ÂÜÀòÉç¹ÙÍø

: : : Posting

: : cfp

---

Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 10:50:32 -0400
From: "Tallman, Steve" <stallman@RICHMOND.EDU>

This message is a reminder of the special issue of Journal of International Management on New Directions in Global and International Strategy Research: Beyond the Transnational, to be edited by Anoop Madhok of York University in Toronto and Steve Tallman, University of Richmond.  The call is attached, but we particularly want to draw your attention to the special conference on this topic at the Schulich School of Business, York University, on October 5 & 6, 2006. It will include a variety of topics such as the widespread dispersal of expertise within the MNC, agglomeration economies, emerging country multinationals, ‘bottom of the pyramid’ approaches to multinational management, among others (see Call for details). The common driver behind these topics is that they tend to address more recent developments, i.e. over the past decade or so, in the evolution of the multinational.  Our respective institutions will be assisting in funding the conference, which should be an unmatched opportunity to discuss the future of international strategy with other engaged colleagues.  The deadline for submissions is June 30, as described in the call for papers which follows.  Hope to see you in Toronto in the Fall!

Stephen Tallman
E. Claiborne Robins Distinguished Professor of Business
Robins School of Business
University of Richmond
Richmond, VA 23173
804/287-6589
stallman@richmond.edu

CALL FOR PAPERS:

New Directions in Global and International Strategy Research:  Beyond the Transnational

Editors: Anoop Madhok, York University
         Stephen Tallman, University of Richmond

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 today’s 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 firm’s 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 today’s 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 the 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 Management’s Style Guide for Authors: .   Papers and proposals may be submitted to Anoop Madhok at AMadhok@schulich.yorku.ca or Stephen Tallman at Stallman@richmond.edu