Contributions of international business from a postcolonial perspective: A critical review
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The mainstream literature on international business has played a key role in an asymmetric international process by prioritizing hegemonic power and dominance of developed countries. Practices of this Imperialism, especially by multinational companies, are traditionally rooted in colonial legacies. This article reviews the theoretical and empirical research on international business from the critical perspective of post-colonialism. The findings show that multinational enterprises possess advantages over their host country, suggesting further traces of dominance between colonizers and former colonies. Specifically, findings show that topics around language, slavery, control mechanisms, imperialism, and capitalism are dominant in the field of international business, suggesting a strong effect of historical colonialism on international business activities. The critical analysis grounded on post-colonial and international business perspectives draw attention to some neglected, if not untouched, strands with substantial gaps in the prevalent knowledge, opening new avenues for future research.
Downloads
Metrics
Article Details
A RAE compromete-se a contribuir com a proteção dos direitos intelectuais do autor. Nesse sentido:
- adota a licença Creative Commoms BY (CC-BY) em todos os textos que publica, exceto quando houver indicação de específicos detentores dos direitos autorais e patrimoniais;
- adota software de detecção de similaridades;
- adota ações de combate ao plagio e má conduta ética, alinhada às diretrizes do Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)
References
Abdelrehim, N., Ramnath, A., Smith, A., & Popp, A. (2018). Ambiguous decolonisation: A postcolonial reading of the IHRM strategy of the Burmah Oil company. Business History, 63(1), 98-126. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076791.2018.1448384
Abugre, J. B. (2018). Cross-cultural communication imperatives: Critical lessons for Western expatriates in multinational companies (MNCs) in sub-Saharan Africa. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 14(2/3), 170-187. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-01-2017-0005
Adams, K., Nayak, B. S., & Koukpaki, S. (2017). Critical perspectives on “manufactured” risks arising from Eurocentric business practices in Africa. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 14(2/3), 210-229. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-11-2016-0058
Adler, P. S., Forbes, L. C., & Willmott, H. (2007). Critical management studies. The Academy of Management Annals, 1(1), 119-179. https://doi.org/10.5465/078559808
Aguilera, R. V., Ciravegna, L., Cuervo-Cazurra, & Gonzalez-Perez, M. A. (2017). Multilatinas and the internationalization of Latin American firms. Journal of World Business, 52(4), 447-460. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2017.05.006
Alcaraz, J., & Salamanca, E. (2018). Migration and outward FDI: A double direction approach. Review of International Business and Strategy, 28(2), 240-257. https://doi.org/10.1108/RIBS-12-2017-0114
Alvesson, M., & Deetz, S. (2000). Doing critical management research. Sage.
Banerjee, S. B., & Linstead, S. (2001). Globalization, multiculturalism and other fictions: Colonialism for the new millennium? Organization, 8(4), 683-722. https://doi.org/10.1177/135050840184006
Barnard, H., Cuervo-Cazurra, A., & Manning, S. (2017). Africa business research as a laboratory for theory-building: Extreme conditions, new phenomena, and alternative paradigms of social relationships. Management and Organization Review, 13(3), 467-495. https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2017.34
Boussebaa, M. (2021). From cultural differences to cultural globalization: Towards a new research agenda in cross-cultural management studies. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 17(3), 381-398. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-01-2020-0003
Boussebaa, M., & Brown, A. D. (2017). Englishization, identity regulation and imperialism. Organization Studies, 38(1), 7-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840616655494
Boussebaa, M., & Morgan, G. (2014). Pushing the frontiers of critical international business studies: The multinational as a neo-imperial space. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 10(1/2), 96-106. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-11-2013-0046
Boussebaa, M., Sinha, S., & Gabriel, Y. (2014). Englishization in offshore call centers: A postcolonial perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 45, 1152-1169. https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2014.25
Buckley, P. J. (1988) The Limits of Explanation: Testing the Internalization Theory of the Multinational Enterprise. Journal of International Business Studies, 19, 181-193. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490382
Buckley, P. J. (2021). The role of history in international business: Evidence, research practices, methods and theory. British Journal of Management, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12446
Buckley, P. J., & Casson, M. (1976). The future of the multinational enterprise. Macmillan Press.
