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Call For Papers

50 years of IB Research: What have we achieved, and what have we not yet achieved? 

Guest Editors:   Yair Aharoni, Tel-Aviv University

                   David Brock, Ben-Gurion University 

International business as an academic discipline has grown over the last 50 years. Half a century marks the time for reflection on two directions. The first is to look back at what has been achieved thus far in terms of the development of IB as an academic research field. The second direction is forward-looking, speculating on future trends and developments one should expect both in the international environment within which business will operate; and the concepts, methodologies and theories called for to explain these trends and to be useful to managers.  

On the first aspect, we will consider papers summarizing what has been achieved, and surveying the achievements of the academic field of International Business over its first generation. What advances have been made, what theories have been developed, what useful constructs have been developed, and what significant empirical findings have been discovered? We also welcome contributions analyzing what theories have not stood the test of time, the reasons for this, and what concepts have not proved useful – including why.  

We also encourage papers speculating on future trends and developments in all aspects of the international arena. What still needs to be done to build an adequate theory of international business or specific components of such a theory? What has not yet been achieved, and we still do not understand? 

Papers may take varying methodologies and approaches: conceptual, theory building, and empirical. We are keen to see speculations and thinking pieces.  Submissions may draw on history, geography, political theory, economics/trade, emphasize a specific set of developments or a specific region. Papers may attempt to deal with any theoretical field within international business, be it the multinational enterprise, comparative business-government relations, reasons for direct foreign investment, internationalization theory, strategic alliances and so on. 

The deadline for submission of manuscripts is July 31, 2008.  Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with Journal of International Management’s Style Guide for Authors: http://sbm.temple.edu/jim/authors.html.  Manuscripts should be electronically submitted to Kimberly A. Cahill, JIM Managing Editor, at kcahill@temple.edu

Please direct any questions regarding the Special to either of the guest editors: 

Yair Aharoni, yairah@post.tau.ac.il

David Brock, dmb@bgumail.bgu.ac.il

2nd Annual Research Conference and Workshop on International Sourcing
9th Annual International Business Research Forum

Temple University, Philadelphia
April 3-5, 2008
Organizers: Masaaki Kotabe and Ram Mudambi

Awards

Best Paper - $1,000
Honorable Mention - $500

 

Global sourcing strategy generally refers to management of (1) logistics identifying which production units will serve which particular markets and how components will be supplied for production and (2) the interfaces among R&D, manufacturing, and marketing on a global basis.  The primary objective of global sourcing strategy is for the firm to exploit both its own and its suppliers’ competitive advantages and the comparative locational advantages of various countries in global competition.  From a contractual point of view, the global sourcing of intermediate products such as components and services by firms takes place in two ways: 1) from the parents or their foreign subsidiaries on an “intra-firm” basis (i.e., insourcing) and 2) from independent suppliers on a “contractual” basis (i.e., outsourcing).  Similarly, from a locational point of view, multinational firms can procure goods and services either (1) domestically (i.e., onshoring) or (2) from abroad (i.e., offshoring).  

In the last 15 to 20 years, we have observed three waves of global sourcing. The first wave, starting in the mid-1980s, was primarily focused on global sourcing of manufacturing activities. Large manufacturing firms increasingly set up their operations globally and began to use suppliers from many countries to exploit best-in-world sources.  As a consequence, supply chains became more global and complex, with manufacturing firms sourcing from suppliers in many countries for raw materials, intermediate and final products.

A second wave started to occur in the early 1990s, when firms decided to start eliminating their information technology (IT) departments that had grown substantially.  As IT itself had become commoditized and many firms had little interest in developing new information systems in-house, this IT outsourcing wave spawned the growth of specialist providers, such as EDS and Accenture.  Global sourcing mostly involved labor-intensive and standardized programming activities, which could be easily sourced from locations like India.  The rise of commercial applications for a wide range of firm activities, epitomized in Enterprise Resource Planning systems, also implied that a marketplace had developed where independent suppliers could make competitive offerings.

