International strategy and business groups: A review and future research agenda

Motivated by the growth and internationalization of business groups, this paper reviews the business group literature and presents a future research agenda, highlighting their implications for international strategy. The paper identifies theoretical tensions and empirical ambiguities around three key business group features—corporate governance, internal markets, and corporate strategy—and three key outcome variables—performance, economic impact, and innovation—that have generated significant debate. We conclude with three methodological concerns relevant to these debates: generalizing business group research across countries, endogeneity in business group research, and performance measurement in business groups.     

Social entrepreneurship: Creating new business models to serve the poor

The term “social entrepreneurship” (SE) is used to refer to the rapidly growing number of organizations that have created models for efficiently catering to basic human needs that existing markets and institutions have failed to satisfy. Social entrepreneurship combines the resourcefulness of traditional entrepreneurship with a mission to change society. One social entrepreneur, Ibrahim Abouleish, recently received the “Alternative Nobel Prize” for his Sekem initiative; in 2004, e-Bay founder Jeff Skoll donated 4.4 million pounds to set up a social entrepreneurship research center; and many social entrepreneurs have mingled with their business counterparts at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Social entrepreneurship offers insights that may stimulate ideas for more socially acceptable and sustainable business strategies and organizational forms. Because it contributes directly to internationally recognized sustainable development (SD) goals, social entrepreneurship may also encourage established corporations to take on greater social responsibility.     

The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development

This article examines how the international business (IB) literature has addressed social responsibility issues in the past 50 years, highlighting key developments and implications from a historical perspective. Specific attention is paid to the Journal of World Business (JWB), which has covered the whole period and published relevant articles related to these issues, in comparison to the Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS), the other long-standing IB journal. The article outlines that they illustrate different conceptualizations of IB and social responsibility. The 50-year review shows three subthemes: the (green) environment; ethics, rights and responsibilities; poverty and (sustainable) development. These are discussed consecutively, including main contributions and promising areas to further the field.     

Business efforts,opportunities, and limits addressing the poor: A Brazilian case study

Businesses have many opportunities to foster sustainable peace. To illustrate the possibilities and limits of businesses reducing violence, we describe the case of ABN AMRO in Brazil and its social program in Novo Lino, one of the poorest municipalities in the country characterized by high levels of violence toward children. With ABN AMRO's support, Novo Lino was able to significantly improve the living conditions of abused children assisted by the social project and raise awareness of children's rights protection. However, despite the corporation's efforts, the project ended after ABN AMRO withdrew its financial support. This case study intends to stimulate discussion on the roles and possibilities of corporations in the social context of extreme poverty. We conclude that businesses need to adopt an integrated approach that simultaneously addresses the several factors related to extreme deprivation and reduces the likelihood of violence in situations of extreme poverty.     

Culture and International business research: A review and research agenda

This study explores the role of culture and international business in internationalization outcomes through a systematic review and analysis of articles published between 2009 and 2019. By mapping the current research domain, this review reflects the avenues for future research in theory development, context, characteristics, and methodology (TCCM) in eight research clusters identified as national culture, external uncertainty avoidance, knowledge transfer & collaboration, HRM & management practices, international diversification research, entrepreneurial mindset, interaction, and firm performance. The clusters were grouped into independent factors and internationalization outcome factors. This framework provided deeper insights into the theoretical implications which will lead to further advancement in these research areas.     

International service learning in the business curriculum: Toward an ethic of empathy in a global economy

In the context of business education, International Service Learning (ISL) programs introduce students to social responsibility and help them develop a sense of solidarity with individuals living in a different context from their own. But even ISL programs that strive for reciprocity and co-create projects with community partners still reinforce a microcosm of the power asymmetries present in the global economy. As an alternative to traditional ISL models involving direct service, I propose a model of ISL that eliminates the direct service component and instead emphasizes listening and learning abroad. In this model, local knowledge is expert and then students engage in advocacy in their home countries. Herein, I present a current course—Marketing for Social Change: The Uganda Project—as an example of the alternative ISL model designed to address the structural inequalities and wealth disparities brought by globalization.     

