The introductory chapter by Geppert and Bozkurt provides the background context for the book and introduces the contributions. The chapter begins by noting the increasing critiques of the research focus and outputs of International Business and Management as a field, with recent comments claiming a state of “crisis”. After a brief overview of the development of the discipline and its core thematic concerns over time, the chapter first summarizes the “mainstream” response and proposals. These include a demand for IB/M to explore a broader range of topics, greater interdisciplinarity and engage with “big questions” around key societal challenges. Then the critical perspectives in the field and their key propositions are discussed. Three key obstacles for revitalization of the field are highlighted: the limited attempts at substantial breaks from the established core in theorizing, lack of methodological diversity, and the question of the skills and training of IB/M scholars to undertake the proposed changes. The ten substantive chapters and the commentary in the book are presented as examples of “out of the box” thinking that illustrate how the field can be revitalized.
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Front Matter
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Part I: Revisiting core IB/M theories
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Part II: Changing roles of nation-states and MNEs
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Part III: International management, power relations and ideology
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Part IV: Theorizing and studying new phenomena in IB/M: crisis, slavery and methodology
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Part V: Commentary
