From the Editor

From the Editor

Article Type: From the Editor From: Cross Cultural Management, Volume 22, Issue 3.

This issue marks the transition to a new editorial team under my editorship for the Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal. Over the past two decades, the Journal has become a well-respected outlet for researchers in the field of cross-cultural management. Thanks to the work of my predecessor and his team, the Journal is now included in the Social Sciences Citation Index, Scopus and others. This recognition provides a springboard for the Journal to develop further to become a primary publication outlet of choice for scholars engaged in international business and global management research.

To attain this objective, the incoming editorial team has made several major changes to the focus, structure, types of manuscripts, and manuscript flow process. These are highlighted below.

Focus

The Journal has traditionally been more micro in its focus. With the globalization of business and the business school curriculum around the world, there has been an explosion of research interest in international business issues that extend well beyond cross-cultural management to all aspects of global management, particularly in the area of strategic management. Under the incoming editorial team, the Journal will broaden its scope to publish discerning, theoretically grounded, evidence-based and cutting edge research on issues relevant to all aspects of global management. To reflect this broadened mission, beginning in 2016, the Journal will be retitled as Cross Cultural & Strategic Management (CCSM) to provide a forum for the publication of high-quality cross-cultural and strategic management research in the global context.

CCSM will be interdisciplinary in nature and welcomes submissions from scholars in international business, management and other disciplines, such as anthropology, economics, political science, psychology and sociology that have implications for global management. CCSM will be particularly interested in theoretical and empirical papers that examine novel and unique ideas that are multilevel (micro-meso-macro) and/or multidisciplinary in nature. Research papers to appear in CCSM will advance our understanding of international business phenomena and, in the process, contribute to the development of the international business literature.

CCSM will publish theoretical/conceptual and empirical papers based on quantitative and qualitative research that advance our overall knowledge of international business. This includes research that yields positive, neutral or negative findings as long as the studies are based on sound research methodology, demonstrate a good knowledge of the theory/literature that pertains to the phenomena under investigation, provide an in-depth interpretation of the reason(s) for the findings, and present detailed recommendations for future research directions.

For a more detailed statement of the editorial policy of CCSM, including a partial listing of some relevant topics, please visit the Journal homepage at: www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/ccm.htm

Incoming editorial team

To reflect the broadened mission and, more importantly, to enable CCSM to become a primary publication outlet of choice for high-quality research in international business, we have assembled a team of distinguished scholars in the field. There are ten members of the incoming editorial team: David A. Ralston (Deputy Editor (DE)), Arjen van Witteloostuijn (Reviewing Editor (RE)), Kevin Au (Area Editor (AE) – Comparative and International Entrepreneurship), Miriam Erez (AE – Cross-cultural Organization Behavior, Innovation and Work Motivation), Fabian Jintae Froese (AE – Cultural and Individual Ethics and Values, Expatriation, Global Talent Management and International Human Resources), Seung Ho (Sam) Park (AE – Emerging Market Strategy), Dean Tjosvold (AE – Groups, Teamwork and Conflict Resolution in the International Setting), Len J. Treviño (AE – Global Strategic Management, MNE Strategy and Structure), Sunil Venaik (AE – Research Methods in International Management), and I (Editor-in-Chief). The members of the incoming team are all accomplished researchers, recognized experts in their respective areas of research, and professionals in the finest sense of the word – individuals who have dedicated decades of their lives to honing their craft to advance the field of international business and global management. Please see the Journal homepage for a short biographical background of all members of the incoming team.

In addition to the ten-person editorial team, we have invited a very distinguished panel of scholars to serve on the Consulting Editorial Board (CEB). The CEB will offer guidance/counsel to ensure that CCSM remains on the forefront of cutting edge research in international business. We have also assembled a greatly expanded Editorial Review Board (ERB) to provide timely, constructive and developmental reviews on manuscripts submitted to the Journal. All board members are viewable at:www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/editorial_team.htm?id=ccm. Collectively, the editorial team, the CEB and ERB make up the “team.”

A journal can only be as good as the members that make up the “team.” I am very grateful and honored that so many outstanding scholars are willing to provide their valuable expertise, time and effort to facilitate our collective objective of raising the profile of CCSM in the international business research community.

Types of manuscripts

Besides the publication of regular papers, beginning with this issue, CCSM will publish Distinguished Scholar’s Essays that feature invited papers by well-known scholars on important global management issues and/or identify emerging topics of research interest. I am grateful to the many thought leaders in the field of international business and cross-cultural management who will contribute to this section.

