Seventy academics and professionals from more than 10 countries in the Asia Pacific region and the US shared their knowledge and best practices in business management at the 8th Asia Pacific Management Conference at City University and the South China University of Technology from 15-17 November.

The conference, co-organized by CityU, Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University and the South China University of Technology, covered topics in consumer behaviour, e-commerce, finance, knowledge management, human resources management, management information systems, marketing, organization behaviour, operations management, and strategic management.

"The conference aims to provide a forum for academics and professionals to share their advanced knowledge and experiences in indigenizing their globalization strategy to deal with disruptive changes in the 21st century," said Professor L K Chan, Dean of CityU's Faculty of Business, at the opening ceremony. Also officiating at the ceremony were Professor Oliver Yau, Associate Dean of the Faculty; Dr Zhou Nan, Head of the Department of Marketing; and Professor Wu Wann Yih, Dean of the College of Management, National Cheng Kung University.

In a world increasingly dominated by electronic communications, "the conference also provided a chance for people concerned with management and business in the region to come together face-to-face to forge ties," Professor Yau said.

The second and third days of the Conference were held at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, where more than half of the participants took part at the Chinese papers presentation sessions. The programme included a visit to enterprises in Dongguan, an industrial boom town some 90 miles north of Hong Kong, which attracts significant investment from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Delegates said they welcomed the chance to interact and exchange ideas with mainland academics and professionals.