Strategy and Business Environment
25th Anniversary Conference
Strategy for the Great Challenges of Our Time:
Climate, Health, Data, and Democracy
May 2-3, 2025
The Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
Call for Papers
Strategy in today’s business environment must increasingly confront and address the great challenges of our time. Progress on the climate transition, public health, the responsible use of big data and artificial intelligence, revitalizing democratic institutions and social justice will require trillions of dollars of investments. Failure to make such investments risks tens of trillions of dollars of losses. The necessary investments are beyond the capacity of the public and philanthropic sectors requiring a tapping of private capital through the demonstration of business cases that realize societal gains while capturing sufficient returns for investors, workers, suppliers, communities and other stakeholders. We invite the submission of rigorous academic papers from across disciplines and methodological traditions that contribute insight into strategy for the great challenges of our time.
This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the Strategy and the Business Environment Conference series. The conference will return to The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA where it was founded. The lead sponsor will be the ESG Initiative whose mission is to harness the power of business “to solve the social problems incident to our civilization” – Joseph Wharton.
Submissions of original research papers not yet accepted for publication should be submitted by January 20, 2025. The program will be announced by the end of February 2025. Attendees are responsible for their own travel and lodging with a limited number of needs-based stipends available by application. Local meals will be provided.
Program Committee
The Program Committee for the conference will collectively evaluate conference submissions and participate in the event as discussants and audience members.
Vanessa Burbano, Columbia University
Magali Delmas, UCLA
Sinziana Dorobantu, New York University
Caroline Flammer, Columbia University
Vit Henisz, The Wharton School (co-chair)
Nan Jia, University of Southern California
Aseem Kaul, University of Minnesota
Brayden King, Northwestern University
Mike Lenox, University of Virginia
Jiao Luo, University of Minnesota
Tom Lyon, University of Michigan
Jeff Macher, Georgetown University
Mae McDonnell, The Wharton School (co-chair)
Kate Odziemkowska, University of Toronto
Ken Shotts, Stanford University
Michael Toffel, Harvard University
Tim Werner, University of Texas at Austin
Dennis Yao, Harvard University
Lori Yue, Columbia University