Fifty Years of International Business Theory and Beyond

Alan Rugman, Alain Verbeke and Quyen T. K. Nguyen
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Alain Verbeke: University of Calgary
Quyen T. K. Nguyen: University of Reading

Management International Review, 2011, vol. 51, issue 6, No 2, 755-786

Abstract: Abstract As the field of international business has matured, there have been shifts in the core unit of analysis. First, there was analysis at country level, using national statistics on trade and foreign direct investment (FDI). Next, the focus shifted to the multinational enterprise (MNE) and the parent’s firm specific advantages (FSAs). Eventually the MNE was analysed as a network and the subsidiary became a unit of analysis. We untangle the last fifty years of international business theory using a classification by these three units of analysis. This is the country-specific advantage (CSA) and firm-specific advantage (FSA) matrix. Will this integrative framework continue to be useful in the future? We demonstrate that this is likely as the CSA/FSA matrix permits integration of potentially useful alternative units of analysis, including the broad region of the triad. Looking forward, we develop a new framework, visualized in two matrices, to show how distance really matters and how FSAs function in international business. Key to this are the concepts of compounded distance and resource recombination barriers facing MNEs when operating across national borders.

Keywords: Multinational enterprises (MNEs); Firm specific advantages (FSAs); Country specific advantages (CSAs); Compounded distance; Subsidiary; Network; Regions; Resource recombination barriers; Theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (133)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11575-011-0102-3

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