Â鶹¾«Ñ¡

There are times when academics and their students attend events that can potentially have transformational impacts. We are all living through what has been defined as a polycrisis or a period in which multiple, interconnected crises converge and amplify one another. This includes Trump’s tariffs but also all the uncertainty linked to climate change, on-going military conflicts and developments in artificial intelligence (AI). A core question to ask is: How can those seeking to join the labour market, employees and firms survive during this polycrisis era?

Every year, Birmingham Business School run an International Business Summit with students participating in this event who are studying international business in programmes run by the University Â鶹¾«Ñ¡ based in Singapore, Dubai, and Birmingham. This summit was held on Monday 31 March and Tuesday 1 April 2025 at the University Â鶹¾«Ñ¡â€™s Edgbaston campus. This summit is a time to celebrate international business with participants having an opportunity to engage in discussion, debate, networking, and collaboration. There is even a tour of a well-known international business.

This year there was an academic panel that explored building a responsible and sustainable future and an industry panel with four practitioners representing quite different industries. The industry practitioners covered many challenges facing their businesses and sectors, and then more generic issues. Four important points were made by these four practitioners.

First, business is an exercise in storytelling to clients and a business has to craft and project an effective story to each market segment that they are targeting. This includes companies having to adapt to alterations in market demand. A key point that was made is that managing a business involves forecasting futures; decisions need to be made now that are based on predictions. The practitioners noted that employees who survive in business for over decades are adaptable. These are employees who embrace new technology and seek to keep ahead with new technological and sector developments.

Second, AI is becoming an everyday part of business practice. The key is to work out how AI should inform business processes. One practitioner noted that AI can speed up the analytical process, but then everything provided by AI is checked by people. People have different skill sets compared to AI; client value added comes from the human element and this can be supported by AI. People really matter in business. AI is unable to pitch to clients and is unable to craft and pitch the business narratives that contribute to a company’s competitiveness. A critical point that was made is that AI is backward looking. The analogy was made with a car as you can’t drive a car forward by looking in the rearview mirror.

Third, the practitioners explored the critical issue of what recruiters are looking for during the job recruitment process. A new graduate hire, according to one practitioner, initially takes from a firm, but then gives back in terms of what they have learnt. Employers are searching for individuals who are adaptable and who are willing to learn and embrace change. A distinction was made between job applicants who have technical skills versus social skills. One practitioner noted that we recruit individuals rather than graduates. This is an important distinction as this is a company that values individuals with interests outside work and that can show some leadership in non-work-related activities. All this is partly about fitting in with a team on social as well as technical terms.

Interpersonal skills were considered as being critical. Students were advised to ensure that they retained and developed their interpersonal skills. This includes being aware of the importance of eye contact. Basic programming skills were highlighted, and Python was mentioned. One practitioner advised all students to prepare some examples of their interpersonal skills that they could then outline during interviews, and this should include examples of situations in which they have made some emotional connections with people.

Third, the overall learning point that came from this practitioner-led discussion was the need for all graduates to be adaptable, to maintain and develop their interpersonal skills and to be curious. Curiosity was emphasised as being an important recruitment trait. The point was made that the most successful businesspeople tend to be very curious. These are individuals who want to learn about other jobs and sectors and this learning is used to inform their strategy.

The International Business Summit is one part of the University Â鶹¾«Ñ¡â€™s approach to facilitating the learning of all our students on our MSc International Business programmes. A distinctive feature of these programmes is the attention given to understanding pathways to practice. These practitioner panels make a major contribution to linking our students with the real world of the everyday practice of international business.