A third wave, characterized as the offshoring movement, began in recent years.  We have witnessed the rise of business process outsourcing that extends beyond IT services to a range of other services relating to accounting, human resources management, finance, sales and after-sales such as call centers.  India is still a primary source country, and has now produced a range of strong local business process providers such as Infosys and Wipro, but competition from elsewhere is also on the rise.  It is this third wave of business process outsourcing that is now generating so much publicity.  Many are concerned that foreign business processes suppliers may be moving up the knowledge chain more rapidly than expected by sourcing firms.  Such knowledge transfer could in the long run undermine sourcing firms’ ability to differentiate themselves from their foreign suppliers. Indeed, such hollowing-out concerns have previously been raised about outsourcing of manufacturing activities before. 

This conference is a sequel to the First Annual Research Conference and Workshop on Offshoring held at Duke University in April, 2007, and focuses on broader issues related to international sourcing.  In this conference, we wish to foster a dialogue among scholars studying issues related to international sourcing and international competitiveness, and their implications for international business (IB) strategy and theory development.  Select papers from the research forum will be published in a Special Issue of the Journal of International Management.

Submission Guidelines: All proposals for plenary sessions, research papers, case studies and teaching studies should be submitted electronically by December 31, 2007 to the Journal of International Management Office at intman@temple.edu. Alternatively, a disk copy may be submitted to the JIM office, Fox School of Business & Management, Temple University, 349 Speakman Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA. Additional information is available on the Temple CIBER website, http://sbm.temple.edu/ciber/, or by contacting Kim Cahill at 215-204-3778 or kcahill@temple.edu. Manuscripts are submitted with the understanding that they are original, unpublished works and are not being submitted elsewhere.

Institutional Changes & Organizational Transformations in Developing Economies

Research Forum Co-Chairs:
Masaaki Kotabe (Temple University)
Preet S. Aulakh (York University)

Co-Sponsor:
Hildy Teegen (George Washington CIBER)

One important component of globalization is the increased participation of developing economies in the global economy both as markets for goods and services as well as production sites. Institutional changes emanating from evolving political landscapes within individual countries and pressures from supra-national bodies such as the WTO and the World Bank have been instrumental in the liberalization of developing countries’ economies and their integration into the global economy.  Increasing integration in the global economy has meant changed competitive landscapes for organizations from developing countries as well as multinationals operating in these economies thus necessitating organizational transformations to deal with new competitive dynamics. For instance, indigenous firms from developing economies have had to compete without the protectionist umbrella prevalent during the earlier periods. Similarly, MNCs operating in these countries have been challenged to shed what Prahalad and Lieberthal called an “imperialist mindset.”

In this research forum, we invite papers that examine the interactions/impact of institutional changes at various levels on the organizational transformations of firms in developing economies.  We are interested in papers that examine such transformations of indigenous firms from these economies including business groups, private and public enterprises and non-governmental organizations as well as foreign multinationals operating in these economies. 

This research forum is open to a wide range of methodological approaches to study organizational transformations in emerging economies.  However, it is expected that submitted papers will have a strong theoretical grounding. About twelve to fifteen papers will be selected for presentation at the Research Forum at Temple University, scheduled for April 21, 2007.  Temple CIBER will reimburse the presenters' travel up to $500.00 and lodging expenses.  Subsequently, the best papers from the research forum will be published in a Special Issue of the Journal of International Management.

Manuscript Submission:  Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with Journal of International Management’s Style Guide for Authors available at: http://sbm.temple.edu/jim/authors.html. All manuscripts should be submitted electronically by January 15, 2007 to Kim Cahill, Managing Editor, Journal of International Management, at kcahill@temple.edu  Manuscripts are submitted with the understanding that they are original, unpublished works and are not being submitted elsewhere. Please direct any questions regarding the research forum to either of the co-chairs, Masaaki Kotabe (mkotabe@temple.edu) or Preet S. Aulakh (paulakh@schulich.yorku.ca). Additional information about the Annual IB Research Forum may be found on our website at: http://sbm.temple.edu/ibrf2007/

Third-World Multinationals And Global Competition

Deadline for submissions: July 15, 2006
Special Issue Editor:

  • Preet S. Aulakh

One of the emerging phenomena of global competition is the increased participation of firms from developing economies in different industries and across value chain activities. While a substantial body of research in recent years has examined the competitive dynamics in liberalizing third world economies as well as the opportunities and challenges for foreign firms entering these markets, there is limited understanding of the participation of third world companies in the global economy and its impact on global competition.   A few books written about third world multinationals date back to the 1970s and 1980s, where much of the emphasis was on explaining their FDI strategies in other developing economies.

