The conference forms part of an interpretive approach towards business
administration, strategic management, and entrepreneurship, by introducing
instruments of semiotics, linguistics, narratology, and others. The topic of
the conference therefore is open to a bundle of scientific and industrial
perspectives.

From an entrepreneurial perspective, the early recognition of change in
societies, markets and organizations is crucial. Not only from a competitive
point of view are the signals more valuable, the earlier they are recognized.

Early recognition based on narratives opens windows for innovation
and helps to foster new business opportunities.

It has largely been acknowledged that organizations are built, maintained
and developed by story-type tools of management and leadership. The
communication of missions and visions, the setting of myths and basic
values, the implementation of change management processes through
rhetorical issues, and so on, are amongst the most powerful means to drive
the organization forward. As a consequence, text based analyses of the
organizational self and of organizational meaning has been gaining interest in
organization theory continuously in the last decades.

Less known and still to be discussed is the role of the cultural context in
this behalf and the way in which the mutual influences of organizational
story-building and the narrative processing of knowledge in a culture do
actually interact.

• How do value systems of cultures and organizations exchange their
  scales and priorities?
• Which narratives form part in the encounter of partners in a
  complex network of stakeholders, which interactional formats can
  be identified?
• How do generic structures change, how can the sense-making
  character of new signs and stories be interpreted?
• How do styles in story-telling change and what does style-shifting
  indicate?
• Where are the strategic and organizational challenges?
• What are the levers that open new paths to opportunity recognition,
  entrepreneurial innovation and business development?

• Early bird until July 31st
• students pay EUR 60 ,-