MRCON-2021- International Conference on Reinventing Business, Entrepreneurship, and Sustainability in the Era of Challenges

MRCON is an initiative of FMS, MRIIRS which was started in the year 2020 in this very month of February. The first edition of MRCON in February 2020 was guided and inspired by the thoughts of our revered mentor Padmashree Late Dr. Pritam Singh. His forecast regarding sustainable competitive edge which businesses should strive for has motivated us further to take this up as a continuing theme of MRCON 2021. 

The technical sessions on day one were replete with energy, zeal, and participation on four sub-themes, viz., Changes in Marketing Paradigm, Reimagining the Workforce, The Digital Organization, and Social Re-engineering. The sessions were chaired by senior academicians- Prof. (Dr.) D K Batra from IMI, New Delhi, Prof. (Dr.) Rajat Gera from Jain University, Bangalore, Dr. Geetika Malik Chandra from Gurugram University and Dr. Nandini Srivastava, Director, Council for Doctoral Programs at MRIIRS along with the team from FMS, MRIIRS, comprising of Dr. Stuti Sahni, Dr. Bhavesh Prakash Joshi, Dr. Sahil Malik, Mr. Gautam Srivastava and Dr. Anindita Chatterjee Rao. Academicians from various parts of the country presented their views on relevant business issues, and were ably guided by the experts.

A few key perspectives that emerged from the discussions are- how big data works, social media influence, work-life balance, employee engagement, employee trust, skilling etc. A total of nearly 30 papers were presented on day 1 of the two-day event. 

The second day of the two-day conference started with paper presentations across four different tracks. Technical Session 5 of the conference was based on the theme of ‘The Digital Organization’.

Technical Session 6 began with a keynote address from the external chair Dr. Ruchi Sharma- an academician by profession and a marketer at heart. Dr. Ruchi conveyed the rapid metamorphosis of the industry and workplace in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Technical Session 7 of the conference was based on the broad theme of Social Re-engineering. The Track Chairperson was Dr. Vikas Gupta who is an Assistant Professor in the School of Hospitality, Amity University, Noida while Dr. Surbhi Kapur, Professor, FMS, MRIIRS was the Internal chair.

Technical session 8 was on the theme “The New Age Finance”. The chairperson of the session was Dr. Swaranjeet Arora who is is Professor and Head of the Department at the School of Management, The NorthCap University; Gurgaon. The internal session chair was Ms. Ridhi Khattar from FMS, MRIIRS.  The participants also received inputs from Dr. Nand Dhameja, Dean, FMS.

In the end, Conference Convener, Dr. Meghna Chhabra enlightened our distinguished guests and dignitaries about conference details. In total 48 papers were presented at the conference, out of which three were shortlisted as best research papers. Dr. Deepti Dabas Hazarika, Director, MRIIRS shared her concluding remarks about the conference, MRCON 2021, and ushered in MRCON 2022.

She announced the awards for the best three papers as:-

1st PositionUma Parameshwari SDeptt. of Management studies
J. C. Bose University of Science and Technology, YMCA

Faridabad, India		Re-imagining the Workforce Through Employer Branding in the New Normal
2nd PositionDr. Shikha Khera, Dr. Karishma GulatiDelhi Technological University, Vivekananda Instt. Of Professional StudiesLiaison between Training methods and effective employee’s performance in IT organizations in India: the mediating role of individual level characteristics using a GSCA approach
3rd PositionMunmun GoswamiResearch Scholar (FPM-HRM) XLRI JamshedpurManaging the workforce in the work-from-home scenario: the role of leadership

MRCON 2021 ended on a positive note with thanks to all participants, guests, and the support team, with FMS geared up towards MRCON 2022.