CALL FOR PAPERS:
New Directions in Global and International Strategy Research: Beyond the
Transnational
Journal of International Management
Guest Editors: Anoop Madhok, York University
Stephen Tallman, University of Richmond
Deadline: June 30, 2006
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 todays 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 21st 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 firms 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 todays 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 21st 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 Managements 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.