Pune (Maharashtra) [India], May 3 (ANI/SRV): Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Pune, a renowned Indian B-school, collaborated with Swansea University, United Kingdom (UK) and has been running the third edition of an online seminar series titled "The Digital Future for Business & Society."

The current edition of the series is centred around "Emerging perspectives on the Metaverse." The fifth seminar in the series took place in April, featuring three distinguished thought leaders, Prof. Samuel Fosso Wamba, Dr Maciel M. Queiroz, and Dr Anuragini Shirish, sharing their insights on the topic: 'Unlocking the metaverse in manufacturing and operations management.'

Dr Samuel Fosso Wamba is a Full Professor in Information Systems and Data Science and the Associated Dean of Research at TBS Education, France. He is also a Distinguished Visiting Professor at The University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and at the UCSI Graduate Business School, UCSI University, Malaysia. Dr Maciel M. Queiroz is an Associate Professor and Researcher of Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSCM) at FGV EAESP, Brazil and Latin/South America Regional Ambassador of the Academy of Management, Operations and Supply Chain Management Division. Dr Anuragini Shirish is an Associate Professor at Institut Mines-Telecom Business School, France. She is an elected member from her institution for the governance of the LITEM (Laboratoire Innovation Technologies Economie et Management) (EA 7363), a joint research laboratory under the University of Paris-Saclay, France.

During the seminar, Prof. Samuel Fosso Wamba discussed that the metaverse has the potential to revolutionize manufacturing and supply chain management industries by utilizing advanced technologies such as 3D modelling, augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality. He also highlighted the metaverse's ability to create simulated environments for product testing, worker training, and real-time collaboration with unlimited capabilities. Dr Anuragini Sirish shared her perspective on how the metaverse could be integrated into manufacturing, operations, and supply chain management to bring about significant benefits. Dr Maciel M. Queiroz addressed the challenges of adopting the metaverse in operations and supply chain management.

The speakers also discussed the opportunities the metaverse presents in industries like automobiles, aviation, tourism, courier services, etc. Additionally, the seminar brought attention to emerging issues and challenges in metaverse implementation, such as ethical and legal concerns related to virtual environments. In conclusion, the discussion ended on a positive note, stating that the metaverse presents exciting opportunities for the future of manufacturing and supply chain management. This seminar can be watched on this YouTube link: https://youtu.be/v9jyCBMW8wQ.

Speaking more about the seminar series and the session Dr Ramakrishnan Raman, Director SIBM Pune shared, "The objective of this seminar series is to offer a timely and thought-provoking insight to the Metaverse, its impact on the future of business, management and societal factors impacted by the growth, direction, and widespread adoption of this new immersive technology. This seminar series is intended to present various perspectives from a number of leading global expert speakers to highlight the opportunities and challenges posed by the rapid emergence of the Metaverse." He also added that the sixth seminar of the series is scheduled on 17th May 2023 where Professor Nir Kshetri from the University of North Carolina, USA will join to touch upon a very interesting topic, "Pollution reducing and pollution generating effects of the metaverse".

This seminar is jointly organized by Professor Yogesh K Dwivedi, who is a Professor of Digital Marketing and Innovation, the School of Management, Swansea University, Wales, UK; Dr Laurie Hughes, who is a Senior Lecturer within the Strategic Operations Group, School of Management, Swansea University. Wales, UK; and, Prof. Dr Ramakrishnan Raman who is Director of SIBM-Pune, Dean of Faculty of Management, Symbiosis International (Deemed University) and Director - Strategy and Development, Symbiosis. This seminar series is jointly Supported by Digital Marketing and Analytics SIG Academy of Marketing, Grenoble IAE-Graduate School of Management - a Grenoble INP school of the University of Grenoble Alpes, The e-Business and e-Government SIG British Academy of Management and The UK Academy for Information Systems (UKAIS). The seminar is moderated by Dr Vinod Kumar, Associate Professor, SIBM Pune and Dr Anabel Gutierrez Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing at Royal Holloway, University of London.

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