FEKIS 2025: Business administration in the digital era – How to move forward?

Business administration, both as an academic field and as a set of practices, has always existed in symbiosis with technology and technological developments. The most prominent technological development of our time is the ongoing, and accelerating, digitalisation.

This development affects all areas of interest to business administration; such as the management of huge amounts of consumer data, collected and analysed through digital channels and tools; complex information systems that connect global networks of operations and supply chains in real time; new business models supported by digitalisation; AI-supported analysis of financial information; remote management through digital communication; digital prototyping in product development; and algorithms for which the organisational consequences are almost impossible to oversee. The question in the digital era is no longer (just) who guides and leads us, but what? New, and new-old, questions in the borderland between business administration and technology arise that need to be problematised and researched.

AI-generated image of the business administrator of the future!

The digital development is also affecting our teaching and our courses and programmes. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, which temporarily made digital teaching necessary, many colleagues testify that students are still asking for digital solutions, like recorded lectures, Zoom seminars, and more. The convenience and reach of technology seem, among many students, to trump the value of physical meetings in classrooms and on campus. How do we respond to this and balance the value of face-to-face meetings as part of the educational experience with the benefits of the opportunities provided by the new technological tools?

There is also the question of how digital and technological developments affect our courses and programmes and the mission of universities in general? What is a business administrator in an increasingly digital reality, and what do they need to know? And are we, at the business administration departments, capable of providing the education that may be expected on our own, or do we need to establish even closer cooperation with our colleagues at other faculties? At the same time, it is important that other fields of knowledge and competences do not fall under the shadow of a supposed technological imperative. Technologies should not be seen as stable entities, “tools” to be used, but as complex relational systems involving not only other technologies but also us humans.

Thus, technological developments, not least in AI, raise everything from economic, technical and legal issues to social and purely existential issues, all of which, even if they are not in the traditional centre of our subject, are relevant to business administration. The question then is how these, more humanistic and critical perspectives, should be given space in business administration education, while both politicians and other stakeholders demand even more applied and business-useful programmes?

Some suggestions for more specific questions:

• What does digitialisation and AI mean for the questions, methods and dissemination of results in business administration research? As data is collected, systematised, transcribed, translated and analysed using increasingly complex technology, are we sure that the researcher is still always in the driver's seat? What research questions arise at the interface between business administration and technology and how do we best study them? What does sustainable development mean in the meeting between business administration and technology?
• What makes an education in business administration relevant in the future, and for whom? What will the digital and physical learning environments of the future look like? What do we know about business administration didactics, and how might this need to be developed to meet the students and knowledge needs of the digital era? What does lifelong learning in business administration mean? What is the role of more traditional education in the light of an increasingly prevalent technological imperative?
• What is the best way to manage and organise business administration operations at our higher education institutions? By what means do we ensure the continued societal relevance of business administration in the digital era? How do we reach out with our knowledge to a broader group of societal stakeholders? How can we collaborate and co-produce knowledge with different stakeholders to help address the opportunities and challenges of technological development?

For the program, please see the Swedish website.

Registration closed at September 26, 2025.

Conference fee per participant:
SEK 3,000 excluding VAT
(includes a SEK 500 association fee as per decision)

For PhD students (including the PhD workshop on October 14):
SEK 1,500 excluding VAT

The fee covers the full conference program, including welcome reception, coffee breaks, lunches, and the conference dinner at Kalmar Castle.

14 October 10.00-17.30

(Following the doctoral workshop, the PhD students join the conference program, starting with the Welcome Reception)

Are you a PhD student in business administration? Then we cordially invite you to the FEKIS doctoral workshop! This is a chance to meet PhDs from other business administration institutions across Sweden, and to take part in conversations and learnings related to PhD studies, the academic life and topics of engagement. The workshop is held in English.

The doctoral workshop is designed around topics of importance during the doctoral journey. It mixes talks, workshops, exercises, and panels to provide a varied format across its topics. The later afternoon focuses on theory and method issues under the umbrella of “Engaging management studies with societal challenges”. PhD students from the course “Pluralistic perspectives on sustainability” run their final sessions in parallel to this.

You sign up to the workshop when you register (see Registration and conference fee-section: as Doktorand/PhD-student). If we cannot, based on numbers of interested, accommodate all that have signed up, we will make a selection based on the information provided when signing up to aim for a workshop that reflects diversity across subjects, universities, years as a PhD. An early registration is beneficial.

Welcome!

For sessions, please see the Swedish website.

If you need a hotel room during your stay in Kalmar, we recommend that you contact one of the following hotels/hostels (in alphabetical order) to make a reservation.

See map of hotels in Kalmar

Best Western Plus Kalmarsund Hotell 
Address: Fiskaregatan 5, 392 32 Kalmar
Book via email: info@kalmarsundhotel.se
Phone: +46 480 - 480 380
Website: Best Western Plus Kalmarsund Hotell 

Calmar Stadshotell 
Address: Stortorget 14, 392 32 Kalmar
Book via email: calmarstadshotell@profilhotels.se
Phone: +46 480 - 496 900
Website: Calmar Stadshotell 

Clarion Collection Hotel Packhuset 
Address: Skeppsbrogatan 26, 392 31 Kalmar
Book via email: cc.packhuset@choice.se
Phone: +46 480 - 570 00
Website: Clarion Collection Hotel Packhuset 

First Hotel Witt 
Address: Södra Långgatan 42, 392 31 Kalmar
Book via email: witt@firsthotels.se
Phone: +46 480 - 152 50
Website: First Hotel Witt 

Frimurarehotellet 
Address: Larmtorget 2, 392 32 Kalmar
Book via email: info@frimurarehotellet.se
Phone: +46 480 - 152 30
Website: Frimurarehotellet 

Slottshotellet Kalmar
Address: Slottsvägen 7, 392 33 Kalmar
Book via email: info@slottshotellet.se
Phone: +46 480 - 255 60
Website: Slottshotellet Kalmar

Svanen Hotell och Vandrarhem 
Address: Rappegatan 1, 392 30 Kalmar
Book via email: info@hotellsvanen.se
Phone: 0480 - 255 60
Website: Svanen Hotell och Vandrarhem 

Kalmar is well-connected by train to Stockholm, Gothenburg and Copenhagen. You can also reach Kalmar by direct flights from Stockholm Arlanda Airport to Kalmar Airport. A direct train from Copenhagen Airport/Kastrup to Kalmar takes 4 hours, while the train from Stockholm Central takes 5 hours and includes at least one transfer.

Travelling by train will take you to Kalmar Central station located in the city centre; Linnaeus University is located in the nearby harbour, approximately a 5-minute walk.

Bus from Kalmar Öland Airport to Kalmar city centre

For travelling between Kalmar Öland Airport and Linnaeus University, taxi or bus is recommended. Kalmar Öland Airport is located about 5 km from the city centre. Shuttle bus number 402 takes you to Kalmar center. Buses are operated by Kalmar Länstrafik, see link for timetable.