How Crossing Borders Changes Business

Crossing borders has a transformative effect on business. Firms take products, services, strategies, management models, organizational practices, and knowledge across social, political, and economic contexts – and these often change in incremental, radical, planned and unanticipated ways as they move. IB scholars have recognized that firms can learn from those changes, giving them an innovation and learning advantage. Moreover, international firms change the countries and the global governance systems in which they operate. In the 21st century, cross-border activities have become increasingly multidirectional, as the East-to-West and South-to-North movement of firms is expanding rapidly. The beginning of the third decade of the 21st century provides an opportunity to examine how this multidirectional movement is changing business – and changing the field of IB itself.

IB scholars are increasingly turning to the concept of translation to understand cross-border processes and their resulting changes. Many associate translation with reverbalization of meaning in another language. Policies, practices and knowledge that move across borders often need to be expressed in another language, but not only as texts but also as pictures, power points and videos. This poses questions about language choice, authorized and unauthorized translations, and translator roles. Moreover, language poses significant methodological issues for IB scholars doing research across language boundaries.

But translation is also a much broader concept, which captures on-going change and transformation when the global meets the local. Translation means changing the original to make it accessible to receiving audiences in local contexts. As a process, translation involves both retaining what is most valuable in the source and transforming elements of the source to gain acceptance in a new context. In this process, something may also be lost. Translation highlights the importance of translators who make choices about what and how to translate. These choices are influenced by the norms and practices in their field, by previous translations, and by translators’ expectations about how receivers will respond. Translations continue to evolve when contexts change, as translators try to improve on previous translations, and receivers re-interpret the translations. The concept of translation is widely used in organization theory, where scholars are interested in the travel of management models and practices across societies, and in public policy, where researchers use it to investigate how models and practices of public management move across borders and how international regulations are created and put into practice.

IB scholars can draw on and contribute significantly to theory and empirical research on translation in the fields of organization theory, public policy as well as translation studies. For example, when a large multinational corporation (MNC) introduces a new human resource management system or a new code for social responsibility into its network of subsidiaries, both its corporate and local managers engage in translation: interpreting what is new and unfamiliar, putting a set of guidelines and regulations into practice, and, over time, reversing the direction of translation, taking the evolving practice into a revised set of guidelines. When a small entrepreneurial firm works with international partners to bring a service to new markets, its managers engage in translation: articulating their business model and explaining their offering to their partners, often changing both their model and practice in those interactions. When an international NGO engages in a partnership with an MNC, both sides translate their own expectations and models into specific practices in ways that are acceptable to both. Thus, the concept of translation provides a framework for examining – and re-examining – some of the most important issues in IB.

The conference theme also raises a number of intriguing new questions, such as why and how do some locations, such as Miami (a bridge across the Americas and across the Atlantic) and Hong Kong (a bridge between East and West) become centers of translation? As things get lost in translation, when does “imperfect” translation lead to innovations? How do multinationals, small firms and NGOs manage translation processes and develop distinctive translation capabilities? What challenges do translators face when they span boundaries? When people cross borders and move from one social context to another, why and how do some of them become translators who expand the translation capabilities of the organizations they join? And what does it take – methodologically and philosophically – to engage in cross-language research?

These and a number of other questions will be explored under the following the tracks. As a new initiative for AIB 2020, the three shared interest groups (SIG) – Research methods, Women in AIB, and Teaching and education – will have their own dedicated tracks.

Conference Tracks

1. Internationalization processes and international entrepreneurship

Co-Chairs:
Peter Liesch, University of Queensland, p.liesch@business.uq.edu.au
Niina Nummela, University of Turku, niina.nummela@utu.fi

Internationalization is not always a smooth, advancing process as entry into international markets is often characterized by breaks and discontinuities. These irregularities and breaks of a pattern or strategy are particularly interesting in understanding internationalization as a process of discontinuous change with periods of stability and instability. This track seeks contributions which advance our understanding of how and why discontinuities occur in SME internationalization. We welcome conceptual and empirical papers that investigate the phenomenon in diverse contexts, question the mainstream assumptions and propose novel approaches. This aims at developing, challenging and extending theory in the area of firm internationalization. We are open to qualitative submissions as well as quantitative papers with rigorous research design.

