12th CompNet-EC Annual Conference, 19-20 October 2023, Brussels, Belgium

In recent decades, firms have seen fundamental changes to their economic environment. The rise in concentration and increase in productivity dispersion are notable trends. More recently, firms had to adjust their production processes to respond to the climate challenge, to adapt to post-pandemic transformations in the organisation of work, and to deal with severe supply-chain shocks. Rising energy prices, interest rates and wages are currently squeezing margins, notably for energy-intensive industries open to foreign competition. Risk reducing strategies to minimize supply chain disruptions, often by nearshoring or by diversifying, may pose trade-offs between efficiency and resilience. Targeted substantial subsidies by third countries, such as the US’ Inflation Reduction Act, could generate an uneven level playing field with the risk of reallocation of EU businesses. The extent to which EU firms can prosper in this new economic environment depends on their ability to command prices, source cheap inputs, apply modern technologies, and generate productivity advantages against their competitors. Deep knowledge about these facts and interactions have tremendous relevance for policies, including financial and competition regulations.

Against this backdrop, we seek original (unpublished) research papers that address some of the mentioned aspects and their respective policy implications. Particularly, we are interested in work on:

- Energy costs and firm performance: the impact of the crisis

- Business dynamism and firm reallocation processes: new patterns

- Firm responses to supply chain disruptions

- The effects of the green and digital transition on firm performance

- Firms’ market power: new trends and patterns 

We aim for a Conference with around ten-twelve papers presented and discussed and two keynote lectures. Presenters may be asked to discuss a paper.

There are no conference fees. Limited funding to cover travel and accommodation costs is available upon request.

Keynote Speaker: Jan De Loecker (KU Leuven) & Jan Eeckhout (UPF Barcelona)

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