Journal Article

Fifty Years of International Business Theory and Beyond

Nguyen, Quyen T. K., Rugman, Alan M., Verbeke, Alain

2011

Overview

As the field of international business has matured, there have been shifts in the core unit of analysis. First, there was analysis at country level, using national statistics on trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). Next, the focus shifted to the multinational enterprise (MNE) and the parent's firm specific advantages (FSAs). Eventually the MNE was analysed as a network and the subsidiary became a unit of analysis. We untangle the last fifty years of international business theory using a classification by these three units of analysis. This is the country-specific advantage (CSA) and firm-specific advantage (FSA) matrix. Will this integrative framework continue to be useful in the future? We demonstrate that this is likely as the CSA/FSA matrix permits integration of potentially useful alternative units of analysis, including the broad region of the triad. Looking forward, we develop a new framework, visualized in two matrices, to show how distance really matters and how FSAs function in international business. Key to this are the concepts of compounded distance and resource recombination barriers facing MNEs when operating across national borders.

• Publisher: Gabler Verlag,SP Gabler Verlag,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Advantages / Analysis / Book publishing / Borders / Business / Business and Management / Business management / Business models / Business planning / Business plans / Business Strategy/Leadership / Business structures / Classification / Competitive advantage / Computer software industry / Contract manufacturing / Corporate strategies / Countries / Decision-making / Economic analysis / Economic resources / Economic theory / Emerging Markets/Globalization / Exploitation / Firm specific advantages / Firm theory / Focused Issue: 50 Years of MIR / Foreign direct investment / Foreign investment / Foreign subsidiaries / Globalization / Host country / Internalization / International borders / International business / International business enterprises / International economic relations / International economics / International trade / Investments / Joint ventures / Liability (Law) / Management theory / Matrices / Monopolies / Multinational corporations / Multinational enterprises / Operations Management / Organization / Outsourcing / Product life cycle / Rugman, Alan M / Statistics / Strategic management / Studies / Subsidiary companies / Trademarks