In recent years, we are seeing the (re)emergence of companies from the third world who are graduating from being OEM suppliers and exporters to engaging in horizontal and vertical foreign direct investments. We also see evidence of their foreign direct investments being targeted towards advanced economies as well as in both resource industries and higher-value adding activities. Thus, the emergence of third world multinationals provide opportunities to examine the applicability of existing theories to these firms and/or refine and develop new theoretical approaches to explain their multinationality. Authors are invited to submit manuscripts to this special issue of JIM in order to advance understanding of the emergence and growth of the third world multinationals and their impact on the dynamics of global competition. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

  • What are their paths to multinationality? Are they determined by temporal dimensions, home market institutional environments, historical ties with foreign countries/companies, etc?
  • What are the roles of home country governments in supporting the multinationality objectives of these firms?   How do these fit with the development objectives of the home governments?
  • What are the sources of competitive advantage for these firms?   How do they sustain and enhance these advantages with increasing multinationality?
  • How do these firms overcome the liability of foreignness given their historical positions?   Do they face different types of liabilities in making FDI across various value chain activities or across developed and developing countries?   Are there different strategies to overcome both the liabilities of foreignness and newness?
  • How does the emergence of third world multinationals change the competitive landscapes in different industries?

The special issue is open to a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches to address these and other issues, including historical analyses, case studies, grounded theory building approaches, econometric analyses, etc. The deadline for submission of manuscripts is July 15, 2006 .   Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with Journal of International Management’s Style Guide for Authors: http://sbm.temple.edu/jim/authors.html . Please direct any questions regarding the Special Issue and submit papers electronically to the guest editor:  

Preet S. Aulakh
Pierre Lassonde
Chair in International Business
Schulich School of Business, N305C
York University
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 CANADA
paulakh@schulich.yorku.ca   (416) 736-2100, x 77941

New Directions in Global and International Strategy Research: Beyond the Transnational

Deadline for submissions: June 30, 2006
Special Issue Editor:

  • Anoop Madhok
  • Stephen Tallman

The world of business has changed dramatically in the last decade or more since the Strategic Management Journal Special Issue on Global Strategy was published in 1991. In practice, the end of the Cold War; the emergence of new market economies in Eastern Europe , China , and India , among others; the consolidation of the European Union; a decade of stagnation in Japan ; and the re-emergence of the United States have altered the political economy of the world.   New technologies such as the internet and the worldwide web, cell phones, wireless networking, and massive capacity increases in data storage and analysis provide constant communication and access to ever-increasing amounts of information.   Globalizing trends in culture, technology, and financial markets drive global demand and global supply chains.   In response, multinational firms have evolved into much more complex, yet flexible, organizations that seek economic gains and efficiencies through increasing their scope of operations, penetrating ever more obscure markets, and accumulating knowledge from ever wider networks of subsidiaries, alliances, and acquisitions.

Considerations of basic strategic logic, organizational and managerial tasks, systems for control and coordination, and the basic paradigm of leadership are all influenced by the new technological, political, economic and cultural environments of today’s world.   Increasing complexity in international markets in the late 1980s gave the Transnational Model such appeal in 1991. As global markets and multinational firms have continued to evolve, the time is ripe to go beyond the Transnational to apply new theories, models, paradigms, data, and methods to the study of 21 st Century strategic management of international and global firms.   Evolutionary and co-evolutionary theory, real options models, dynamic capabilities, the knowledge-based theory of the firm, learning theory, regional clusters, and network theory have all become important to the study of the multinational firm since the Transnational Model, with its strong ties to the integration-responsiveness and internalization models, was at its peak of influence.   On the empirical side, we see widespread use of longitudinal models, interaction and moderating effects, structural equation modeling, event studies, and other sophisticated techniques.  

