5TH
annual academy of International Busines (AIB)/
JOURNAL OF INTERNATINAL BUSINESS STUDIES (JIBS)
Conference on
Emerging Research Frontiers in
International Business
|
Theme: Conflict,
Security and Political Risk: International Business in
a Challenging Environment
Venue: Sonesta
Hotel, Coconut Grove (Miami), Florida, USA and Florida
International University
Local Arrangements:
Mary Ann Von Glinow, FIU-CIBER and Silvia Salas
Dates: November
28-December 1, 2007
Deadline for Submission
of Proposals for papers & panels: August
9, 2007 (2-3 page summaries of papers).
Invitations to be issued
by September 7, 2007
Program Committee:
Professors Mary Ann Von Glinow
(Florida Int’l U), Ethan Kapstein (INSEAD), Steve
Kobrin (Wharton), Robert Weiner (George Washington U),
Lorraine Eden (Texas A&M U) Ex Officio and Arie Y.
Lewin (Duke U) Ex Officio
A “brave new world”
in which diplomatic, civil, and military conflicts (conventional
as well as unconventional) have greater reach and immediacy
presents evolving challenges for international trade and
investment. Civil wars, terrorist attacks, narco and human
trafficking and laundered funds across borders create
new sources of political risk. At the same time, more
traditional topics in IB research, such as MNE-state relations,
have taken on new dimensions with the revival of economic
nationalism in countries such as Russia, Bolivia and Venezuela.
As a result, concepts such as “liability of foreignness”
may take on a very different cast. The focus of this conference
is research on the issues facing firms in an uncertain
world where traditional boundaries between “international
relations” and “international business”
have blurred.
This new world presents opportunities
as well as challenges for international business. Defense
contractors are in harm’s way on the battlefield,
raising international HR issues. Provision of security
services is a booming worldwide industry. Political-risk
and emergency-management consultancies are seeing increased
demand for their services at the same time that experts
in these areas are sought by firms operating in insecure
regions. While the death knell of economic sanctions was
tolled with the onset of the invasion of Iraq, the announcement
of their demise may be premature. If Iran and North Korea
continue with their nuclear programs, policy makers could
once again look to the implementation of economic sanctions
to deter states’ continued progress towards nuclear
armament.
The relationship between international
business and diplomatic, military and political-economic
conflict is complex and multi-directional. While multinational
firms certainly feel the impacts of operating in a riskier
and more dangerous environment, international business
itself may cause or exacerbate conflicts by providing
financial networks for laundering and channeling funds
to organizations pursuing illicit or violent activities.
International trade in natural resources has both fueled
regional conflicts (e.g., diamonds in Africa or oil in
Sudan) and strained international relations – e.g.,
“resource nationalism” such as Russia’s
energy polices toward CIS countries and Western Europe.
It appears we have moved out
of the “eye of the storm” into a new and more
conflictual period for multinational enterprises, as Vernon
predicted in his 1998 book, In the Hurricane’s Eye.
In this more turbulent environment, new efforts are needed
to understand the role of international business in areas
such as conflict, crisis management, regional security,
and terrorism. There is a need to link scholars in schools
of international affairs and international relations that
focus on security studies and conflict analysis with scholars
of international business to come up with new insights
that reflect the role of international business in a rapidly
changing, more unstable and conflict-ridden international
security environment.
We seek papers on such topics
as:
