Building A Research Career in International Business: How and for Whom

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Building A Research Career in International
Business How and for Whom?

Masaaki KotabeThe Washburn Chair of
International BusinessThe Institute of Global
Management StudiesTemple UniversityPhiladelphia,
PA 19122U.S.A.
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How to Establish Yourself in IB Research

• Programmatic Research
• a) Pigeonholing vs. Diversifying into
  Related Areas
• b) Write a Research Book

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Four Criteria for Good Research

• 1. Emerging Issues
• 2. Theoretically Sound
• 3. Managerially Relevant
• 4. Darn Interesting

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Identifying Promising Research Areas

• 1. Product Life Cycle in Research Areas
• Cues Economist, Fortune, BW, etc
• Pre-paradigmatic Stage in which Constructs and
  Methodology are Fluid and in which A Limited
  Number of Researchers Exist
• Risk May Not Be Cited As Often
• 2. Develop Your Research Stream in Related
  Areas and Long Lasting

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What is International Business Research?
Finance
Management
Accounting
International Business
Marketing
Bus. Law
Economics
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What is International Business Research?

• Traditional International Dimension of A
  Functional Area
• Emerging Issue-Oriented Research that
  Transcends National Boundaries
• Function-Specific Research that Has Appeal across
  Functions and Disciplines
• Interdisciplinary Research that Challenges the
  Paradigms/Assumptions of Individual Functions and
  Disciplines

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How to Build Your Visibility in the Broader
Community
1. Student Constituency

• Ever-Changing World Economy
• Fundamental Forces at Work
• Geography Matters

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1. Ever-Changing World Economy

• Which country had 21 (14 trillion) of the
  worlds GDP (66 trillion) in 2007?

USA

• Which country had 44 of the worlds GDP in 1800?

China

• Which country had a higher per-capita income than
  Germany, Norway, Finland, Austria, and Spain in
  1950?

Argentina

• Which country dominated the world economy in the
  1980s, slated to overtake the U.S. supremacy in
  the 21st century?

Japan

• Which country was the most economically dominant
  in the 1990s?

USA

• Which country/region will become the most
  economically dominant in the next 10 years?

???
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2. Fundamental Forces at Work
1960s Unification vs. Fragmentation 1970s
Standardization vs. Adaptation 1980s
Globalization vs. Localization 1990s Global
Integration vs. Local
Responsiveness 2000s Online Scale vs.
Offline Sensitivity
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3. Geography Matters
1. U.S. Automobile Industry in Detroit 2.
Cellular Phones in Scandinavia 3. Dot matrix,
Inkjet, and Laserjet printers and Fax machines in
Japan 4. Alcohol Powered Cars in Brazil 5.
Bananas Grown and Exported from Iceland
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How to Build Your Visibility in the Broader
Community
2. Practitioner and Academic Constituency

• Publish your Work also in Practitioner-Accessible
  Journals / Books
• Be Active at your academic organizations (AIB,
  AOM, AMA, etc.)

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Any Questions?