Corporate social responsibility research in international business journals: An author co-citation analysis

This paper aims to describe the development of research on corporate social responsibility in international business (IB) journals and to suggest future research directions. We conducted a bibliometric study of articles published in twelve leading international business journals over three decades in a longer time frame (1996–2015). Five research trends were found in IB journals: business ethics, integration of stakeholder management, the evolution of the CSR concept, the political and social demands of CSR, and the financial implications of CSR. Our results thus have several implications and suggest numerous opportunities for future research.     

国际企业社会责任标准运动及其对我国的启示

本文认为,国际企业社会责任标准的宗旨是确保生产商及供应商所提供的产品符合社会责任的要求,其主要内容包括人权、劳工权益和环境三个方面,其中劳工权益是核心。企业社会责任标准运动作为一种不可遏止的国际化运动,必然会对我国社会和经济的发展产生越来越大的影响。我们必须采取措施,积极应对,趋利避害,将其纳入我国劳动法制建设的轨道。加快完善我国相关法律法规,积极参与国际多边谈判,改善国内劳工条件,推动出口产品结构升级,加强企业社会责任意识,促使这一运动的运作规范化。     

The Applied Economics of (International) Business: A Personal Perspective

The applied economics of international business (IB) has been successful in explaining foreign direct investment, the existence and growth of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and in integrating new concepts such as trust in the analysis of joint ventures. It now needs to face challenges in fully integrating culture into the rubric and into a comprehensive analysis of the varied phenomena of globalisation.     

企业社会责任:测定、策略及其影响

企业承担社会责任是社会进步和可持续发展的必然趋势。企业对于社会责任的选择和履行对劳动力市场、公共基础设施建设和消费者选择都有重要影响。企业承担社会责任意味着企业要从以前单纯追求自身利益最大化转变为在追求利益最大化的同时,兼顾到其利益相关者甚至社会的利益。要做到这点企业必须从两个方面出发:内部要给员工及其利益相关者创造和谐氛围;外部要对环境、公共事业、社会稳定担负相应责任。社会责任对企业并不仅仅是负担,也会给企业带来诸多益处。     

Corporate sustainability reporting: An innovative tool for the greater good of all

Most publicly traded companies issue sustainability reports—also known as corporate social responsibility reports—that contain an extraordinary amount of multidimensional (e.g., environment, human rights, labor practices and decent work, product responsibility, society) longitudinal quantitative and qualitative data that is available to the public. Unfortunately, corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports are vastly underutilized due to perceived complexity. This article explains the Sustainability Performance Assessment (SPA) System, a teaching and mentoring tool for assessing CSR report information. Students reported a deeper understanding of sustainability as an overall concept, sustainability from a business perspective, and multifaceted sustainability performance information presented in CSR reports. The real world research-focused SPA tool transforms sustainability from a philosophical and abstract concept to something of tangible value in everyday life for consumers, employees, and international stakeholders.     

Corporate communication,sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green

This empirical research explores how 16 global corporations from four different industry sectors—retail, technology equipment, food/beverage/tobacco, and consumer goods—use social media platforms and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports to communicate about sustainability. Facebook, Twitter, CEO letters from annual reports and CSR/sustainability reports, and other company documentation are examined to compare the content and scope of these firms’ corporate communication. The sample is divided into two subsamples (Green and Not Green firms) using Newsweek's Greenest Company 2012 rankings, and compared for differential use of social media and corporate reports. Results show that communication varies across firm and industry regarding types of sustainability initiatives reported, metrics employed, and communication media utilized, and that Green firms are more active than Not Green firms both in addressing sustainability and in general social media activity. Implications are discussed herein and recommendations are presented for companies seeking to better understand the effective use of social media and sustainability communication.     