Burmester, B., Michailova, S., & Stringer, C. (2019). Modern slavery and international business scholarship: The governance nexus. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 15(2/3), 139-157. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-02-2019-0011
Cairns, G. (2005). Perspectives on a personal critique of international business. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 1(1), 43-55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17422040510577898
Cairns, G. M. (2019). Critical engagement in international business: Creating meaning for a broad constituency. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 15(2/3), 262-272. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-01-2019-0004
Das, A. (2021). Predatory FDI during economic crises: Insights from outbound FDI from China and host country responses. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 17(2), 321-341. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-05-2020-0050
Daye, R. (2009). Poverty, race relations, and the practices of International Business: A study of Fiji. Journal of Business Ethics, 89(1), 115-127. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27749762
Dörrenbächer, C., & Gammelgaard, J. (2019). Critical and mainstream international business research: Making critical IB an integral part of a societally engaged international business discipline. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 15(2/3), 239-261. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-02-2019-0012
Dörrenbächer, C., Sinkovics, R. R., Becker-Ritterspach, F., Boussebaa, M., Curran, L., Jonge, A. de, & Khan, Z. (2021). The Covid-19 pandemic: Towards a societally engaged IB perspective. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 17(2), 149-164. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-02-2021-0021
Dunning J. H. (1988). The eclectic paradigm of international production: A restatement and some possible extensions. Journal of International Business Studies, 19, 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490372
Faria, A., Ibarra-Colado, E., & Guedes, A. L. (2010). Internationalization of management, neoliberalism and the Latin America challenge. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 6(2/3), 97-115. https://doi.org/10.1108/17422041011049932
Fatehi, K., & Taasoobshirazi, G. (2020). Contemplating the future: Mutating capitalism. Thunderbird International Business Review, 62(2), 161-169. https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.22113
French, L., & Wokutch, R. E. (2005). Child workers, globalization, and International Business ethics: A case study in Brazil's export-oriented shoe industry. Business Ethics Quarterly, 15(4), 615-640. https://doi.org/10.5840/beq200515443
Geppert, M., & Dörrenbächer, C. (2014). Politics and power within multinational corporations: Mainstream studies, emerging critical approaches and suggestions for future research. International Journal of Management Reviews, 16(2), 226-244. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12018
Glaister, K. W., Driffield, N., & Lin, Y. (2020). Foreign direct investment to Africa: Is there a colonial legacy? Management International Review, 60, 315-349. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-020-00415-w
Guedes, A. L., & Faria, A. (2010). International management, business and relations in Latin America. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 6(2/3), 145-161. https://doi.org/10.1108/17422041011049969
Hymer S. H. (1960). The international operation of national firms: A study of direct foreign investment (Ph.D. dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology). (Published by MIT Press, 1966).
Ibarra-Colado, E., Faria, A., & Guedes, A. L. (2010). Introduction to the special issue on “Critical international management and international critical management: perspectives from Latin America”. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 6(2/3), 86-96. https://doi.org/10.1108/17422041011049923
Iwashita, H. (2022). Language and identity in the shadow: A multi-case study of a Japanese multinational Corporation. International Business Review, 31(2), 101913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2021.101913
Jacob, D., Svystunova, L., & Rao-Nicholson, R. (2022). MNE post-entry institutional strategies in emerging markets: An organizational field position perspective. European Management Review, 19(1), 53-74. https://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12472
Johanson, J., & Vahlne, J.-E. (1977). The internationalization process of the firm: A model of knowledge development and increasing foreign market commitments. Journal of International Business Studies, 8, 23-32. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8490676
Kaplinsky, R., & Morris, M. (2009). Chinese FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa: Engaging with large Dragons. European Journal of Development Research, 21(4), 551-569. https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2009.24
Konara, P., & Wei, Y. (2021). Does language matter to foreign subsidiary performance? International Marketing Review, 38(2), 276-299. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-05-2019-0129
