The 12th International Research Conference on Management and Finance (IRCMF 2017)

The 12^th International Research Conference on Management and Finance (IRCMF 2017) which was organized by the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo marked its successful completion in the evening on 27 October 2017 (Friday) at Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI).

The inauguration of the conference commenced with a ceremony under the patronage of Dr. (Mrs.) R. Senathiraja, the Dean of the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo, and the Conference Co-Chairs Dr. Prasath Rathnasingha and Dr. Sashika Manoratne, both being Senior Lecturers in the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo. The ceremony was presided overby the Chief Guest, Senior Professor Lakshman Dissanayake, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Colombo. Dr. Patrick McNamara of University of Nebraska, Omaha, USA was the Keynote speaker for the day whilst Professor P. S. M. Gunaratne, the Vice-Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC), Sri Lanka played the role of the Guest of Honour.

Following the inauguration, the technical sessions were held under six parallel tracks, namely Accounting and Management Information Systems, Business Economics and Finance, Human Resources Management, Management, Organization Studies, Management of Technology and Disaster Management and International Business, Marketing, Tourism and Hospitality Management in Full Research Papers authored by both local and international authors were presented under these tracks.

The 4^th Industry Dialogue was also held after the technical sessions and under the theme of “Entrepreneurship and Innovation for Business Success”. A panel of experts representing both the corporate sector and academia brought to the spotlight a multitude of existing and emerging issues of this theme, provoking an enthralling interaction with the audience.Mr. Nathan Sivagananathan (Chief Growth Officer, MAS Holdings Private Limited), Mr. Sarath Kularatne (Senior Expert/Director – Research and Development, Camso Loadstar [Pvt] Ltd), Dr. Nayana Dehigama (Executive Chairman/ Managing Director, Epic Technology Group) and Dr. (Mrs.) Rajalaxumy Senathiraja (Dean of the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo)constituted this panel of experts.Admirably, this industry dialogue was moderated by Dr. Dinuka Wijetunga, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing of the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo.

Another distinct event of IRCMF 2017 was the Doctoral Colloquium 2017 which was held on 26 October 2017 (Thursday) at the New Conference Hall of the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo. It was coordinated jointly and splendidly by Professor Prabhath Jayasinghe, Professor in Business Economics and Dr. Shantharuby Buvanendra, Senior Lecturer, Department of Finance of the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Colombo.

This IRCMF 2017 is a testimony to our undiminishing and unceasing commitment and dedication to promoting and advocating ethical scholarship across the academia whilst forging mutually beneficial collaboration and cooperation with the corporate sector for producing much needed synergies which benefit the society at large.