Deadline: March 20th, 2016

Tentative Publication Date: Fall 2016

Nature of the Special Issue

The recent IMF update indicates that Middle East regional economies (despite a slump in oil prices, raging regional conflicts and lingering uncertainty of the post-Arab Spring transitions) are expected to show a modest economic recovery. Oil exporting economies in the region are expected to use accumulated financial buffers and available financing to cushion some of the impact on growth while gradually slowing their fiscal spending and rebuild buffers for dealing with price-volatility. Oil importing economies in the region are likely to benefit by the declining oil prices, supported by a gradual recovery in the Euro-area, improved domestic confidence and more accommodating fiscal and monetary policies.

For ensuring sustained growth in the regional economies, a new model is urgently needed for businesses where economic growth and job creation are driven by a diversified private sector. With the combination of increasing globalization and widespread developments in information communication and technology, opportunities for business growth and development abound for the businesses who are flexible enough to create, innovate, adapt and/or engage in change management. Business leaders look for methods and tools that can help them sustain competitiveness; many are able to reinvent themselves. Research studies have shown that leaders understand that today’s organizations whether traditional or decentralized, bureaucratic or boundary-less are networks much more than a structure to be quantitatively designed, measured, and controlled. The Middle East is indeed on the fast track for the sustained business growth in the coming decades.

About the Journal

The journal is indexed in ProQuest Databases including the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), EBSCO, the Library of Congress, and Cabell's Directories providing authors with a wide access to readers thereby enhancing their citation index. JGBAT has an acceptance rate of about 11% with an impact factor of 2.365 and is currently in the process of being indexed in Thomson Reuters (Social Sciences Citation Index & Web of Science) as well as SCOPUS. The international standard serial number (ISSN) is 1553-5495 and please see http://gbata.org/journal-of-global-business-and-technology-jgbat/ for more information.

Submission Process

All submissions will go through our double-blind peer review process. Submit manuscripts with the Subject Line “JGBAT Special Issue” to Special Issue Editor Prof. Ananth Rao at [log in to unmask] before March 20th, 2016. For more information, please contact one of the Special Issue Editors.