The objective of the 2012 ISBEFA, the 1st of the series, is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for presentations of our current state of knowledge, as well as in motivating new research and applications within the variety of disciplines related to business, economics and financial applications.

The theme of the conference – the challenges to international business – captures the breadth of changes that are taking place in the international business environment. As one example, the increasing recognition that man's activities are a cause of climate change in particular, and natural...