Development Studies Association Business and Development Study Group Spring Workshops 2020: Lisbon and Cambridge

Evolving Relationships between the Private Sector and Sustainable International Development

The DSA Business and Development Study Group, with the Lisbon School of Economics & Management and the Margaret Anstee Centre for Global Studies (University of Cambridge) will be hosting two one-day workshops in Spring 2020 on the theme of evolving relationships between the private sector and international development. Building on the recent publication of the volume Business and Development Studies: Issues and Perspectives (Lund-Thomsen, Wendelboe Hansen and Lindgreen (eds.) 2019), the workshops will take stock of how the role of business in development has been explored within different academic disciplines and from a diversity of perspectives. These include research on corporate social responsibility (CSR), global value chains, foreign direct investment, social entrepreneurship and microfinance, bottom of the pyramid markets and business and poverty reduction. We will ask how these perspectives might be better connected in order to build a more cohesive agenda for future research into the relationship between development and the private sector, how business can be approached within development studies (and vice versa) and what kinds of theoretical and methodological tools are needed for this line of enquiry. 

The workshops will provide a participatory forum for discussion on future avenues for research on these themes. Full papers are not required, instead all participants will be invited to join the workshop discussion based on their research interests in this field with a view to supporting future networking, collaboration and support. 

Workshop 1: Global value chains, business and development 

ISEG – Lisbon School of Economics & Management, University of Lisbon, 7^th February 2020, 10am– 4pm.  

This workshop will explore different perspectives on global value chains (GVCs), a central theme in recent work on business and development. Workshop discussions will be led by: 

• Roberta Rabellotti (University of Pavia): GVCs and innovation systems  
• Farwa Sial (University of Manchester): The intersection of business, GVCs, innovation and informality through CSR

Workshop chair: Luís Mah (ISEG-Universidade de Lisboa) 

Workshop 2: New avenues for research on business and development 

Margaret Anstee Centre, Newnham College, University of Cambridge, 12^th March 2020, 10am– 4pm. 

The second workshop in this series will broaden the focus to examine interdisciplinary perspectives on different aspects of the growing role of business in development. Workshop discussions will be led by: 

• Peter Lund-Thomsen (Copenhagen Business School): Business and Development: Issues and Perspectives  
• Michael Wendelboe Hansen (Copenhagen Business School): International Business and Economic Development  
• Jodie Thorpe (Institute of Development Studies): State-Business Relations and Development (tbc) 
• Emma Mawdsley (University of Cambridge): Financialisation and Development; South-South Development Cooperation 

Workshop chair: Jessica Sklair (University of Cambridge). 

If you would like to take part in either of these workshops please email Ana Paula Borges by 27^th January 2020, with your name, institutional affiliation and a few lines on your research interests in relation to evolving relationships between the private sector and sustainable international development. Please also indicate which workshop you would like to attend.

If you are unable to attend but would like to add your name to the DSA Business and Development study group email list, please also let us know.