Chronicle of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences

Introduction

The global pandemic that has hit the world since the beginning of 2020 has uncovered some weaknesses in the business model of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS), making it necessary to adjust quickly and avoid any survival threat. However, new opportunities have also emerged with our new strategy of Open Access, which we inaugurated during the Governance Week (February 2020). In this note, I try to outline our weaknesses, the opportunities, and the new business model that IIAS has adopted to mitigate risks and reap maximum benefit from the prevailing conditions.

The coronavirus context

The three main conferences, International Institute of Administrative Sciences 2020 (IIAS2020), International Association of Schools and Institutes in Administration 2020 (IASIA2020) and European Group for Public Administration 2020 (EGPA2020), were postponed. The Trans-Atlantic Dialogue (TAD) and the Europe-Middle East and North Africa (EUROMENA) Dialogue have also been cancelled. Although the pandemic has slowed down in some parts of the world, especially East Asia, it is showing no sign of relenting elsewhere and is even resurging strongly in Europe. Many now believe that it will be here for most of 2021. If no reliable vaccine is developed, many will be reluctant to attend conferences. The earliest one could consider going back to normal for conference attendance is the summer of 2021.

In 2019 (before COVID-19), the three main conferences of IIAS accounted for 39% of its total revenues and almost 20% of its total cost. The loss of conference revenues has significantly impacted the finances of IIAS but to not an extent that it could pose any imminent survival threat. A mitigation strategy has already been put into action for that anyways.

IIAS context

For 2019, IIAS revenue streams were as follows:

39% from conferences;

Relative income from IRAS and membership is expected to increase to around 80% of total revenue (in relative terms). Income from accreditation, consulting, and other services is expected to increase to 10% and events to come down to 10%. Therefore, revenue loss in 2020 is expected to be at 30% compared to 2019.

Costs, on the other hand, will decrease but not proportionally to revenues. The cost for 2020 is expected to be 80% of the cost of 2019. Therefore, we are basically expected to lose 30% of our revenue and save 20% of our costs.

With the positive results of 2018 and 2019, IIAS can withstand losses in 2020 and even 2021 without the risk of going back into financial turmoil. We have nonetheless started implementing changes to our business model to cope with the situation.

IIAS conference model

IIAS is dependent on member subsidies, IRAS royalties, and fee revenues from events for almost the entirety of its revenues. While we can assume some resilience of the first two streams of revenues, fee revenues from conferences, which represented almost 40% of total revenues in 2019, are hit hard and could come to nothing if alternative conference delivery modes are not put in place. An alternative that is required is online conferencing, though it will not make up for lost revenues. However, it will boost the presence of IIAS at a time when online visibility has become essential to keep the network together and offer new services. Moreover, failing to offer an alternative online conference to participants in IIAS events will prove costly and reflect negatively on IIAS as being irrelevant and unable to adapt to global disturbances. For this reason, it is vital that IIAS offers online conferencing whenever its physical conferences are cancelled.

However, the shift from regular conferences to online ones must be properly planned. Our conferences were always planned and delivered for physical locations with minimal online support and interactivity, especially on the output side. As we are managing this shift to online conferences, it is easier to do so for the input than the output. For the input, the use of a conference management solution helps us organize submissions and review them. However, the process is heavily directed by the executive secretaries in their interactions with the Work Group (WG) chairs for IASIA and EGPA. Beyond this direct relationship between the chairs and the executive secretaries, there is not much interaction with the WGs, which complicates preparations for online conferences. During the conference itself, the scientific rapporteuring process, which is meant to channel knowledge to dissemination outlets, has not worked well beyond the session presentations, which one can benefit from only if physically present. The post-conference dissemination has been handled directly by WGs, both in IASIA and EGPA, which often develop publication projects outside of IIAS.

The basic idea of adapting the IIAS conference model to online delivery is to “automate” the physical conference and magnify the benefits expected from it. This will also fix the problems of traditional delivery. Therefore, an end-to-end conference value chain has been defined and modeled including:

There will be an integration of the pre-conference activities like the call for contributions, submissions and reviews, conference scheduling, and so on, which are currently being handled by the conference management system ConfTool.

Technology platform

IIAS is currently in the final testing phase of a new platform to run an online conference. This platform was already launched during the joint EGPA/IASIA e-conference in September 2020 and will be further enhanced and finalized during the IIAS 90th anniversary conference in December. This new platform, dubbed Virtual Institute for the Sciences of Administration (VISA), will integrate our current submission and review platform (ConfTool) with Zoom webinars and meetings to offer a seamless and graphically attractive virtual conferencing environment.