Considerations such as the above demand conceptually innovative approaches and novel theories and frameworks to go ‘beyond the transnational’.   We welcome manuscripts that do so. Topics may include but are not limited to the following issues:

 

  • Knowledge has become increasingly central to competitive advantage. However, it is no longer the monopoly of multinational headquarters, but has become widely dispersed across multiple subsidiaries.   How is knowledge acquired, transmitted, and applied in such firms?   How can subsidiaries be ‘centers of excellence’, yet cooperate successfully with one another to gain advantage for the whole?   What are the implications of seeing the MNE as a network firm embedded in a network of firms?
  • Agglomeration economics, especially in knowledge-intensive activities, have generated multiple “knowledge clusters” as vital features of the global landscape.   How do these clusters relate to traditional national concerns?   How can MNEs take advantage of these highly localized clusters to gain global advantage?
  • The multinational firm’s boundaries have become increasingly blurred as firms increasingly participate in various kinds of cooperative strategies with local and global partners.   How has information technology changed alliance relationships?   Has the information efficiency of the Web made global hierarchies obsolete?   What is the role of headquarters in a network environment?
  • How can the multinational firm find synergies across external and internal networks of affiliates, alliances, and subsidiaries to make relevant local knowledge globally available?
  • Multinationals, particularly those in information technology fields, no longer follow the traditional sequence of internationalization but often are said to be ‘born global’.   What does this mean to global entrepreneurship? How can a start-up firm service world markets?   What does this phenomenon mean for the co-evolution of competition on a global scale?
  • As the center of gravity of economic activity shifts towards non-traditional markets in newly emerging economies, multinational firms are learning to cope with institutional environments characterized by a different set of institutional criteria than a decade ago (e.g. limited property rights, less sophisticated legal structures, different kinds of socio-economic relationships such as guanxi, etc).   Are traditional models and methods adequate to describe this changing world, or do we need new approaches, not just new data?   How can multinational firms benefit from these changes?
  • An increasing number of multinationals today sprout out from ‘non-traditional’ home countries across the globe (e.g. newly industrialized countries, newly emerging economies, developing countries like Brazil, India and China, etc). This poses new challenges for established multinationals, and even more challenges for scholars.   Path-dependent models suggest that these companies must have different cultures, organizations, processes, and purposes than traditional MNEs.   Is this true, or not? And what does it mean for international competition?
  • Newly emerging research suggests that there are large untapped markets at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ of newly emerging economies. Different strategies may be required to tap into these markets.   How do MNEs approach these large, but dispersed and economically dilute markets efficiently?
  • In today’s charged political environment, multinational firms must be cognizant of social and environmental concerns that engage newly energized actors, such as NGOs, popular anti-capitalist and anti-globalist movements, and religious and ideological groups with economic agendas.   How are MNEs responding to this newly complex political and social environment? Are social issue strategies critical to 21 st Century MNEs or subterfuges to avoid fundamental change?  

 

Workshop for the Special Issue .   The special issue will be preceded by a mini-conference to be held at the Schulich School of Business, York University , on October 5-6, 2006 . A select number of papers will be invited for presentation at the mini-conference, from which a further subset will be selected for revision and eventual publication in a special issue. Expenses (i.e. accommodation, food, transportation to and from airport, etc.) other than airfare will be covered by the conference organizers for those presenting.  

Manuscript Submission .   The submission deadline for manuscripts is June 30, 2006 .   Since the purpose of the conference-cum-workshop is also developmental, drafts of finished papers as well as more advanced works-in-progress will be considered. In the latter case, a minimum 12-15 page proposal will be required, and the authors must commit to completion before the conference date.    Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with Journal of International Management’s Style Guide for Authors: http://sbm.temple.edu/jim/authors.html .    Papers and proposals may be submitted to Anoop Madhok at AMadhok@schulich.yorku.ca or Stephen Tallman at Stallman@richmond.edu .

Special Issue: The Role of Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility in International Business

Deadline for submissions: February 1, 2006
Guest editors:

  • David A. Ralston, University of Oklahoma
  • Carolyn P. Egri, Simon Fraser University

The primary focus of this Special Topic is to emphasize two objectives regarding literature that we see as important but largely overlooked. First, corporate social responsibility has been an issue discussed in the business literature for decades and corporate environmental responsibility has been a topic of concern for a similar period. However, to date, these closely related issues have been dealt with separately in empirical research. Thus, one objective of this Special Topic is to encourage authors to consider the interrelated aspects of social and environmental responsibility issues. Second, while both social and environmental issues have been discussed in the literature for over a decade, very little cross-national research has been conducted in these areas. Thus, the second objective of this Special Topic is to encourage authors to think globally regarding corporate social and environmental responsibility.

The Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility (CSER) Special Topic is open to papers that emphasize either social or environmental responsibility in the international context, but preference will be given to those that integrate the social and environmental aspects cross-nationally. Further, this Special Topic is open to conceptual and theory-development papers, empirical hypothesis-testing papers, mathematical modeling papers, as well as other types of papers that advance understanding of corporate social and environmental responsibility in the international business context.

