TheMarketForIdeas

For several years now, the International Conference on Business Excellence has become more than a platform for presenting research – it is increasingly a space where disciplines intersect and where emerging ideas are tested against real-world complexity. The recent 2026 edition, hosted in Bucharest between March 26 and 28, reaffirmed this role by bringing together scholars exploring the evolving relationships between business, society, technology, and governance.

Among the most dynamic components of the conference were its mini-tracks – compact yet conceptually rich panels that functioned as intellectual laboratories. Two such sessions stood out through both thematic ambition and diversity of approaches: Futurenomics: From Exploring to Exploiting Societal Mega-trends, Catalysts and Game-changers and Sports Business.

Beyond their thematic differences, the two panels shared a deeper common denominator. Both were chaired by scholars who are also actively engaged in the world of ideas beyond academia, as co-editors of The Market for Ideas – not coincidentally, the very co-authors of the present article. This dual positioning – at the intersection of academic research and public-facing intellectual discourse – was reflected in the way both sessions were curated: analytically rigorous, yet attentive to relevance, narrative, and broader societal implications.

Futurenomics: Reading the Future, Rewriting the Present

Chaired by Professor Octavian-Dragomir Jora, Ph.D. – from the Faculty of International Business and Economics / Bucharest University of Economic Studies (BUES) –, the Futurenomics mini-track offered a wide-angle lens on the forces reshaping the global economic and societal landscape. The panel moved beyond speculative futurism, instead grounding its discussions in rigorous analyses of ongoing transformations – geopolitical realignments, identity dynamics, digital disruption, and institutional adaptation.

A first line of inquiry examined the reconfiguration of global power structures. The paper on the Three Seas Initiative framed Europe and Asia within the broader narrative of a shifting international order, suggesting that regional cooperation formats may become strategic “hinges” in a post-American-centric world.

Equally compelling was the focus on identity as an economic and strategic variable. The notion of national ethos as a quasi-private good reframed culture, religion, and identity as forms of collective intellectual property – resources that can generate both cohesion and contention in a globalized yet fragmenting world. This theme resonated with the analysis of Islamophobia as a factor influencing international business relations, illustrating how cultural tensions can translate into tangible economic frictions, as well as with research on digitalisation across European Union labour markets, revealing persistent gender and migration gaps, raising questions about the distributional effects of technological progress, especially in multicultural environments such as the European one.

Risk and uncertainty, as persistent features of contemporary markets, were addressed through methodological contributions as well. The proposed protocol for measuring foreign direct investment risk in the Middle East and North Africa emphasized transparency and robustness, reflecting a broader need for better analytical tools in volatile environments. In parallel, discussions on the EU’s trade policy pointed to the necessity of redefining strategic frameworks in light of accelerating geopolitical and geoeconomic shifts.

The panel also captured the social implications of technological transformation. Studies on fraud detection in online auctions, as well as research on post-Industry 4.0 disruptions in energy markets illustrated how innovation simultaneously creates opportunities and vulnerabilities.

The session also featured a diverse range of research contributions addressing geopolitics, identity, risk, digitalisation, governance, and technological disruption. These included:

- Europe and Asia at the End of the American Century: The Three Seas Initiative as an Eurasian Hinge (Octavian-Dragomir Jora, Bogdan Cozma, Andreea-Raisa Țărînă)

- National Ethos as a Quasi-Private Good: Culture, Religion and Identity as Forms of Collective Intellectual Property (Petru-Răsvan Iațan, Octavian-Dragomir Jora)

- Measuring Risk for Foreign Direct Investment Research in the Middle East and North Africa: A Transparent Protocol for Proxy Selection and Robustness (Ionuț Pandelică, Radu-Florin Chiotan, Răzvan Pîrcălăbescu)

- Islamophobia amid the Tension Between Globalization and Deglobalization: Impact on International Economic and Business Relations (Radu-Florin Chiotan, Mustafa Geyhun, Mădălina Jurubiță, Carmen Secară)

- Study on the Most Relevant Redefinitions Required in the European Union’s Trade Policy in Light of Ongoing Developments in the International Geopolitical and Geoeconomic Landscape (Mustafa Geyhun, Mădălina Jurubiță, Răzvan Pîrcălăbescu, Amalia Duțu)

- Market and Governance Reform Trajectories in Former Soviet States: Lessons Learned and Policy Implications (Giorgi Paresishvili)

- Who Benefits from Digitalisation? Gender and Migration Gaps in Employment Across EU Countries (Anamaria Holotă, Hesam Jebeli-Bakht-Ara)

- Detection and Prevention of Fraud in Online Auction (Elena Lupu, Mihai Daniel Roman)

- The Post Industry 4.0 Innovations and Disruptions in Energy Markets (Bilal Bagis)

Taken together, the Futurenomics session advanced a key insight: the challenge is no longer merely to identify mega-trends, but to understand how they interact – and how actors can move from passive adaptation to strategic exploitation. In this sense, the panel did not offer predictions as much as it provided analytical lenses for dealing diligently with an increasingly complex future.

