Print

Print


*Dear AIB List serve Moderator:*

*
Please post this announcement -*




*Turning the Spotlight on Service Multinationals: New Theoretical 
Insights and Empirical Evidence*

Turning the Spotlight on Service Multinationals: New Theoretical 
Insights and Empirical Evidence

*Guest Editors*

Sumit K. Kundu, Florida International University
Somnath Lahiri, Illinois State University

*Submission Deadline: February 28, 2014*

One of the most noteworthy aspects of today's international business 
(IB) landscape is the growing importance of service multinationals 
(SMNCs). As the services sector expands, the prominence of SMNCs in 
producing and delivering value-creating services across national borders 
continues to grow more than ever before. Data from UNCTAD show that 
between 1990-1992 and 2008-2010 global inward FDI flow in services grew 
almost 843% (from 95,772 to 903,256 million U.S dollars) compared to 
570% in manufacturing (52,181 to 349,720 million U.S. dollars) during 
the same time-period. Success stories of SMNCs from different parts of 
the world, both developed and developing economies, have caught the 
attention of the IB community. Yet SMNC research has not kept pace with 
the unprecedented growth of services and SMNCs over the years. While Li 
and Guisinger (1992: 691) noted in 1992 that "results of our study 
suggest that service FDI can be explained by a rich variety of 
theories," Capar and Kotabe (2003) lamented that "the service sector has 
been explored to a limited extent so far, although service firms have 
contributed to the majority of the job growth in the industrialized 
nations." The state of SMNC research was summed up by Kundu and Merchant 
(2008), who observed that the "the challenge lies ahead in the 
development of theories of service multinational enterprise to explain 
the intricacies of service firms." The aim of this special issue is to 
encourage research that develops new theory, provides robust empirical 
evidence, and promotes novel practitioner insights on SMNCs.

The importance and contribution of services and SMNCs in IB caught the 
attention of scholars almost a quarter of a century ago (Boddewyn et 
al., 1986, Dunning, 1989, Erramilli, 1990). Over time, researchers have 
attempted to draw on various theories, traditionally used for the 
manufacturing sector, to explain competitiveness and 
internationalization of SMNCs. But compared to studies in the 
manufacturing sector, empirical examination in the services sector has 
continued to remain grossly inadequate. We are yet to fully understand 
how SMNCs differ from their manufacturing counterparts, along crucial 
business dimensions such as birth, growth, evolution, performance and 
sustenance. The scholarly community has continued to remain divided on 
whether business theories that apply to manufacturing MNCs aptly suit 
the context of SMNCs. Meanwhile, the IB landscape has gradually changed 
and factors such as greater connectivity across nations, firms and 
individuals; global economic meltdown; increasing natural calamities, 
global terrorism and stakeholder power; increasing global participation 
of emerging markets, etc. have become powerful determinants of firm 
performance and competitive advantage. While paucity of research on 
SMNCs constrains valuable knowledge generation, it represents useful 
opportunity for IB scholars to develop new, insightful theories and 
empirical evidence.

Against this backdrop, this special issue solicits manuscripts that 
advance our understanding of SMNC dynamics in the context of today's IB 
environment. The following is an illustrative list of research themes 
and questions that contributors might consider:

·How do SMNCs decide on location choice and handle the associated 
organizational and managerial issues (Kundu & Contractor, 1999)?

·How do SMNCs manage the antecedents, processes and outcomes of 
corporate diversification, internationalization and multi-nationality?

·Does /distance/ (psychic, organizational, geographical, etc.) matter in 
the growth, internationalization, competitiveness and performance of 
SMNCs (Berry et al., 2010)?

·How do SMNCs organize and manage various resources and capabilities 
(Lahiri & Kedia, 2009) to efficiently formulate and implement 
localization, regional or global strategies?

·How do SMNCs' growth, diversification and performance differ across 
industry domains within the services sector?

·How do SMNCs plan, execute and manage foreign market entry mode strategies?

·How do SMNCs organize and manage their human resources?

·How does organizational and strategic behavior of SMNCs differ across 
developed and emerging markets? (Aulakh, 2007).

*Submission instructions*

The deadline for manuscript submission is February 28, 2014. 
  Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with/Journal of 
International Management'/s Style Guide for Authors: 
http://www.elsevier.com/journals/journal-of-international-management/1075-4253/guide-for-authors. 
Intending contributors relatively new to JIM may find the work of 
Kothari and Lahiri (2012) useful.

Manuscripts should be electronically submitted to: 
http://ees.elsevier.com/intman. To ensure that all manuscripts are 
correctly identified for review in relation to the special issue it is 
important that authors select *"Service Multinationals"* when they reach 
the "Article Type" step in the submission process. All submissions will 
be subject to the regular double-blind peer review process at JIM. 
Manuscripts may be conceptual or empirical (quantitative or 
qualitative). Preference will be given to manuscripts that compare and 
contrast SMNCs with manufacturing MNCs. This special issue is expected 
to be published in 2015.

Please direct any questions regarding the Special Issue to Sumit K. 
Kundu ([log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>) and Somnath Lahiri 
([log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>).

*References*

Aulakh, P.S. 2007. Emerging multinationals from developing economies: 
Motivations, paths and performance. /Journal of International 
Management/, 13(3): 235-240.

Berry, H., Guillén, M.F., & Zhou, N. 2010. An institutional approach to 
cross-national distance. /Journal of International Business Studies/, 
41: 1460-1480.

Boddewyn, J J., Halbrich, M.B., & Perry, A C. 1986. Service 
multinationals: Conceptualization, measurement and theory. /Journal of 
International Business Studies/, 17 (3): 41-57.

Capar, N., & Kotabe, M. 2003. The relationship between international 
diversification and performance in service firms. /Journal of 
International Business Studies/, 34: 345-355.

Dunning, J.H. 1989. Multinational enterprises and the growth of 
services: Some conceptual and theoretical issues. /Service Industries 
Journal/, 9(1): 5-39.

Erramilli, M.K. 1990. Entry mode choice in service industries. 
/International Marketing Review/, 7(5): 50-62.

Kothari, T., &**Lahiri, S.**2012.Yesterday, today and tomorrow: An 
overview of research publications in the Journal of International 
Management. /Journal of International Management/, 18(1): 102-110.

Kundu, S.K., & Contractor, F.J. 1999. Country location choices of 
service multinationals: An empirical study of the international hotel 
sector. /Journal of International Management/, 5(4): 299-317.

Kundu, S.K., & Merchant, H. 2008. Service multinationals: Their past, 
present, and future. /Management International Review/, 48 (4): 371-377.

Li, J., & Guisinger, S. 1992. The globalization**of 
service**multinationals in the" triad" regions: Japan, Western Europe 
and North America. /Journal of International Business /Studies, 23(4): 
675-696.

Lahiri, S., & Kedia, B.L. 2009. The effects of internal resources and 
partnership quality on firm performance: An Examination of Indian BPO 
providers. /Journal of International Management/, 15(2): 209-224.


*Thank You.*

*-- 
Dr. Sumit K. Kundu
Professor
James K. Batten Eminent Scholar Chair in International Business
Academic Director - Master's in International Business program
Department of Management and International Business
College of Business Administration
Florida International University
345-B Ryder Business Building
11200 SW 8 Street
Miami, FL 33199
USA
Telephone: (305) 348-3251
Fax:       (305) 348-6146
Email:     [log in to unmask]

*


____
AIB-L is brought to you by the Academy of International Business.
For information: http://aib.msu.edu/community/aib-l.asp
To post message: [log in to unmask]
For assistance:  [log in to unmask]
AIB-L is a moderated list.