International business thought: A 50-year footprint

摘要

As international business marks 50 years of its establishment as a distinct domain of academicresearch, discussions on both the major contributions of the field and its future research directionshave drawn great interest in the current literature. The arrival at a clear consensus on these issueshowever, has been set back by the lack of resolution in the search for a unifying, integrativeframework of international business. Drawing on theories of knowledge organisation and orextant reviews of international business research, this paper proposes an emergent internationa,business research framework anchored around four unifying themes expressed as broadinternational business research questions. A content analysis of 1689 studies in the Journal ofInternational Business Studies (JIBS) from its maiden issue in 1970 to 2008 and studies classified a!international business in nature done prior to 1960 confirms the trajectories of internationabusiness research along the four themes. It is suggested that these major research themes serveas the main research pillars that define the international business domain, framing researctdone so far, and driving future research in the field. Areas of research intensity and opportunityare identified along with implications for international business research and theory-building.