The deadline for submission is February 1, 2006. Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with JIM’s Style Guide for Authors: http://sbm.temple.edu/jim/authors.html

Authors should electronically submit papers to either of the guest editors. Please also direct any questions regarding the Special Issue to the guest editors:

  • David A. Ralston
    University of Oklahoma
    Price College of Business 307 West Brooks - Room 206A
    Norman, Oklahoma 73019
    USA
    Ph. (405) 325-7773
    E-Mail: dralston@ou.edu
  • Carolyn P. Egri
    Simon Fraser University
    Faculty of Business
    8888 University Drive
    Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6
    CANADA
    Ph. (604) 291-3456
    E-Mail: egri@sfu.ca

International Outsourcing of Services: Expanding the research agenda

Deadline for submissions: December 16, 2005

Guest Editor:  Arvind Parkhe

Several forces converged in recent years to generate exponential growth in the international outsourcing of services (IOS):   the Y2K scare; worldwide spread of communications and computing technologies; increasing competitive pressures to trim costs, improve quality, and shorten product development cycles; tight labor markets in the west, coupled with a talented, motivated, low-cost, highly-educated, almost bottomless pool of labor in certain countries; and so on.   This growth was applauded by many corporate executives, business scholars, and free-trade economists, and opposed by many unions, employees in affected industries, and politicians.   Today, IOS has grown beyond call centers and simple software coding, to include a broad range of highly sophisticated IT operations, medical diagnostics and treatment, legal work, computer animation, and other advanced activities.  

Despite the manifest importance of this phenomenon for the service sector of the 21 st century, the   discussion largely remains mired in anecdotal evidence and political expediency, and surprisingly little academic research has systematically addressed the economic, technological, financial, political, and cultural aspects of IOS.   It would be especially timely and helpful to investigate the competitiveness implications of IOS.   For the overall U.S. economy, for particular industries, and for individual companies, is IOS beneficial, harmful, or both?   What policies must the U.S. government promote to capture economic value through IOS, while minimizing the downside?   What IOS strategies must U.S. companies pursue in their quest for global competitiveness?

In this research forum, we wish to foster a dialogue among scholars studying issues related to IOS and international competitiveness, and their implications for international business (IB) strategy and theory development.   Approximately twelve papers will be selected for presentation at the 7 th Annual IB Research Forum at Temple University , scheduled for Saturday, April 1, 2006 .   Program sponsors will cover the presenters' travel and lodging expenses for up to $500.   Subsequently, select papers from the research forum will be published in a Special Issue of the Journal of International Management .

Manuscript Submission:   All manuscripts should be submitted electronically by December 16, 2005 to the Journal of International Management Office, at jim@sbm.temple.edu .   Alternatively, a disk copy may be submitted to the JIM office, Fox School of Business & Management, Temple University, 349 Speakman Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.   Additional information is available on the Temple CIBER website, http://sbm.temple.edu/ciber/ , or by contacting Kim Cahill at 215.204.3778 or kcahill@temple.edu .   Manuscripts are submitted with the understanding that they are original, unpublished works and are not being submitted elsewhere.

 

International Entrepreneurship, Management and Competitiveness in Transforming and Emerging European Economies

Deadline for submissions: September 1, 2005
Guest editors:

  • Modestas Gelbuda, The Center for International Business and Economic Research (CIBER), Vilnius- Lithuania, and Aalborg University, Denmark
  • Klaus Meyer, Centre for Eastern European Studies, Institute of International Economics and Management, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
  • Andrew Delios, Department of Business Policy, The National University of Singapore, Singapore

We invite submissions for a special issue of the Journal of International Management to be published in last half of 2006. Manuscripts should be analytical in focus and address research questions specific to the themes of the Special Issue , as detailed below :

  1. The Changing Geopolitical, Institutional, Industrial and Cultural Context of the Central and Eastern European (CEE) Economies: how does this multifaceted transformation impact International Business activities?
  2. International Trade, Production and Competitiveness of the CEE Countries
  3. Internationalization of Companies, International Entrepreneurship and International Marketing in the CEE countries
  4. International Management, Organizational Learning and Change in the CEE countries

Submissions should also provide reflections on the merits and limits of the relevant theoretical and methodological approaches, and research designs, as well techniques utilized in the research in which the submitted manuscript is based.   One specific area of interest is understanding how theories derived from, and methodologies utilized in, other contexts, such as the United States or Western Europe can be applied or adapted to the context of economic transition.