In addition, beginning with the next issue, members of the editorial team will write Editorials that shed important insights on topics pertaining to research in international business, such as when is the use of student samples appropriate in our research? Why is it important to publish neutral and negative research findings besides positive ones? When is it appropriate to adopt methodology from other disciplines, such as experimental economics in economics and experimental designs in psychology to the study of global management?

Other types of manuscripts to be published in CCSM will be: perspective pieces that represent a departure from the traditional or the mainstream view of conceptualizing/research in international business phenomena by offering fresh lenses to examine these topics. Perspective papers are intended to be provocative in nature to generate scholarly dialogue/discussion on important issues to further development of the field of international business and global management.

Another new feature will be Research Notes. These are shorter manuscripts on relatively new phenomena of interest to the international business scholarly community that have not yet received much attention to date. While the literature review section in research notes may be less developed because of the dearth of previous research on the topic, they will still exhibit the same rigor and quality of regular papers, including their contribution to theory in international business.

CCSM will continue to publish a limited number of Special Issues (SIs) on timely and topical themes. Two SIs have been accepted by the incoming team: “Gender in International Business and Management” (see http://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=6046) and “The Upside of Cultural Differences: Toward a More Balanced Treatment of Culture in Cross-Cultural Management Research” (see http://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/call_for_papers.htm?id=6130).

Manuscript flow process

As authors, we are all frustrated with lengthy delays in receiving feedback/decision on our submissions to a journal. The incoming editorial team promises a quick turnaround on manuscripts submitted to CCSM. We will aim for a 90-day turnaround time on all submissions if the manuscript has not been desk rejected. All manuscripts will first be processed by Arjen van Witteloostuijn, RE, on the criteria of minimal “fit” (whether it fits the focus and scope of CCSM), “quality” (whether the paper is both methodologically and conceptually sound) and “contribution” (whether the paper has advanced our understanding of international business and managing in the global context). Once the submission passes this initial screening, it will be turned over to David A. Ralston, DE, who will assign the manuscript to an AE. Both the DE and AE can also desk reject the paper since the RE uses the lowest threshold for fit, quality and contribution. The AEs send these out for review and based on their own reading of the paper plus the evaluation prepared by the reviewers, the AE makes a decision as to whether the paper should be rejected or invited for major, moderate or minor revision. In most cases, we will aim for two rounds of reviews rather than the three or four rounds that have become common practice in some Journals.

I know that change can be unsettling. However, we should draw inspirations from two sayings on the positive forces that change can unleash: “If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies” (anonymous), and “Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights” (Pauline R. Kezer). There may be growing pains associated with change – although we hope that these will be minimal – and we ask for your understanding and patience as we progress along.

In closing, while I said earlier that “a Journal can only be as good as the members that make up the “team,” this is only partially true. In reality, a Journal can only be good as the members that make up the “team,” the editorial staff (Publisher Martyn Lawrence, Content Editor Abi Masha and Publishing Editor Heather Goss) and, most importantly, the authors who submit their work to the Journal. Authors are very critical to the success of a Journal. We hope that researchers in international business will view CCSM as a primary outlet of choice for their scholarly research. Collectively, we are confident that the changes the incoming editorial team has planned will take CCSM to new heights as we continue to upgrade the ranking and the profile of the Journal in the field. The members of the incoming team promise to do our very best to serve the needs of the international business scholars community from around the world. We look forward to your continued support and contributions to the Journal.

Rosalie L. Tung

About the Editor

Professor Rosalie L. Tung holds the Ming and Stella Wong Professorship at the Simon Fraser University (Canada). She was formerly a Wisconsin Distinguished Professor, Business Administration, with the University of Wisconsin System, in addition to her role as Director, International Business Center, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has also served on the faculties on the University of Oregon and the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Rosalie served as the 2003-2004 President of the Academy of Management and is 2014-2015 President-Elect of the Academy of International Business. She is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Academy of Management, the Academy of International Business, the British Academy of Management, and the International Academy for Intercultural Research. Rosalie is a former Area Editor of the Journal of International Business Studies and a former Senior Editor, International Human Resource Management, Journal of World Business. She is also the Series Editor of Palgrave Macmillan's Asia Business Series. In addition, she serves on the editorial boards of many other Journals. She is the author or editor of 11 books and many articles.