic, social, academic and other type [...]