Submission Guidelines

Authors should submit papers electronically to jim.special.issue@ciber.lt .   Please, direct any questions regarding the Special Issue to Modestas Gelbuda at: gelbuda@business.aau.dk .

We look forward to receiving your manuscripts and working with you on this special issue of the Journal of International Management .

  • Modestas Gelbuda
    CIBER, Vilnius, Lithuania.&Department of Business Studies
    Aalborg University
    Fibigerstraede 29220 Aalborg East
    Denmark
    gelbuda@business.aau.dk
  • Klaus Meyer
    Centre for Eastern European Studies (CEES)
    Institute of International Economics and Management
    Copenhagen Business School
    Howitzvej 60 (Porcelænshaven)
    Denmark
    km.cees@cbs.dk
  • Andrew Delios
    JIM’s Editorial board member
    Department of Business Policy
    NUS Business School
    The National University of Singapore,1 Business Link
    Singapore 117592
    andrew@nus.edu.sg

Global Security Risks and International Competitiveness

Deadline for submissions: December 17, 2004

Editor:  Masaaki 'Mike' Kotabe

Terrorism used to be considered a random political risk of relatively insignificant proportions. However, it seems to have gradually escalated in the last decade or so. It culminated on September 11, 2001 in New York City and Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania, when massive terrorist attacks occurred. The assault stunned Americans and the world not only because of the terror attacks themselves, but also because of the vulnerability it revealed. The terrorist attacks on U.S. soil and the military actions afterwards have heightened the uncertainty and gloom over the world economy. Falling consumer demand in the world's strongest economies and the decline in investment have compounded the problems of many emerging countries. Tighter security measures have since disrupted not only international movement of supplies and merchandise but also international financial flow as well as tourism. These measures threaten the smooth functioning of international business activities we had taken for granted in the last thirty years.

As a result, the larger problem of security, terrorism-induced and otherwise, has now entered directly and fully into the competitive business strategy equation. Centers for International Business Education and Research (CIBERs) at five universities across the nation recently initiated a move to develop a research stream in global security risks and international competitiveness. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the CIBERs responded to this need in international business and believe that this initiative should help produce some valuable contributions to both national policy and practical business strategy on a global basis and disseminate knowledge on the international and management aspects of this problem.

In this research forum we wish to foster a dialogue among scholars studying issues related to global security risks and international competitiveness and their implications on IB strategy and theory development. About twelve papers will be selected for presentation at the 6th Annual IB Research Forum at Temple University, scheduled for April 1-2, 2005. Program sponsors will cover the presenters' travel and lodging expenses for up to $500. Subsequently, the best papers from the research forum will be published in a Special Issue of the Journal of International Management.

Manuscript Submission: All manuscripts should be submitted electronically by December 17, 2004 to Journal of International Management Office at jim@sbm.temple.edu . Alternatively, a disk copy may be submitted to the Journal of International Management Office, The Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University, 349 Speakman Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19122, U.S.A. Manuscripts are submitted with the understanding that they are original, unpublished works and are not being submitted elsewhere.

The five lead CIBERs on this research project were Temple, Thunderbird, UCLA, University of Connecticut, and University of Illinois.

Micro-politics and Conflicts in Multinational Corporations

Deadline for submissions: January 31, 2005

Guest Editors: Christoph Drrenbcher, Social Science Research Center Berlin, Germany Mike Geppert, Center for Business Management, Queen Mary, University of London, United Kingdom.

Papers are invited for a special issue of the Journal of International Management to be published sometime in Winter 2005/Spring 2006.

Traditional research on multinational corporations (MNCs) has focused on strategies and structures of globally operating organizations in dealing with certain environmental characteristics, generally portrayed as the globalization of markets and competition. Other research has looked at the political or economic output of these organizations and analyzes their problem solving capacity or profitability. However, emanating from comparative institutionalism there is a new look at the intertwining of the different contextual realities within the MNC which goes beyond traditional structuralist approaches and opens the door to alternative, more inward looking and process oriented, perspectives focusing on micro-politics, power and conflicts.

