The Historical Evolution of International Business

Nachum and Yaprak provide an impressive study of international business thought, teaching, and institutions. Their separate categorization of these and AIB leaders’ comments on each consider theories, methods, and measurement, emphasizing different aspects of IB and provide a panoply of fresh insights. This stimulating book on international business should attract a wide audience, comprising scholars, teaching faculty, students, managers, and policy makers around the world. Those interested in international business will find this volume worthy of their attention.
– Mira Wilkins, Professor of Economics Emeritus, Florida International University.

This book represents the first and most comprehensive account of the history of International Business (IB) as a field of study. The chronicling of the evolution of IB thought, teaching, and institutions in a unified framework serves to observe the interdependencies among these components and demonstrates the ways by which they have jointly shaped IB as a field of study. The book is based on vast volumes of original material whose discussion and interpretation by leading IB scholars creates a dialogue between historical perspectives and contemporary developments and show the critical role of history in understanding the current state and discourse of IB as a field of study. The book situates the history of IB within the broader context of business, political, and societal developments, and examines the interaction between external and internal forces as they have shaped the field’s growth trajectory, both on its own and in comparison with those of other fields of study.

Lilac Nachum is Professor of International Business at Leeds University Business School, UK. She is an AIB Fellow, and a former Fulbright Scholar to Africa. Her research has been published in the leading academic journals in IB and strategy, where she has also served as a board member and associate editor. She has held visiting positions at business schools around the world. Her views on globalization and multinational companies have been featured frequently in various media outlets.

Attila Yaprak is Professor of Marketing and International Business at the Ilitch Business School at Wayne State University, USA and an AIB Fellow. His research has appeared in the Journal of International Business Studies, the Journal of World Business, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and Political Psychology , among several others. He has taught and held research visits at business schools and trained executives in several countries around the world.