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Article Information:
Title:
The US commercial-military-political complex and the emergence of international business and management studies
Author(s):
Robert Westwood, Gavin Jack
Journal:
critical perspectives on international business
Year:
2008
Volume:
Issue:
Page:
367 - 388
DOI:
10.1108/17422040810915411
Publisher:
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Acknowledgements:
The authors would like to thank participants of the OIL stream at the 2007 APROS Conference in Delhi, India, particularly Nidhi Srinivas, as well as Mark Tadajewski, University of Leicester for their supportive comments, questions and references. The authors would also like to thank most sincerely the anonymous reviewers and the Editors of critical perspectives on international business for their insightful and helpful comments. As usual, the final outcome is entirely the authors' responsibility.
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Abstract:
Purpose – This paper seeks to present an analysis of the historical emergence of international business and management studies (IBMS) within the context of the post-World War II USA. It seeks to show how certain conditions of this time and place shaped the orientation of foundational IBMS texts and set a course for the subsequent development of the field.
Design/methodology/approach – The approach is primarily conceptual. The paper pursues both a historical analysis and a close reading of foundational texts within IBMS. It first examines the key conditions for the emergence of IBMS including: the internationalization of the US economy and businesses; the Cold War and perceived expansion of Soviet interests; and finally decolonisation processes around the world. These are interrelated aspects of a commercial-military-political complex, which simultaneously enabled and constrained the emergence of IBMS scholarship. The paper moves on to link these conditions to two seminal IBMS texts.
Findings – The paper reveals the localised and particular conditions that surrounded the emergence of IBMS and how IBMS was constituted to serve particular and localised interests associated with those conditions.
Originality/value – The paper's originality and value lie in a unique historical and discursive analysis of the conditions for the emergence of IBMS that were, in part, instrumental in the development of the field. It thus responds to calls for a “historical turn” in International Business scholarship.
Keywords:
Business studies,
History,
United States of America
Article Type:
Conceptual paper
References:
Article URL:
www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/17422040810915411