Sports Business: Where the Game Meets the Big Picture

For the fifth year in a row, a Sports Business mini-track was organized under the chairmanship of Associate Professor Vlad Roșca, Ph.D., from the Faculty of Business Administration in Foreign Languages (FABIZ) / BUES. The track brought together academic researchers, and especially PhD scholars conducting research in sports business. Of the seven papers that made the mini-track, five belonged to PhD candidates, which shows that sports business is a topic with growing interest.

The papers were positioned at the intersections between sport, business, marketing, leadership, and society, offering various perspectives on topics in contemporary sports research.

The research presented by Constantin-Daniel Pestrea emphasized that for Generation Z, attending a live match is no longer limited to on-field performance. Instead, it has become a holistic entertainment experience, shaped by digital engagement, sustainability initiatives, and immersive fan interaction strategies. Bogdan Costache explored how principles from elite football can inform leadership models in education. The paper tried to highlight best practices from British football and their potential applicability in the educational sector. Maria Dulău provided a comparative European perspective focusing on gender representation in sports governance. While Romania demonstrates relatively higher female participation in sports leadership compared to countries such as Poland and Czechia, the research underscored a persistent gap when measured against Scandinavian benchmarks. Alexandru Florian Vlad regarded football from a geopolitical dimension, with the sport being examined as an instrument of soft power and informal diplomacy. The case study used in the research focused on Kosovo’s participation in international football tournaments and illustrated how sports performance can amplify a nation’s visibility and influence on a global scale.

The session also featured a diverse range of research contributions addressing sustainability, digital engagement, crisis resilience, governance, and human capital in sports. These included:

- The Impact of Interest for Sport and Sustainability of Gen Z on Fan Engagement in Sustainability Campaigns of Favourite Sport Club (Constantin-Daniel Pestrea, Mihaela Constantinescu, Mihai Orzan)

- Financial Resilience and Strategic Adaptation in the Sports Industry During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review (Teodora Dominteanu, Veaceslav Mirzac, Adina Salaoru, Adrian Iacobini)

- Drivers of Engagement in TikTok Fitness Content: A Systematic Narrative Review (Andreea Voinea, Paul Tiberiu Coman, Aletta Bozonc, Alexandru Mihai Matac)

- Quasi-Recognition through Sport: Football as an Informal Diplomatic Tool (Alexandru Florian Vlad)

- Women in Sport Governance across Europe: Institutional and Socioeconomic Determinants of Leadership Representation (Maria Dulău, Emoke Molnar, Albu Octavia)

- Beyond the Touchline: Leadership Lessons from Elite Football for Educational Excellence (Bogdan Costache, Vladimir-Aurelian Enăchescu, Andreea Gheorghiță)

- Human Capital in Romania's Top Football League (Ana-Maria Cocariu)

It was the richest edition of the Sports Business mini-track so far. Hope is that in the future, the section will include even more works. As jokingly pointed out at the conference, this year there were enough works to line up a handball team. Hopefully, in the future, there will be collected works for a football team, and later, for a rugby team as well.

One Conference, Two Lenses, One Conversation

Placed side by side, the two panels reveal a continuum rather than a contrast. Futurenomics operates at the level of macro-structures – geopolitics, identity, systemic risk –, while Sports Business zooms into a specific, but highly illustrative sector. Yet both ultimately address the same underlying question: how do systems – whether global economies or sports ecosystems – adapt to and shape ongoing transformations?

Perhaps more importantly, both panels reflect a mode of doing research that does not remain confined within academia. Through their chairs’ dual engagement – as scholars and as co-editors of The Market for Ideas –, these sessions embodied a commitment to bridging analytical depth with public relevance.

If Futurenomics invites us to understand the architecture of change, Sports Business shows how that change plays out on the ground. Together, they capture not only the spirit of the conference, but also the ethos of a broader intellectual project: making ideas travel – across disciplines, across audiences, and across the boundaries between theory and practice.