Keywords: Internationalization process; Gradual internationalization; Rapid internationalization; Internationalization and performance; De-internationalization; Re-internationalization; SME exports; International entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial networks; Early internationalization; International new ventures; Born-global firms; Success; Failure

2. International marketing

Co-Chairs:
Rudolf Sinkovics, University of Auckland, rudolf.sinkovics@auckland.ac.nz
Matthew Robson, Cardiff University, robsonm@cardiff.ac.uk

The field of international marketing strategy is transforming rapidly under the influences of: digitalization, technological advances, sustainability pressures, regulatory restrictions, and an expanded geographic scope including emerging markets. How do international marketing managers cope with, or even thrive under such challenges? The track is also open for cross-national topics involving brands, products, services, channels, and relationships. Three additional themes are of interest. First, given a polarization in global markets, how are the traditional tasks of market/customer selection, product/service adaptation, and relationship building changing? Second, are governments becoming an even more important customer group? Third, should international marketing be conceived as reactive and apolitical to external socio-political changes, or should it actively and positively deal with the dark-sides of its own engagement?

Keywords: Exporting; Importing; Franchising; Advertising strategies; Pricing strategies; Marketing channels; Distribution channels; Brand management; New products; Product/service adaptation; Global retailing; Marketing professional services across borders; International B2B marketing; Relationship marketing; Emerging market opportunities; Marketing to governments; Marketing to family conglomerates; Market targeting and segmentation; Entry modes; Digital marketing; Social media for international marketing; Big data; Mobile and social media analytics

3. Consumer research

Co-Chairs:
Peter Magnusson, University of Alabama, pmagnusson@culverhouse.ua.edu
Martin Heinberg, University of Leeds, m.heinberg@leeds.ac.uk

Succeeding in ever more complex, interconnected and at the same time fragmented consumer markets requires an in-depth understanding of institutional and cross-cultural differences. This track seeks contributions that address market complexity such as how companies best serve multicultural market places and tailor multicultural marketing communications. Cross-national and cross-cultural consumer research is of interest, especially as it intersects with topics such as consumer co-creation, consumer engagement and the development of global brands. Another area of interest lies at the intersection of global business and consumer well-being with research on transformative consumer research and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Also invited are contributions on business responsiveness and corporate social responsibility in addressing world issues of importance including but not limited to obesity, health, climate change and poverty.

Keywords: Consumer behavior; Customer relationships; Audience response; Consumer insights; Influencer marketing; Cross-cultural marketing; Multi-ethnic marketing; Cross-national marketing; Country-of-origin effects; Consumer animosity; Digital and social media marketing; Consumer well-being; Corporate social responsibility; Social marketing; Global analytics

4. International finance, accounting, and corporate governance

Co-Chairs:
Daphne Yiu, Chinese University of Hong Kong, dyiu@cuhk.edu.hk
Niclas Hellman, Stockholm School of Economics, niclas.hellman@hhs.se

International finance and accounting focus on funding operations, investment choices, financial and corporate reporting, and risk management in firms across different countries and in multinational firms. Firms operating in different markets or across borders choose a variety of methods to govern themselves and allocate decision-making within the firm. International corporate governance encompasses varying levels of internal and external oversight, including differences in board structures, compensation practices, ownership patterns, shareholder activism efforts, and disclosure choices across firms and markets. This track invites contributions that advance our understanding of these governance practices in an international context and their influences on differences in performance outcomes, accounting standards and financial reporting quality, financial risk management practices, capital market development, bank lending and covenants, venture capital development, cross-border taxation and mergers and acquisitions.

Keywords: Ownership structures; Board processes, practices, and effectiveness; Board diversity; CEO dismissal; Corporate fraudulence; Firm-stakeholder relationships; Governance in family-owned firms; Governance in state-owned firms; Shareholder categories; Mechanisms for protecting shareholder rights; Levels and composition of management compensation; Institutional investors; Shareholder activism; Stakeholder activism; Directorship interlocks; State ownership; Corporate groups; International finance and taxation; Transfer pricing; Accounting standards and conventions; Non-financial accounting and reporting standards; Capital structure; Corporate control; Exchange rate exposure; Macroeconomic risk management; International financial integration; Corporate performance; Financial risk management; International cross-listing; International financial reporting.

