International business research: Looking back and looking forward

The establishment of the Academy of International Business in 1959 may be viewed as heralding the birth of International Business (IB) as an academic discipline. Having reached the 50-year jubilee milestone suggests an opportunity for reflection in two directions: The first is to look back at what has been achieved thus far in terms of the development of IB as an academic research field. The second direction is forward-looking, speculating on future trends and developments one should expect in the international environment within which business will operate, and the relevant concepts and theories that would explain these future trends and would relate them to practical affairs. This Special Issue of the Journal of International Management was thus formulated, and the call for papers asked contributors to consider the above two directions. To wit, "There are two aspects to this issue. One is somewhat historical and self-congratulatory appreciating the achievements of the academic field of International Business over its first generation, what advances have been made, what theories have been developed, what useful constructs have been developed, and what significant empirical findings have been discovered. The other is more forward-looking and somewhat critical asking what still needs to be done to build the academic legitimacy of the field, what has not yet been achieved, what we still do not understand, what theories have not stood the test of time, and what concepts have not proved useful." As the editors of this Special Issue we present this essay not only to summarize and put into perspective the accepted papers, but also to reflect more comprehensively on the above questions. In the following section we thus present a stylized portrait of the IB field, including some salient aspects of its background and historical development. Next, we look at some characteristics of the papers submitted to this special issue as a reflection of the themes within 1B research that they represent. We next sharpen this discussion with summaries and discussions of the five papers chosen for publication. Finally, we present an integration of ideas from our analysis of the challenges facing the IB field as it begins its second half-century.