One more time: international business in a global economy
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One more time: international business in a global economy Oded Shenkar1 1 Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
Correspondence: O Shenkar, Ford Motor Company Chair in Global Business Management, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, 2100 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. Tel: þ 1 614 292 0083 Fax: þ 1 614 292 7062 E-mail: [email protected]
Received: 22 January 2003 Revised: 25 August 2003 Accepted: 25 November 2003 Online publication date: 29 January 2004
Abstract This paper seeks to redirect the debate on the past, present and future of international business (IB). It sets out to dispel prevailing myths pertaining to the field’s disciplinary roots, its domain and underlying bases of theory and knowledge. IB is positioned as an integrative field whose competitive advantage and added value lie in the synergetic combination of global and local knowledge that is unavailable to and not imitable by its major competitors, in particular economics and strategy. Journal of International Business Studies (2004) 35, 161–171. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400074 Keywords: international business; disciplines; research
International business (IB) started as an academic field almost by default, picking up on the lack of interest in international issues by the extant business disciplines. With a tiny fraction of mainstream disciplinary journals publishing research on non-US locations (Adler, 1983), IB scholars faced entry barriers into existing markets (disciplinary journals) that showed little interest in goods (manuscripts) seemingly not amenable to disciplinary frames and vocabulary. As a result, IB was forced to develop a secluded and protected market by launching its own outlets and institutions (e.g., the Academy of International Business). For years it claimed an infant industry status, seeking protection from the vagaries of the academic market by virtue of its newness and the difficulty and cost of doing international research. This status implied, however, that IB was unable to compete on equal terms, and that it could not be held up to the standards of theoretical and methodological rigor prevailing among established business disciplines. In the 1980s and 1990s, global growth in international trade and foreign direct investment catapulted IB into the realm of the current and the relevant. Functional areas have begun to accommodate, if not fully incorporate, international topics, according them the status of an international division – legitimate yet specialized and, most importantly, segmented and removed from the strategic and operational core of the parent field. On a curricular level, ‘international content’ has been added, often as an afterthought in the form of a foreign case or article rather than as part of a fully integrated global curriculum. Today, IB is at a crossroads. With globalization seemingly around the corner, and with business schools making (often token) inroads
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