We have resorted to developing our own platform because the high demand for online conferences drove up the cost of commercial solutions. This solution is the least costly, enables us to own the solution, permits the flexibility to brand and adapt it, and allows the possibility to upgrade and reuse it for future conferences. The VISA platform is being integrated with the IIAS website to offer other online services that are being currently developed.

IIAS Open Access platform

The Open Access platform being developed will also be accessible through the VISA; it shares many resources with the virtual conference module (review and dissemination modules for instance) and is fed directly through the conference output. However, and contrary to the virtual conference platform, the Open Access platform will be operational at all times and will permit the following:

direct submissions without going through ConfTool, which entails an independent review process;

IIAS Academy’s new look

The IIAS Academy was cancelled in 2020 and will be held again in 2021. Just as with e-conferences, it will be reconfigured to be both an on-site event and a virtual academy. The VISA will also permit access to the IIAS Academy online. The online conferencing platform will be adapted to support the online establishment of the Academy. Among other things, the new concept of the Academy includes:

events held by the Academy both online and physically;

The online Academy will also include resources for online learning to support educational and training programs of our members as an output of the IASIA e-learning project being planned right now.

Coronavirus projects

IIAS has already started executing some key projects to respond to emergent demand in the market:

The IIAS scientific director, director of publications, and Programme and research advisory Committee of International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS PRAC) chair have edited a special report on how countries’ public administrations are responding to the coronavirus crisis, which will be published very shortly.

Communication

The need to communicate has become much greater than before. We can no longer be absent without any major communication on a monthly basis. We have started to do so through our newsletter (renamed IIAS Agenda), as well as through our websites (which have been updated and improved lately), social media, and targeted mailchimps. The IIAS administrator is working with the IASIA executive secretary and myself to develop a new communication strategy. This will later be mainstreamed within the ERP (integrated information technology (IT) system), along with a new visual identity that we plan to unveil by the end of the year as well.

Other projects

We have several consulting/research projects on course with our state member of Bahrain. It is difficult to seek additional projects during this period, though we have some leads. However, three current projects are under way: one at the stage of execution; a second with the proposal approved in principle and contracting to be done soon; and a third still at the proposal stage. At any rate, we expect an income of at least Euro 50,000 from consulting for the year, which will partially make up for the loss in conference revenues.

Financial model and new revenues

The online conference environment is not expected to generate significant revenues this year. However, some revenues are still expected:

Only members will be allowed to participate in the virtual conference of December. This is expected to bring in additional membership fee revenue.

The IT platform, if effective and attractive, could be leased to those who seek to organize events. The price will be set depending on its competitiveness in the market. However, we are unlikely to have a “commercial-grade” platform until late next year.

We could significantly increase our membership fees if we could offer a critical mass of online services. To enhance our visibility, we must secure the involvement of top academics and professionals in our online activities. The WGs are critical for this.

Challenges

Based on communiqués of many learned societies, many are working on making online offerings. We must ensure that we secure a first-mover advantage that sets us apart from the competition. Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA), with its large financial slack and the active involvement of its network, has already held its annual conference online, though on a proprietary platform. Likewise, European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) has already announced an online offering in replacement of their physical conference. Many more are expected to follow suit. However, despite our limited financial resources, we can also reap significant benefits if we do the right investment at the right time. A bootstrapping strategy wherein we invest incrementally, in line with our financial situation, is very appropriate. If we stay put and wait for the crisis to wither in order to organize our physical conferences, hoping that they will take place, we will be perceived as redundant.

Our foremost challenges, other than financial resources, remain human resources. For this, we must operate differently:

IIAS scientific personnel will be fully invested in value-added projects, as described earlier. All projects will be run in collaborative spaces to attract people who are willing to contribute. This will increase the communication load but we should be able to find volunteers to help with that. We should avoid trying to control the flow of interactions and communication.

Conclusion

IIAS is successfully weathering the global coronavirus crisis and has succeeded in reinventing itself as a relevant network for academics and professionals in public administration. The VISA platform will gradually emerge as the key delivery vehicle of IIAS. New products and services, such as hybrid conferences (all our conferences will be organized as such henceforth), the new look IIAS e-Academy, the Open Access platform, our revamped e-journal (Developments in Administration), the IASIA e-learning exchange, and many additional services, will be channeled through VISA to offer significant benefits to our members. With the expected redemption of our on-site conferences in the summer of 2021, we are planning a mega-event in Bela Bela, South Africa, to bring together our IIAS and IASIA networks in recognition of the global COVID-19 ordeal. We are very optimistic about the future in IIAS.