5. Global strategy, organization, and value chains

Co-Chairs:
Ram Mudambi, Temple University, r.mudambi@temple.edu
Vittoria Scalera, University of Amsterdam, v.g.scalera@uva.nl

Over the last decades MNEs have profoundly changed their strategies and configurations to leverage the opportunities of globalization, and address the complexity of their dynamic international environments. Contributions to this track will typically focus on how networked MNEs manage and organize activities across their organizational and geographical boundaries. Contributions that examine MNEs’ regional and global strategies, leveraging of cross-border and subnational connectivity, and the management and coordination of disaggregated global value chains (GVCs), are especially welcome. Relevant topics for the track include, but are not limited to, spatial transaction costs location strategy, outsourcing and offshoring decisions (and their reversal), the management, coordination, and governance of GVCs, as well as the development of MNEs’ organizational capabilities and performance.

Keywords: Global value chains; Global production networks; Global operations; Outsourcing; Offshoring; Geography of IB activities; Clusters and subnational regions; Cross-border connectivity; Relocation of production; Reshoring; Backshoring; OEM contracting; Service operations; Globalization of services; Global strategy; Growth strategies; Competitive strategy; Mergers and acquisitions; International joint ventures and alliances; Location strategy; MNE performance; Organizational learning; Organizational culture; Boundary spanning; Organizational change and development; Organizational structure; Organization of international operations; Organizational capabilities.

6. International HRM, global leadership, and cross-cultural management

Co-Chairs:
Carl Fey, Aalto University, carl.fey@aalto.fi
Xu Huang, Hong Kong Baptist University, xuhuang@hkbu.edu.hk

This track encompasses papers dealing with global leadership, effective multi-cultural teams, cross-cultural management, global talent management and cultural diversity which are all vital to the management of human resources within the multinational firm.  This track also includes papers dealing with a range of HR activities from recruitment and selection to training, performance management, compensation, retention as well as leadership development, and managing multicultural teams. It also covers various international organizational behavior topics and such as the positive and negative effects of diversity for individuals, teams, and organizations, and issues related to cross-cultural management. In addition, the track includes papers that address grand societal challenges (e.g., global migration and refuges, climate change, etc.) and the people-related and cultural implications for the multinational firm.

Keywords: Cross-cultural management; International human resource management; Global leadership; Cross-Cultural Leadership; Expatriate management; Talent management; Training and development; Retention; Leadership development; Global staffing; Global mindset; Cultural Diversity; Cross-cultural communication; Cross-cultural adjustment; International mobility; Multicultural teams; Virtual teams; Intercultural competence and cultural intelligence; Bicultural and multicultural identity; International migration; Education and international careers; Cosmopolitans; Returnees; Diasporans; Work-family issues; Selection; Performance appraisal; Compensation; Cross-cultural values and practices; Local compliance; Cultural synergy; Ethics across cultures

7. Gender and diversity

Co-Chairs:
Amanda Budde-Sung, University of Sydney, amanda.budde-sung@sydney.edu.au
Amir Shoham, Temple University, amir.shoham@temple.edu

Gender influences most aspects of IB.  Gender diversity significantly impacts how firms conduct business across borders and manage multinationals. Gender diversity is especially important due to differing gender roles in different societies and organizations. Issues of homosexuality and non-traditional gender roles add further diversity to the issue of gender. The track invites papers that advance our understanding of the role of gender across all aspects of IB, including leadership, ethics, finance, marketing, risk management, firm performance, corporate governance, firm internationalization, and strategic management. The track also welcomes contributions that consider issues of gender beyond a male/female dichotomy, expanding our study of gender to LGBTQ issues and global trade and policy involving gender, such as sex trafficking and global sex work.

