'Businesses need new tech, innovation for desired growth'

Adoption of new technology, patenting innovations and proper use of social-media platforms are some of pre-requisites for businesses to ensure desired growth.
This was observed at a session on 'Growth Dynamics' on the second day of three-day 7th SANEM Annual Economists' Conference (SAEC) 2024 at BRAC centre in Mohakhali area of the capital on Saturday.
Professor Mustafizur Rahman, distinguished fellow of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), chaired the session while Assistant Professor (Economics), School of Liberal Studies, India's University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, joined it virtually as a discussant.
Economists from Bangladesh and India made four paper presentations on different topics at the conference organised by the South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM).
A PhD student at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Avichal Sharma made presentation on "Analysing the Role of Elasticity of Substitution in the Dynamics of Patent Policies and Economic Output in an Overlapping Generations Framework".
Responding to the paper, Prof Mustafizur said Bangladesh needs to comply with patent regime as it is set to graduate from LDC status by 2026.
A post-graduate student of Economics at Jagannath University presented a paper titled "Impact of social media marketing on business performance of small business enterprise during and post Covid-19 period: the case of Bangladesh".
According to the paper, 41.5 per cent of the surveyed respondents said boosting post and page on social media has been beneficial for them.
However, 50 per cent the surveyed respondents said they suffer from fraud customers.
Based on the results of this study, it can be recommended that social media marketing is an effective and valuable instrument for improving the performance of small business enterprises.
Therefore, it is necessary to increase knowledge about the use of social media as a medium for business, said the paper.
Sushobhan Mahata, a PhD scholar, University of Calcutta in India, presented a paper titled "An Introduction to Hidden Influence Games: The Basic Structure, Their Representations and Equilibrium Analysis."
Dr Akhilesh Kumar Sharma, assistant professor, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), New Delhi, presented a paper titled "Exploring Policy Strategies for Achieving Manufacturing-led Growth in India: An Analysis Using CGE Modelling Framework".

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