Page 54 - FMS Today Volume 1 Issue 1

In his keynote, Prof. Athula Gnanapala, Dean of the Faculty of Management Studies, stated

that "In today's fast-paced world, we need beneficial partnerships to encourage creativity,
leverage experience, and maximize resources that can help to solve a business solution as
quickly as possible. By also looking for partnerships and collaborating externally,
organizations are able to innovate much more quickly and even create solutions to problems

that may not yet be prevalent or salient issues".

There were around 97 paper presentations done in two days where 20 researchers from Sri
Lanka presented their research outcome. The sessions in the main conference tracks

included 18-20 papers across six sub-disciplines, with the motive of giving the presenter
enough time to present their work. Dr. Jayantha N. Dewasiri, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty
of Management Studies, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, co-chaired the Finance

Track of the conference with Prof. Aviral Tiwari. Prof. Chamaru De Alwis (University of
Kelaniya) chaired the Human Resource Management Track of the conference. Dr. (Mrs.)
Sandamlai Galdolage’s (University of Sri Jayewardenepura) paper titled “Interplay between
Customer Value, Co-Creation Intention, Practices, Co-Destruction and Experience in Self-
Service Technologies” grabbed the first position in marketing track, and the best papers of

the other tracks were assured by the international researchers.

The conference was a great success not only as a chance to share knowledge and

experience in higher education but also as the beginning of a long and fruitful cooperation
and friendship among fellow educators devoted to the most meaningful and worthwhile task
of teaching and training our youths, who will shape our future.

VOLUME I | ISSUE I 48