Keywords: Gender; Sexual orientation; Gender roles; Gender and Culture; Masculinity and femininity; Gender Egalitarianism; Gender-based leadership differences; Gender and internationalization; Women in the multinational organization; Gender and international trade; Sex trafficking; LGBTQ and transgender issues; Gender-based diversity; Diversity

8. Teaching and education

Co-Chairs:
Maria Alejandra Gonzalez Perez, Universidad EAFIT, mgonza40@eafit.edu.co
Daria Panina, Texas A&M University, dpanina@mays.tamu.edu

The main objectives of this track are facilitating development and sharing of best teaching practices, providing a forum for teaching-related knowledge sharing, and promoting research on teaching and education that showcases the importance of IB courses in business school curricula. This track addresses IB teaching at every level: undergraduate, graduate, MBA, and executive and covers all aspects of teaching IB, including student engagement, motivation, learning outcomes, and classroom diversity. Specifically, it focuses on the use of different tools and pedagogies such as experiential learning, cases, simulations, role-play, and various forms of multimedia to enhance IB teaching. To this end, this track invites submissions of scholarly papers, interactive session proposals and panels that stimulate teaching innovation and promote best practices in IB teaching.

Keywords: Experiential learning; Developing an IB curriculum; Internationalizing the business school and its curriculum; Cross-cultural classrooms; Case teaching; Executive education; International experiences as part of IB education; Simulations and role-playing; Blended learning; Multimedia in IB teaching; IB teaching tools; Management of IB education and educational markets; Skills and competences for teaching IB; Future of IB education

9. Research methods

Co-Chairs:
Fiona Moore, Royal Holloway University of London, fiona.moore@rhul.ac.uk
Bo Nielsen, University of Sydney, bo.nielsen@sydney.edu.au

Research methods are at the heart of everything we do. Keeping up to date with new developments in research, and improving best practice, is crucial to our relevance as a discipline. This track aims to recognise and highlight outstanding use of research methods. We seek to showcase the best use of methods while seeking out the cutting-edge developments in both quantitative and qualitative areas. Areas which papers might cover include: What methods can we develop to address new challenges in IB? How can we adapt more traditional methods for today’s research challenges? How can we achieve a balance between description and generalisibility? How does earlier research stand up to analysis with more recent methods?

Key words: Qualitative research; Quantitative research; Mixed methods; Research methods; Methodology; Interviews; Surveys; Ethnography; Online studies; Analysis; Meta-analysis; Interdisciplinary research; Methodological innovation; Philosophical issues

10. Emerging markets and emerging market MNEs

Co-Chairs:
Helena Barnard, University of Pretoria, barnardh@gibs.co.za
Elitsa Banalieva, Northeastern University, e.banalieva@northeastern.edu

This track welcomes papers that explore novel issues of doing business in emerging markets, such as research on corporate social responsibility initiatives, new business models, government-private sector cooperation, varieties of capitalism, digitization or firms’ transitions from a culture of incremental innovation to a culture of breakthrough innovation. We are interested in papers that aim to clarify the debate on the uniqueness of emerging market multinationals and other forms of international business, work on foreign direct investment trends and strategies in emerging markets. We are particularly interested in papers exploring under-researched emerging markets beyond the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, and China); e.g. Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, or Latin America. We also welcome well-articulated theoretical papers that can advance our thinking in these areas.

Keywords: CSR/ Innovation/business models in emerging markets; Digitization and emerging markets; Transition economies; Varieties of capitalism; Comparative advantages of emerging & transition economies; Institutional change; Institutional heritage (socialism, colonialism, capitalism, etc.); Foreign versus indigenous multinational enterprises; State-owned enterprises in emerging markets; Emerging market firms’ performance and strategy/Internationalization/Knowledge-creation & diffusion; Economic development; Theory of EMNE

11. Business, politics, and society

Co-Chairs:
Jennifer Oetzel, American University, oetzelj@american.edu
Caroline Witte, Copenhagen Business School, cw.si@cbs.dk

How does political uncertainty affect MNEs? What is the role of business in politics and society? In a world where political systems and ideologies are in flux, populism is on the rise, trade deals are in jeopardy, governments are unable or unwilling to address complex political, social, and business challenges, these questions have never been more salient. What strategies and tactics can MNEs adopt to manage social and political challenges? How can non market strategies enable MNEs to better manage complex risks? What are innovative business approaches to environmental and social challenges? In some cases, MNEs are engaged in social and political issues such as supporting climate change agreements or tackling global migration. In others, businesses may be exacerbating social tensions or failing to address them.

