Please find below the contents and editorial for the latest issue of
Critical Perspectives on International Business.
Best wishes.
Joanne.
Co-editor of Critical Perspectives on International Business
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/info/journals/cpoib/cpoib.jsp
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Critical Perspectives on International Business
Volume 3 Issue 3 2007
Editorial
Theories of international production: a critical perspective
Grazia Ietto-Gillies (pp. 196-210)
Offshoring, exit and voice: implications for organizational theory and
practice
Raza Mir, Ali Mir, Hari Bapuji (pp. 211-219)
Organizing: skyscrapers and multitudes
Martin Parker (pp. 220-225)
Political economy of communication: a critique
Phil Graham (pp. 226-245)
Manifesto for a post-colonial international business and management
studies: A provocation
R.I. Westwood, Gavin Jack (pp. 246-265)
Postcard from Chittagong: wish you were here?
George Cairns (pp. 266-279)
Comparative book reviews
Author(s):Bill Donaldson
Editorial
Welcome to issue 3 of volume 3 of critical perspectives on international
business. In this second general issue of 2007 we break from our usual
tradition of presenting between four to five academic papers that have
been subject to double blind peer review and one position paper subject
to editorial review. Instead this issue consists of one academic paper
and five position papers. The position papers result from an invitation
to our Editorial Advisory Board members to write papers exploring
particular contemporary international business topics with a view to
provoking further contributions to the field.
These position papers have been subject to editorial review and as part
of this process authors were required to revise their papers. The papers
in this issue focus on topics ranging from our theoretical understanding
of international production, the implications of offshoring and the
nature of organizing for international business, to the political
economy of communications and a postcolonial perspective on
international business. In addition, we include a piece that addresses
the developing world's ship breaking business and its representation in
various non-academic media. The issue concludes with a review of two
books that adopt very different approaches to the subject of marketing.
The issue begins with an academic refereed paper by Grazia
Ietto-Gillies, entitled "Theories of international production: a
critical perspective", in which she warns against the adoption of the
economists neo-classical paradigm for the development of an appreciation
of international business in the contemporary world. To justify this,
Ietto-Gillies briefly considers the main theories of international
production from an historical perspective, before analysing the role of
the nation-state in explanations of international production. Although
many existing theories of international production are concerned with
efficiency, Ietto-Gillies argues for the need to take into account the
strategic behaviour of transnational companies (TNCs), in particular,
behaviour towards labour and governments. Operating across boarders can
give rise to strategic advantages arising from: different regulatory
regimes; the ability to fragment labour, thereby reducing the scope for
worker resistance; negotiations with governments; and, risk spreading.
Ietto-Gillies provides a valuable analysis of strategic versus
efficiency-based approaches to international production, concluding that
a move towards a more efficiency-driven neo-classical approach would be
a step in the wrong direction.
Issues concerning the ability of TNCs to fragment labour, and the power
that they can wield over nation-states are touched upon in the first
position paper in this issue. In "Offshoring, exit and voice:
implications for organizational theory and practice", Raza Mir, Ali Mir
and Hari Bapuji explore the impact of corporate offshoring on the
economic and psychological contracts between firms and their employees.
Making use of Alfred Hirschman's theory of exit and voice the authors
argue that offshoring decreases the regenerative power promised by both
exit and voice in helping organizations to recover from decline. The
paper considers the challenges for researchers and management educators
of the wide divergence of views on and evidence of the impact of the
practice of offshoring.
In "Organizing: skyscrapers and multitudes" Martin Parker challenges the
hegemonic model of organization, suggesting that alternatives are
possible. For Parker, the dominant conception of organization arises
from three aspects of management: the increasing celebration of the
managerial class; the application of managerial language to increasingly
"informal" areas of life; and the diffusion of specific forms of
expertise by business schools. While market managerialism, which, since
the collapse of the Soviet system has become synonymous with market
liberalism, is often presented as inevitable, Parker points to
alternatives and notes the emergence of resistance to market
managerialsim from management academics and practitioners, as well as
global civil society movements.
An alternative to the capitalist perspective is offered in "Political
economy of communication: a critique", in which Phil Graham contends
that communication is the very basis of international business today. He
argues that capitalism has given way to a new form of global corporatism
characterised by: a separation of ownership of the means of production
from their control; a general separation of industry from business; and
a subjugation of the "going concern" by overriding concerns. According
to Graham these developments in the social relations that characterise
the contemporary world are achievements of communication. Hence, the
changes in political economic relations require an analytical
perspective derived from a political economy of communication. He goes
on to provide an alternative non-capitalist view of globalization and
proposes a new theoretical and analytical synthesis for political
economy of communications.
Robert I. Westwood and Gavin Jack call for international business and
management scholars to embrace postcolonial theory in their "Manifesto
for a postcolonial international business and management studies: a
provocation". Although postcolonial theory has been taken up in other
disciplines; including literary studies, history, anthropology and the
humanities; more generally, management and international business
studies have largely neglected this perspective. Through the
presentation of a manifesto, the authors seek to mobilize the
theoretical and political resources of postcolonial theory with the aim
of radically reorienting the field of management and international
business studies.
The final paper of this issue by George Cairns, "Postcard from
Chittagong: wish you were here?", opens up discussion on the ship
breaking industry of countries such as Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.
Cairns draws upon a range of publications and the work of photographers
from across the world. Within the various representations of the ship
breakers of Chittagong in Bangladesh, he finds a mix of critiques of a
dangerous, exploitative and environmentally harmful business that should
be highly regulated or closed down, and of an industry that is essential
to the economic growth of the country and offers employment where no
other option exists. In the photographic studies, he sees ugliness and
pollution beside sculptural beauty and vivid colours, and workers who
are exploited yet smiling. From the multiple "realities" of the
industry, he argues for an analytic approach of "concerned ambivalence"
instead of what he sees as a hegemonic developed world condemnation.
This issue concludes with Bill Donaldson's insightful review of two
welcome additions to the marketing literature; first, A Very Short,
Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Studying Marketing by
Jim Blythe, followed by Marketing Graffiti - The View from the Street,
by Michael Saren. Donaldson engages with the very different stylistic
approaches adopted by the two authors from a personal perspective
grounded in the site of reading rather than authoring.
The pieces published in this issue highlight a variety of important
areas in need of further investigation and debate. We hope that these
papers will inspire readers to take up the challenge of researching
these often neglected aspects of international business activity. As
CPOIB has grown in its short life to include a wide range of critical
discussions of various aspects of international business from across the
globe, we hope that it has some impact outside of the academic
community, and does not merely represent yet another academic "talking
shop".
In attending the annual conference of the UK Jubilee Debt Campaign in
London last month (April 2007), I (George) was made aware by speakers
from several African nations that pressure on "developed world"
governments by their own citizens is seen as being essential in bringing
about any change to the global order, and is considered as having been
key to recent debt cancellations. It was very pleasing to know that
action is effective, but it was somewhat disappointing to be unable to
identify any other academic delegate. Those that I spoke to were mostly
concerned citizens who gave up their free time to support the Campaign.
I did wonder if we, as academics, really engage with issues in the world
outside academe, or merely absorb its issues for our own exploitation.
Hopefully, with CPoIB we can pursue a strategy of engagement.
Our thanks go to all contributors, including authors, reviewers, and the
EAB members. We encourage readers to contribute to the journal. As
always, we welcome academic paper submission, viewpoint pieces, reviews
and review essays, as well as suggestions and proposals for special
issues.
George Cairns, Joanne Roberts
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