Liou, R-S., & Rao-Nicholson, R. (2017). Out of Africa: The role of institutional distance and host-home colonial tie in South African Firms’ post-acquisition performance in developed economies. International Business Review, 26, 1184-1195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2017.04.010
Mandiola, M. P. (2010). Latin America’s critical management? A liberation genealogy. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 6(2/3), 162-176. https://doi.org/10.1108/17422041011049978
McKenna, S. (2011). A critical analysis of North American business leaders’ neocolonial discourse: Global fears and local consequences. Organization, 18(3), 387-406. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350508411398728
Meouloud, T. A., Mudambi, R., & Hill, T. L. (2019). The Metropolitan effect: Colonial influence on the internationalization of Francophone African firms. Management and Organization Review, 15(1), 31-53. https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2019.3
Meyer, K. E. (2017). International business in an era of anti-globalization. Multinational Business Review, 25(2), 78-90. https://doi.org/10.1108/MBR-03-2017-0017
Michailova, S., Piekkari, R., Storgaard, M., & Tienari, J. (2017). Rethinking ethnocentrism in International Business research. Global Strategy Journal, 7, 335-353. https://doi.org/10.1002/gsj.1159
Mol, M. J., Stadler, C., & Ariño, A. (2017). Africa: The new frontier for global strategy scholars. Global Strategy Journal, 7(1), 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1002/gsj.1146
Murphy, J. (2006). Critical challenges in the emerging global managerial order. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 2(2), 128-146. https://doi.org/10.1108/17422040610661307
Osei, C., Omar, M., & Joosub, T. S. (2020). The effect of colonial legacies on Africa’s inward FDI: The case of UK FDI in Ghana. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 16(3), 259-277. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-05-2018-0041
Peng, M. W. (2003). Institutional transitions and strategic choices. Academy of Management Review, 28(2), 275-296. https://doi.org/10.5465/amr.2003.9416341
Reyes, A. B., Newburry, W., Carneiro, J., & Cordova, C. (2019). Using Latin America as a research laboratory: The moderating effect of trade openness on the relationship between inward and outward FDI. Multinational Business Review, 27(2), 122-140. https://doi.org/10.1108/MBR-03-2019-0022
Robb, B., & Michailova, S. (2023). Multinational enterprises’ narratives about and approaches to modern slavery: An exploratory study. Review of International Business and Strategy,33(2), 199-218. https://doi.org/10.1108/RIBS-10-2021-0128
Roberts, J., & Dörrenbächer, C. (2012). The futures of critical perspectives on international business. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 8(1), 4-13. https://doi.org/10.1108/17422041211197530
Roberts, J., & Dörrenbächer, C. (2014). Challenging the orthodox: A decade of critical perspectives on international business. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 10, 2-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-12-2013-0053
Sayed, Z., & Agndal, H. (2020). Neo-colonial dynamics in global professional service firms: A periphery perspective. Culture and Organization, 26(5/6), 425-443. https://doi.org/10.1080/14759551.2019.1694928
Sayed, Z., & Agndal, H. (2022). Offshore outsourcing of R&D to emerging markets: Information systems as tools of neo-colonial control. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 18(3), 281-302. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-07-2020-0089
Selmier, W. T., II, & Oh, C. H. (2012). International business complexity and the internationalization of languages. Business Horizons, 55(2), 189-200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2011.11.006
Stevens, C., & Newenham-Kahindi, A. (2017). Legitimacy spillovers and political risk: The case of FDI in the African Community. Global Strategy Journal, 7, 10-35. https://doi.org/10.1002/gsj.1151
Storgaard, M., Tienari, J., Piekkari, R., & Michailova, S. (2020). Holding on while letting go: Neocolonialism as organizational identity work in a multinational corporation. Organization Studies, 41(11), 1469-1489. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840620902977
Stringer, C., & Michailova, S. (2018). Why modern slavery thrives in multinational corporations’ global value chains. Multinational Business Review, 26(3), 194-206. https://doi.org/10.1108/MBR-04-2018-0032
Wanderley, S., & Celano, A. (2018). Brazil–Bolivia and a horse trade: A postcolonial case within South America. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 14(4), 426-441. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-11-2016-0048
Westwood, R., & Jack, G. (2007). Manifesto for a post-colonial international business and management studies. Critical Perspectives on International Business and Management Studies, 3(3), 246-265. https://doi.org/10.1108/17422040710775021
Wuilbercq, E. (2021, June). Child labour rises globally for the first time in decades. https://www.reuters.com/article/global-childlabour-idUSL5N2NQ0NK
Yeganeh, H. (2020). A critical examination of the social impacts of large multinational corporations in the age of globalization. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 16(3), 193-208. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-01-2019-0001
