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Dear Colleagues,

I realize there is only one week left to submit proposals for the meeting in Nagoya, but I am hoping to find people eager and willing to participate in two panels I want to construct.  One addresses the financing needs of SMEs and will be submitted in the SMEs, Entrepreneurship, and Born Global track.  The other is a broad discussion about how climate change may transform how we view globalization and most likely will be submitted in the Global Strategy, Alliances, and Competitiveness track.  Both are intended to generate discussion among and between the panelists and attendees.  As such, I am not looking for formal papers, however if you have written something on the topics within each panel (see below) that would be great.

Described below are what I envision for the panels.

Panel 1:  Meeting the Financing Needs of the Missing Middle:  Challenges and Opportunities

The term 'missing middle' is being used to describe a large and growing number of entrepreneurial endeavors in all types of economies which are too large for micro financing and either too small or too young to attract venture capital.  They represent a challenging yet potentially quite rewarding opportunity for investors, however they are largely unknown to the investment community (hence the term 'missing middle').  The panel as envisioned will focus on four areas:


1.        Is there a need for a new investment 'model' which addresses the particular characteristics of the missing middle.  These characteristics include the lack of a credit history, a relatively short (in terms of time) record of financial performance, home countries with weak and/or developing financial infrastructure, the ability to adapt quickly, good management, and a solid, if not always documented, business plan.

2.       The benefits and limitations of the institutions which currently focus on this group, particularly not for profits such as Endeavor, Ashoka, Acumen Fund, etc.

3.       The attitude of financial institutions toward this group in the aftermath of the global economic downturn.

4.       Governance, transparency and home country regulatory/taxation issues.

Panel 2:  Will Climate Change Transform Our Concept of Globalization?

Climate change is a fact, and climate change is a global event.  While it will affect nations differently, all nations need to address it, as the consequences of climate change will have global ramifications.  The premise behind this panel is that dealing with climate change will require 'global' thinking in addition to 'national' thinking, and that as a result how we think about the global community will change.  Currently these five topics are planned for discussion:


1.       Natural resource allocation and management with a sustainability as an objective.

2.       Food supply versus food security (assuming that climate change will be relocating the world's bread baskets).

3.       The impact and consequences of human migration due to dislocation caused by rising sea levels, urbanization, and human resource allocation.

4.       The best way to raise and manage capital needed to address climate change, particularly the mix between private and government funding.

5.       The role of competition (at the national and business levels) in addressing climate change:  when is it helpful, when is it harmful.

The format of both panels is not finalized, and I welcome input.  I firmly believe that both panels will be excellent additions to the conference and are topics that need to be addressed, so please let me know as soon as you can if you are interested and want to participate.

Thanks for your time.

Dr. John Dilyard
Associate Professor
Management & IT Department
St. Francis College
180 Remsen Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 489-5347

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