[log in to unmask]" alt="Description: Description: C:\Documents and Settings\podsiadm\Desktop\Admin forms\A BUSINESS SCHOOL RGB_BLACK.jpg">

 

Call for papers:

40th AIB-UKI Conference (2013)
Aston Business School

 

 

International Business, Institutions and Performance after

the Financial Crisis

 

Location is of central importance for international business, especially with regard to decisions such as outsourcing, entering emerging economies, and the global fragmentation of production. And since the Financial Crisis of 2008, governments now wrestle with the thorny issues of how to attract international investment despite their much-reduced resources. These trends and events have put the spotlight on the importance of institutions for the global economy. On the one hand, governments in old and new markets are increasingly attuned to the need to provide an appropriate institutional environment in terms of market efficiency and property rights. On the other hand, international firms are realising that they are required to adapt to the prevailing market conditions.

This is particularly important when one considers the sections of the global economy that are expected to be the engines of growth. At the macro level, emerging and transition countries, powered by high levels of technical efficiency are expected to generate growth, and provide new markets for western producers while allying their productivity with frontier technology. At a micro level, western governments are looking to new business formation, often linked to global frontier technology through niche markets and as suppliers to global firms, to deliver growth that large firms seem unable to do. At both levels this requires a better understanding of the importance of institutions for international business. Previous research has for example focussed on the significance of corruption in influencing business location, but less on how business can influence corruption by seeking to improve home country institutions. Equally, there is evidence that firms are unwilling to locate frontier technology in emerging markets due to the lack of intellectual property rights protection, which is limiting the spread of new technology from Europe and the US. Thirdly, the literature on international entrepreneurship places the emphasis firmly on the importance of capital markets to fund international expansion of firms to be able to compete in global markets.

Research in this area can and should include ethics and corporate social responsibility, studies of location, of internationalisation and of the financing of FDI. Equally, it should include analysis of labour markets and international HRM, as well as cross border and cross cultural management. Further, it incorporates the understanding of dynamic capabilities, of marketing and innovation, and offshoring / outsourcing and the links between multinationality and performance.

As in previous years, it is hoped that the conference will encompass all aspects of international business, to bring research to bear, not only on these issues but on a wider agenda. Papers will be organised into special tracks, including for example:

·         Business strategy – explanations of international business and modes, contributions of MNEs in home and host nations, corporate and social responsibility

·         Firm competitiveness – strategic management, networks and alliances, cross border management/leadership, organizational behaviour and learning

·         Dynamic capabilities – global organisation and sourcing of technological innovations, knowledge acquisition and knowledge transfer, learning in the internationalisation process

·         International entrepreneurship – decision making in international new ventures (INVs), characteristics of INVs, the internationalisation process of INVs, how INVs create value, factors promoting the emergence and success of INVs

·         Internationalisation from and to emerging markets – motives for FDI from and to emerging markets, government policy towards inward and outward FDI in emerging markets, outsourcing and offshoring

·         Research methods in international business – developments in quantitative methods, use of case studies, qualitative methods, problems and issues in methodology

·         Corporate governance and finance – influence of corporate governance and managerial compensation schemes, the role of direct versus portfolio investment in diversifying risk, dealing with corruption, institutional structures influencing corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

Conference prizes

There are several prizes awarded at the conference:

·         Palgrave Macmillan Prize for the best competitive paper

·         The Research in International Business and Finance Prize for the best paper which examines a topic in International Finance from an International Business perspective

·         The Critical Perspectives on International Business Prize for the most innovative paper which tackles a new or under-researched topic and which contributes to the understanding of the impact of international business on society.

·         Michael Z Brooke Doctoral Prize for the best paper by a doctoral student

·         Neil Hood and Stephen Young Prize for the Most Original New Work in the doctoral colloquium.

Publication opportunities

·         A selection of conference papers will be published in the Palgrave Macmillan International Business book series, which is connected to the AIB UK & Ireland annual conferences.

·         There will be a special issue in the journal Research in International Business and Finance (RIBAF) connected to theme of the Conference (see RIBAF Call for Paper)

 

 

Keynote Speakers

The two keynote speakers will be Professor John Cantwell (Rutgers, and EIC, JIBS) and Professor Saul Estrin, London School of Economics.

 

 

 

Nigel

 

 

Professor Nigel Driffield AcSS
Executive Dean

[log in to unmask]" alt="Description: Description: http://static.aston.ac.uk/emails/sigs/abs.gif">.        
Aston Triangle
Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK

0121 204 3209 .        
[log in to unmask]

http://www1.aston.ac.uk/aston-business-school/staff/academic/esg/prof-nigel-driffield/