Keywords: Political strategies; International business policy; Nonmarket strategy; Social sustainability; Environmental sustainability; Supranational governance; Trade war; Uncertainty; Volatility; Social license; Political risk; Disaster risk; Societal impact; SDGs; Social movements; International business strategy; Regulation; Global governance; Inequality; Instability; Migration; Poverty; Protectionism; Stakeholders

12. Global innovations

Co-Chairs:
Kazuhiro Asakawa, Keio University, asakawa@kbs.keio.ac.jp
Lars Håkanson, Copenhagen Business School, lh.egb@cbs.dk

This track deals with the creation, transfer and exploitation of knowledge, issues central both to the theory of the MNE and to MNE management, organization, and strategy. It examines the structure, location and governance of both internal R&D and R&D undertaken in cooperation with external parties. The theme comprises how MNEs through imitation, licensing, joint ventures and acquisitions can access and absorb novel technical and scientific advances, and the challenges associated with the protection of proprietary technology, especially in weak appropriability regimes. Relevant is the study of all these aspects of MNE behavior both in their own right, and in terms of their relationships to the changing geography of innovation, and the evolution of national and regional innovation systems.

Keywords: International R&D; Innovation networks; Virtual R&D teams; International technology strategy; Organization of R&D; R&D management; Reverse technology transfer; Listening posts; Replication and imitation; Knowledge governance; National innovation systems; Innovation clusters; R&D outsourcing; R&D cooperation; Appropriability regimes; Patenting strategy; Management of innovation; Inventor mobility; Local embeddedness; Technology transfer; Knowledge sharing; Reverse innovation; Open innovation; Frugal innovation

13. Conference track: International business as translation: How crossing borders changes business

Co-Chairs:
Rebecca Piekkari, Aalto University, rebecca.piekkari@aalto.fi
Susanne Tietze, Sheffield Hallam University, susanne.tietze@shu.ac.uk

Crossing borders transforms business and the concept of translation illuminates this transformation. We welcome papers that explore, from a translation perspective, the travel and transformation of products, services, management models and practices across borders. Translation means changing the original – both in a metaphorical and interlingual sense – to make it accessible and legitimate to receiving audiences in multilingual contexts. It highlights the role of translators who choose what (not) to translate. We invite papers that examine how organizations manage translation processes and develop translation capabilities and what challenges translators face when spanning boundaries. As things get changed through translation, when does “imperfect” translation lead to innovations? We also welcome contributions that engage with cross-language research, processes of Englishization and knowledge production, and multimodal (visual, verbal, material) translation.

Keywords: Translation; Translators; Translation processes; Translation capabilities; Interlingual translation; Multilingualism; Language diversity; Processes of Englishization; Metaphorical translation; Linguistic imperialism; Colonial languages; Language-based hierarchies and power; Equivalence of meaning; Cross-language research and knowledge production; Organization theory; Institutional theory; Translation studies; Multimodal translation; Sociolinguistics; Public policy

14. Local track: De-globalization, slowbalization, and regionalization

Co-Chairs:
Curba Morris Lampert, Florida International University, curba.lampert@fiu.edu
Minyoung Kim, University of Kansas, mkim@ku.edu

The nature of international business (IB) is undergoing a tectonic shift. With increasing anti-globalization sentiment around the world, the prevailing perspective of the past three decades—globalization—is in jeopardy resulting in the retreat of multinational corporations. Indeed, various forms of international interactions are shrinking relative to world GDP, including FDI and trade. This new era of global sluggishness, or “slowbalization,” is influencing every aspect of IB with growing geographical fragmentation and deeper links within regional blocs. This track speaks to one of the most essential and timely conversations of the day regarding the changing dynamics of IB. We seek academic papers that can advance our understanding of the opportunities and challenges in the era of de-globalization, slowbalization, and regionalization.

Keywords: De-globalization; Slowbalization; Regionalization; Semi-globalization; Regional Blocs; Geographical Fragmentation; Interdependence of Countries; Regional Economic Integration; NAFTA; BREXIT; TPP; FDI; Trade; Geography; Pace of Globalization; Geographic Expansion; Geographic Scope; International Expansion; Multinationality

Submitting Your Work

All submissions must be made through AIB’s online submission system by December 2, 2019.

Please refer to our Submission Guide for additional information on how to prepare and submit your work.