Introduction from the editors

Citation

Roberts, J. and Cairns, G. (2008), "Introduction from the editors", Critical Perspectives on International Business, Vol. 4 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib.2008.29004daa.001

Introduction from the editors

Article Type: Editorial introduction From: critical perspectives on international business, Volume 4, Issue 4

Welcome to critical perspectives on international business’s final issue for 2008.We are delighted to present another exciting collection of papers from a range of international scholars. The contributions offered in the pages that follow consider diverse issues of relevance to International Business (IB); from popular resistance to business in South America and the impact of the US commercial-military-political-complex on the development of IB studies, to a postcolonial organisational analysis of the Rwanda genocide and the meaning of “modern” in emerging markets. These papers are accompanied by a number of insightful book reviews.

Three academic papers are included in this issue. First, we present “The birth of politics in Bolivia: the role of popular resistance to business” in which Crawford Spence and Mark Shenkin, drawing from a series of formal interviews with key political actors, consider the role of mass mobilisations against IB in Bolivia and analyse their wider implications for the structure of the state. Using Laclau’s discourse theory and a methodology inspired by Bourdieu’s understanding of social ethnography, they find that the uprisings against IB in Cochabamba in 2000 and El Alto in 2003 were pivotal in developing a wider critical consciousness to oppose neo-liberalism in Bolivia.

This is followed by Robert Westwood and Gavin Jack’s exploration of “The US commercial-military-political complex and the emergence of international business and management studies”, achieved through an analysis of the historical emergence of international business and management studies (IBMS) within the context of the post-World War II United States. From an historical analysis and a close reading of foundational texts within IBMS, Westwood and Jack show how conditions of time and place – namely, the internationalization of the US economy, the cold war, and the processes of decolonisation – shaped the orientation of foundational IBMS texts and set a course for the subsequent development of the field.

In the final academic paper, “Globalization, postcolonial theory, and organizational analysis: lessons from the Rwanda Genocide”, Brad S. Long and Albert J. Mills engage in a postcolonial organizational analysis of organizational (in)action before and during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, with the aims of expanding the scope of postcolonial theory to organizational analysis, extending the reach of organizational analysis to the study of supranational organizations, and, importantly, examining the impact of postcolonial organizational thought on the conception and treatment of the Rwandan people.

This issue also includes a review essay from Jonathan Murphy entitled “Management in emerging economies: modern but not too modern?”, in which he critically reviews three recent publications on emerging market management and questions the meaning of the concept “modern” in emerging country management. Murphy proposes an alternative, sociological approach, which emphasizes the hybridity of the emerging economy managerial class in the context of globalization. He presents a case study of the treatment of Dalit sanitary workers in New Delhi to illustrate the interplay between global marketization and pre-existing class and caste hierarchies.

In this final issue of the year we are please, to include a number of book reviews. The first of these is James Dzisah’s review of Corporate Social Responsibility & International Development: Is Business the Solution? by Michael Hopkins. According to Dzisah, this book provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary introduction to the main themes of CSR and international development. Moreover, it considers what corporations are doing and what more they could be doing to promote development. The second review is of Michael A. Witt’s book, Changing Japanese Capitalism: Societal Coordination and Institutional Adjustment. The reviewer, Steve Hughes, praises this book for its presentation of an informed assessment of Japan’s domestic capitalism and its efforts to lift itself from the economic sick bed of the 1990s. The final review, of Narratives of Enterprise: Crafting Entrepreneurial Self-Identity in a Small Firm by Simon Down, is provided by Paul Vallance, who notes that the interdisciplinary and ethnographic focus on how narrative resources are based in the everyday lives of research subjects will be of appeal to many scholars in business and management fields. Indeed, due to the level of methodological reflection, Vallance argues that the book will also be of value to those with an interest in qualitative research practice and, especially, ethnography more broadly.

We hope that you will enjoy reading this issue of CPOIB, that it will provoke further critical discussion about key issues of relevance to IB, and, importantly, that it will stimulate further responses both in the academic community, in the classroom and in the wider context of global society. We encourage readers to participate in ongoing debates and to raise new issues through contributions to the journal. As always, we welcome academic paper submission, viewpoint pieces, reviews and review essays, as well as suggestions and proposals for special issues.

During its brief history, CPOIB has established a truly global position, with a multi-disciplinary Editorial Advisory Board from across the world. It has built a particularly strong presence in Australia, from where it has drawn several EAB members, a substantial number of papers and this year’s double special issue on postcolonialism. The Australian link is now strengthened by co-editor George Cairns’ move from the UK to join RMIT University in Melbourne as Professor of Management. He looks forward to working with EAB members and contributors from this new position.

In 2009, CPOIB will be into its fifth volume, an appropriate point at which to reflect upon the development of critical thinking within the field of International Business. To do this we will be convening a stream at the 6th International Critical Management Conference, 13-15 July 2009, at Warwick Business School, Warwick University, UK. We hope that many of you will be able join us to explore the impact of critical management studies on the field of international business and to celebrate CPOIB’s fifth year.

As we conclude volume four of CPOIB we would like to take this opportunity to thank all contributors to the journal, including authors, reviewers, and the Editorial Advisory Board members. We would also like to thank our publishing team at Emerald, in particular, Martyn Lawrence and Mary Miskin.

Joanne Roberts, George Cairns