The challenge of international business

318 Pages·2004·1.415 MB·English

by  Peter J Buckley, Palgrave Connect (Online service)

The Challenge of
International Business
Peter J. Buckley
The Challenge of International Business
Also by Peter J.Buckley
CANADA–UK BILATERAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT RELATIONS (withChristopher
L.PaesandKatePrescott)
THECHANGINGGLOBALCONTEXTOFINTERNATIONALBUSINESS
FOREIGNDIRECTINVESTMENTANDMULTINATIONALENTERPRISES
INTERNATIONALSTRATEGICMANAGEMENTANDGOVERNMENTPOLICY
THEFUTUREOFMULTINATIONALENTERPRISE(withMarkCasson)
INTERNATIONALTECHNOLOGYTRANSFERBYSMALLANDMEDIUM-SIZED
ENTERPRISES(co-editedwithJaimeCamposandEduardoWhite)
MULTINATIONALENTERPRISESINLESSDEVELOPEDCOUNTRIES(co-editedwith
JeremyClegg)
MULTINATIONALFIRMS,COOPERATIONANDCOMPETITIONINTHEWORLD
ECONOMY
THESTRATEGYANDORGANIZATIONOFINTERNATIONALBUSINESS(co-editedwith
FredBurtonandHafizMirza)
STUDIESININTERNATIONALBUSINESS
INTERNATIONALBUSINESS:EconomicsandAnthropology,TheoryandMethod
The Challenge of International
Business
Peter J. Buckley
CentreforInternationalBusiness
UniversityofLeeds
UK
'PeterJ.Buckley2004
Foreword'SteveKobrin2004
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p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN1(cid:1)4039(cid:1)1306(cid:1)4(cloth)
1. Internationalbusinessenterprises(cid:2)Management. 2. Knowledge
management. 3. Jointventures. 4. Investments,Foreign.
5. Transferpricing. 6. Competition,International. 7. International
businessenterprises(cid:2)Developingcountries. I. Title
HD62.4.B8282004
6580.049(cid:2)dc22
2004046494
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Contents
ForewordbyStephenJ.Kobrin ix
Acknowledgements xi
NotesontheContributors xii
1 Introduction 1
Part I The Challenge
2 IstheInternationalBusinessResearchAgenda
RunningoutofSteam? 7
Part II The Response
3 StrategicComplexityinInternationalBusiness
(withMarkCasson) 19
4 Internationalization–RealOptions,Knowledge
ManagementandtheUppsalaApproach(withMark
CassonandMohammedAzzimGulamhussen) 54
5 GlobalizationandtheEndofCompetition:aCritical
ReviewofRent-seekingMultinationals
(withPervezN.Ghauri) 83
6 TrustinInternationalJointVentureRelationships
(withMargreetF.BoersmaandPervezN.Ghauri) 101
7 TheChallengesoftheNewEconomyforMultinational
Firms:LessonsforSouth-EastAsia 124
Part III Knowledge Management in Multinational
Firms
8 ProcessandStructureinKnowledgeManagement
PracticesofBritishandUSMultinationalEnterprises
(withMartinJ.Carter) 145
9 GoverningKnowledgeSharinginMultinationalEnterprises
(withMartinJ.Carter) 167
vii
viii Contents
Part IV Empirics
10 EvolutionofFDIintheUnitedStatesintheContext
ofTradeLiberalizationandRegionalization(withJeremy
Clegg,NicolasForsansandKevinT.Reilly) 189
11 TheImpactofInwardFDIonthePerformanceofChinese
ManufacturingFirms(withJeremyCleggandChengqiWang) 198
12 FDI,RegionalDifferencesandEconomicGrowth:Panel
DataEvidencefromChina(withJeremyClegg,ChengqiWang
andAdamR.Cross) 220
13 IncentivestoTransferProfits:aJapanesePerspective
(withJaneFrecknallHughes) 242
14 ASurvey-basedInvestigationoftheDeterminantsofFDI
inPortugal(withFranciscoB.Castro) 254
Index 290
Foreword
Insomerespectsinternationalbusinessisarelativelynewfieldofscholarly
research. Many of those who were ‘present at the creation’ such as John
Dunning,StefanRoebockandJeanBoddewynarestillactiveparticipantsin
academic meetings.On theotherhand it hasbeenover 40 yearssince two
events occurred in 1960 which can be taken as marking the separation of
international business from international economics: the completion of
StephenHymer’sseminaldissertationarguingthatforeigndirectinvestment
(FDI) could not be explained as an international capital flow, and the first
use of the term ‘multinational corporation’ by David Lillienthal at a con-
ferenceatwhatisnowCarnegieMellonUniversity.
One can only assume that the arguments about whether or not inter-
nationalbusinesswasaseparatedisciplinestartedimmediately!Thatsome-
whathoaryquestionaside,thereisnoquestionthatthefirstfewdecadesof
international business research were dynamic, productive and exciting.
GreatstridesweremadeinexplainingFDIphenomenologically,developing
systematic and empirically based analyses of the strategy and structure of
multinational firms, understanding the motives for and sequence of inter-
national expansion, entry strategy and the management of joint ventures
andalliances.
Isuspectthatmanyofusinthefieldfeelthattheflowofnewknowledge
has slowed considerably in the last decade. While international business
researchers continue to be productive and there have been a large number
of interesting new papers and bookspublished, itis hard tothinkof many
majorbreakthroughssince thelast1980sandearly1990s.
To some extent, this is a natural consequence of the maturity of any
academicdiscipline.Asadisciplineagestheinitialburstofnewknowledge
is replaced by deeper, more sophisticated and more empirically rigorous
studiesofanecessarilymorelimitedscope.Ontheotherhand,itmayreflect
theapproachingexhaustionofthecurrentparadigm(orparadigms):itmay
resultfromdiminishingreturnsfromcurrentapproachestoscholarship.
PeterBuckleyhurlssuchachallengeattheoutsetofthisvolume,suggest-
ingthat‘theinternationalbusinessresearchagendaisrunningoutofsteam
after a period of vibrancy’. Buckley argues that at this point international
business lacks a ‘big research question’, an important confrontation with
empiricalrealitythatthescholarsinthefieldcandealwithcollaboratively.
In the chapters that follow Buckley and his co-authors and contributors
suggestsomedirectionsforinternationalbusinessresearch,some‘bigprob-
lems’thatwillre-energizeandreinvigoratethefieldandtheyprovidesome
examples of methodologies and approaches to problems that will certainly
ix