The objective of the proposed Special Issue is to give a voice to studies providing an integrated view of the multifaceted perspectives that evolve from the different rationalities of actors. In the core of the papers should be questions such as: who are the key actors, what are their interests and micropolitical strategies to resist, negotiate and influence decision-making in MNCs. The editors would like to invite papers from a wide range of areas, such as international management, organization studies, human resource management, industrial relations and socio-economics, applying both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Topics of interest include:

  • What are the typical micro-political strategies and conflicts emerging in globalizing organizations and how can these be related to particular institutional, cultural and companyspecific settings?
  • What are the rationales, values and motives of powerful key actors (e.g. HQ and local managers) to impose, negotiate or resist certain global strategies and what are the micropolitical implications?
  • Are there common forms and ways of dealing with conflict in MNCs?
  • How do internal organizational power relations and the overall control strategy of the MNC interact with particular micro-political strategies and conflicts of local actors (e.g. in transnational teams)?
  • Do the country of origin of the MNC and the local/national embeddedness of its subsidiaries still influence micro-political processes and the management of conflicts?
  • How do ‘institutional gaps’ in regulation and welfare, as well as profound asymmetric relations in the institutional and cultural environments of the key actors, influence their micro-political strategies?
  • How can micro-political strategies and conflicts in MNCs be related to external institutional dynamics, stimulated by the transformation of established national business systems and the emergence of new transnational institutional standards and regulations (e.g. the WTO)?

The papers should also include reflections on what are the merits and limits of the relevant theoretical approaches so far, e.g. of economic, evolutionary, contingency, strategic management, culturalist, institutionalist and structuration theories as well as new studies about ‘transnational social space’ and socio-political sensemaking.

The deadline for submission is January 31, 2005. Authors should prepare manuscripts in accordance with JIM’s Style Guide for Authors (http://www.sbm.temple.edu/jim/authors.html). Authors should electronically submit papers to either of the guest editors. Please also direct any questions regarding the Special Issue to the guest editors:

Christoph Drrenbcher
Social Science Research Centre Berlin
(Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fr Sozialforschung) Research Unit:
Internationalisation & Organisation
Reichpietschufer 50
D - 10785 Berlin
Germany
Tel. ++49 30 25491-110
Fax ++49 30 25491-118
Doerrenbaecher@medea.wz-berlin.de

Mike Geppert
Centre for Business Management
Queen Mary University of London
Mile End Road
London
E1 4NS
United Kingdom
Tel ++44 20 7882 7441
Fax ++44 20 7882 3615
M.Geppert@qmul.ac.uk

Megatrends in World Cultures and Globalization

Deadline: December 31, 2004

One of the most significant challenges confronting global corporations is understanding the emerging issues in an increasingly interconnected and culturally complex world. Western concepts of international business assume that globalization proceeds without substantial hurdles. Although economic, political, social, and legal barriers are discussed in textbooks in international business, marketing, and management, emerging trends in world cultures has not received the attention it deserves. Prominent historians observed that, while the world might converge in terms of consumption values, there are persistent differences in cultural values reflected in some of the megatrends that are emerging. It has been suggested that non-Westerners might bite into the ‘Magna Mac,’ but it does not guarantee that they will accept the Western values as reflected in the Magna Carta.

The focus of this special issue is to examine the various trends in world cultures and their significance for globalization. We encourage submission of papers along the following lines:

  • Major trends in the processes of cultural convergence and divergence in the new millennium and their implications for globalization.
  • Role of technology and knowledge management in inducing uniform or divergent management practices.
  • Beneficial and adverse effects of globalization on creating cultural shifts in different national contexts. Such shifts could be examined in terms of emergent issues in global marketing, strategy, and management.
  • The role of multinational and global corporations in proactively discerning the major global culture trends.
  • The evolution of the global mindset in multinational and transnational corporations in dealing with the intricacies and effects of cultural shifts on globalization.

The papers may be either theoretical or empirical. The papers should focus on increasing our understanding of the diverse effects of world cultures on globalization processes.

The papers should conform to the style guide of the Journal of International Management and should be around 30 to 35 pages in length (double spaced). The deadline for submission of the paper is December 31, 2004.

For additional information regarding submission, please contact:

Dr. Rabi S. Bhagat
Special Issue Editor
Professor of Management
Fogelman College of Business and Economics
University of Memphis
Memphis, TN 38152
Email: rbhagat@memphis.edu