Multinational enterprises and corporate tax planning: A review of literature and suggestions for a future research agenda

Corporate tax planning by the multinational enterprise (MNE), that is, the MNE’s ability to plan its tax affairs by using a multitude of strategies to reduce its tax bills legally, is a central research question in the literatures of international business, public economics, tax, finance, law and accounting. Underlying theoretical assumptions, approaches to empirical testing, profit shifting estimation strategies and findings are varied. Thus, it is important to conduct a critical literature review. In this paper, we offer new insights by studying the phenomenon from the international business (IB) perspective. We survey the academic literature on the MNE and corporate tax planning to examine the extent of knowledge on this topic and identify areas that we hope will stimulate interest among IB scholars for further research. We find materials across disciplines that are relevant to IB readers. We examine 120 articles in 51 scholarly journals and classic books published during the period 1966-2017. We identify the key mechanisms and the firm characteristics that may influence corporate tax planning. We suggest a research agenda where IB research can make clear contributions.     

The law and ethics of big data analytics: A new role for international human rights in the search for global standards

The Economist recently declared that digital information has overtaken oil as the world’s most valuable commodity. Big data technology is inherently global and borderless, yet little international consensus exists over what standards should govern its use. One source of global standards benefitting from considerable international consensus might be used to fill the gap: international human rights law. This article considers the extent to which international human rights law operates as a legal or ethical constraint on global commercial use of big data technologies. By providing clear baseline standards that apply worldwide, human rights can help shape cultural norms—implemented as ethical practices and global policies and procedures—about what businesses should do with their information technologies. In this way, human rights could play a broad and important role in shaping business thinking about the proper handling of this increasingly valuable commodity in the modern global society.     

在华跨国企业社会责任变动趋势及影响因素研究

通过对在我国内地经营的大型跨国企业进行问卷调查,获取跨国企业在我国的社会责任数据,从而对在华大型跨国企业社会责任的变动趋势进行分析,结果显示跨国企业在我国的社会责任履行情况基本呈现出向好的趋势,但跨国企业的社会责任履行情况受经济波动和企业经营业绩的影响明显,而企业的规模、国别和行业因素均对跨国企业的不同维度的社会责任履行情况产生一定的影响。     

Socially responsible entrepreneurs: What do they do to create and build their companies?

This paper examines 30 entrepreneurs who created profitable companies, and who were also exemplary in their efforts towards social responsibility. It examines their management practices to understand how these socially responsible entrepreneurs created and built their companies. The study reveals that these socially responsible entrepreneurs founded their companies, at least in part, to achieve idealistic objectives, and pursued financial and non-financial objectives simultaneously. Most avoided financing from institutional sources, hired employees for their shared values, and shrewdly leveraged their social identities to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Many of these entrepreneurs made unusual efforts to create a strong organizational culture and implement sustainable operational processes to meet their self-imposed ethical standards. These socially responsible entrepreneurs gave a substantial amount of their profits to causes of their choosing, and volunteered themselves as role models for other businesses and entrepreneurs to follow.     

Legal rights,national culture and social networks: Exploring the uneven adoption of United Nations Global Compact

We develop and test a novel framework for explaining cross-country differences in corporate participation in a prominent initiative often associated with social responsibility, United Nations Global Compact (UNGC). Drawing upon neo-institutional and cross-country comparative literatures, we explore the impact of (a) stakeholder legal rights; (b) national culture, and (c) the country's social network position, as reflected by international trade patterns. Results suggest that firms from countries with strong labor rights, collectivist cultures, and long traditions of stock trading join UNGC at higher rates. Our framework can be modified for future cross-country research on the adoption of practices.     

Global cities: A multi-disciplinary review and research agenda

Multinational enterprise (MNE) location decisions are central to international business (IB) scholarship and research shows that global cities are key MNE investment locations. Despite growing awareness of their importance to MNEs, most literature on global cities resides outside the IB domain. To provide IB scholars with a foundation to advance global city research, we conduct a multi-disciplinary review of top journal articles organized into three themes: the nature of global cities, MNE strategic decisions in global cities, and outcomes of MNE investment in global cities. We use this framework to synthesize findings, discuss theoretical implications, and provide future research directions.