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AIB INSIGHTS

 

Special Issue Call for Papers

Managing Sustainable Development in International Business:

Challenges and Insights

Special Issue Co-Editors

*	John Dilyard, Guest Editor (St Francis College, New York)
*	Shasha Zhao, Guest Editor (University of Surrey, United Kingdom)
*	William Newburry, AIB Insights Associate Editor (Florida
International University)

AIB Insights is a peer-reviewed journal publishing "Actionable International
Business Insights". Short, topical, thought-provoking articles should be
akin to written "TED Talks" with an applied/actionable focus that focuses on
usable insights and de-emphasizes references, jargon, and methods. These
insights must be relevant to the broad international business community,
including researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and educators. With
this Special Issue call, we invite submissions that offer novel and applied
insights for responding to sustainable development challenges in the context
of the broad international business (IB) field.

IB research and practice are increasingly concerned with global
sustainability issues associated with, or resulting from, firms' activities
and practices across borders (Dilyard, Zhao, & You, 2021; Ghauri, Strange, &
Cooke, 2021; Van Zanten & Van Tulder, 2018). Despite extensive research
about sustainability and sustainable development in many non-IB fields
(Hahn, Kolk & Winn, 2010) and the wide recognition of multinational
enterprises (MNEs) as necessary actors in the United Nations' target of
achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (van Tulder & Keen,
2018; Zhan & Santos-Paulino, 2021), there remains limited clear and
systematic understanding of firms' - particularly MNEs' - roles in
contributing to, or hindering, local and global efforts to address pressing
sustainability issues or achieving the SDGs (Witte & Dilyard, 2017). 

The highly complex, multifaceted, cross-disciplinary, and interconnected
nature of sustainable development issues strongly parallels the nature of IB
phenomena, making IB well-suited to address these issues. However, for this
line of IB research to move forward in a more systematic manner, to offer
best practices and create measurable societal impact, it is necessary to ask
thought-provoking questions concerning the role that is played (or that
could be played) by MNEs in relation to the wide range of pressing global
sustainability issues. This includes ways to better integrate sustainability
problems into IB research and practice (Eden & Nielsen, 2020) and the
development of novel and instrumental insights that have wider managerial
and policy implications. 

Considering the imperative of global sustainability challenges and the
growing importance of this area of research within the IB domain, this
Special Issue of AIB Insights seeks novel and actionable insights that both
scrutinize MNEs and their role in sustainability and inform the practice of
sustainable management and policy development. Below is a list of
illustrative - but not exhaustive - topics:

*         How sustainability-oriented should/can MNEs be? What role should
(or must) MNEs play in achieving the SDGs (e.g., lead or follow, reactive or
proactive)? How should (or must) MNEs' actions be measured against the SDGs,
and by whom? 

*         What are the most pressing challenges that MNEs face in the
creation and maintenance of sustainable value chains? How do/can MNE
management best respond to these challenges?

*         How can/should MNEs exploit advanced technologies (e.g.,
digitalization, industry 4.0) to make their local and global operations more
sustainability-oriented?

*         How do/can MNEs prioritize sustainability-related actions and
decisions in response to different institutional environments (e.g.,
regulatory regimes)?

*         What sustainability lessons can MNEs from advanced economies learn
from their counterparts in emerging economies, and vice versa? How can these
lessons and related best practices be implemented in the MNEs' own
operations?

*         What are the challenges that hinder the encapsulation of the
intricacies of sustainability in terms of behavioral, operational, and/or
investment policies of the MNE? How can these be addressed? 

Submission Process and Timeline

AIB Insights is an Academy of International Business journal that publishes
short (around 2500 words), interesting, topical, current, and
thought-provoking articles. Colleagues interested in submitting to this
Special Issue should consult the AIB Insights Editorial Policy
<https://insights.aib.world/for-authors>  and use the Online Manuscript
Submission System <https://insights.aib.world/for-authors> . Please mention
"Special Issue: Sustainable Development Challenges in International
Business" in your cover letter when submitting your manuscript.

Timeline

The deadline for submission of full manuscripts is August 30, 2021. The
expected publication of the Special Issue is during the first half of 2022.

References

Eden, L. & Nielsen, B.B. (2020) Research methods in international business:
The challenge of complexity. Journal of International Business Studies, 51:
1609-1620 

 

Ghauri, P., Strange, R., & Cooke, F. L. (2021) Research on international
business: The new realities. International Business Review, 30(2): 101794.

 

Hahn, T., Kolk, A., & Winn, M. (2010) A new future for business? Rethinking
management theory and business strategy. Business & Society, 49(3): 385-401.

 

Van Tulder, R., & Keen, N. (2018) Capturing collaborative challenges:
Designing complexity-sensitive theories of change for cross-sector
partnerships. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(2): 315-332.

 

Van Zanten, J. A., & Van Tulder, R. (2018) Multinational enterprises and the
Sustainable Development Goals: An institutional approach to corporate
engagement. Journal of International Business Policy, 1(3): 208-233.

 

Witte, C., & Dilyard, J. (2017) The contribution of multinational
enterprises to the Sustainable Development Goals. Transnational
Corporations, 24(3): 1-8.

 

Zhan, J. X., & Santos-Paulino, A. U. (2021) Investing in the Sustainable
Development Goals: Mobilization, channelling, and impact. Journal of
International Business Policy, 4(1): 166-183.

 

Dilyard, J., Zhao, S., & You, J. J. (2021) Digital innovation and industry
4.0 for global value chain resilience: Lessons learned and ways forward.
Thunderbird International Business Review, online first

 


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