International Business and Development Hub

Drawn from a need to reinforce our appreciation of how businesses not only can best respond to the variant institutional challenges and global crises, but also how they can have a meaningful impact upon them, the International Business and Development (IBD) Group supports research on both (a) the impact that the institutional environments in home countries have upon firm strategies and (b) how firms’ strategies impact on, and interact with, host countries.

Our Group conducts research on the interactions between large multinational enterprises (MNEs), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), their partners in global value chains (GVCs), and the institutional environments within which they operate. We are one of the top centres of International Business research in the United Kingdom (Global Research Performance Database, 2017), while drawing upon the reputation of the University of Sussex as a renowned location for research on development studies (1st in the world for Development Studies, QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022).

 

• Members
  • Vassiliki Bamiatzi
  • Nilay Bicakcioglu-Peynirci
  • Steven Brieger
  • Tom Buckley
  • John Da Silva Luiz
  • John Humphrey
  • Stephan Manning
  • Marianna Marra
  • Rishika Nayyar
  • Ha Nguyen
  • Makafui Kwame Kumodzie-Dussey
  • Eleni Piteli
  • Vikrant Shirodkar
  • Roger Strange
  • Yong Yang
• Research Projects

  CIBID’s primary research focus is to address some of the current research questions on international business and development and examine the interaction between large multinational enterprises (MNEs), small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), their partners in global value chains (GVCs), and the institutional environments within which they operate. To investigate these cutting-edge questions, the CIBID will bring together actors and projects within three very distinct and interrelated areas of research on:

  a)       International Business Strategies and Governance

  b)       Institutional Context and Development

  c)       Global Value Chains and Networks

• Research themes

  Our current research embraces three distinct and interrelated areas of research on:

  International Business Strategies and Governance

  Acknowledging that MNEs and SMEs are major players in international business, our work highlights the evolution of internationalization strategies, entry mode and location decisions, as well as divestment motives in countries at different levels of economic development. The strategies developed in non-market environments, their performance implications and key ethical issues are also examined. Additional work focuses on how ownership structures (e.g. State, family, institutional) and corporate governance (including Board) characteristics impact upon firm strategies.
  Discover more about MNE Governance and Strategy

  Institutional Contexts and Development

  The increasing significance of the “emerging economies” and of “emerging economy multinationals” (EMNEs) in the global economy has brought into focus the importance of the institutional environments in MNEs’ home countries in hindering and/or facilitating the international strategies of those MNEs. Our work addresses the potential economic and social developmental impacts of MNEs on host countries, and broader issues related to corporate social responsibility (i.e. MNEs and corruption), as well as host countries’ institutional impacts on firm strategies.
  Discover more about Institutional Context and Development

  Global Value Chains and Networks

  Most contemporary goods and services generally involve value-creating activities located in several countries, with these activities linked together through global value chains (GVCs) and networks. Some of these GVCs are internalized within MNEs, but others may be externalized (outsourced) and involve many independent partners. Our work considers how these organizationally-fragmented and geographically-dispersed GVCs are coordinated, and by whom. Additionally, we look at knowledge transfers, reverse knowledge transfers, and lateral knowledge transfers within MNEs.
  Discover more about Global Value Chains and Networks

• Information on related courses

  The academic faculty in the Group are fully involved in the teaching activities of the Business School and contribute primarily to the International Business BSc (and related undergraduate degrees), International Business and Development MSc and the International Management MSc.

• News and events

  Our Research Hub is actively engaging in promoting academic collaborations and disseminating current knowledge in our discipline. During the years, we have established strong collaborations both internally to the University of Sussex and the Business School but also externally with other Universities and colleagues from the International Business domain. Indicative examples are the collaborations with:

  (a)     Internal to the UoS: The “Responsible Business Research Mobilizer”

  (b)     Internal to the UoS: The “International Development Group” of the School of Global Studies: https://www.sussex.ac.uk/development/

  (c)     External to the UoS: The department of Strategy and International Business of the University of Surrey Business School: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/department-strategy-international-business

  Some indicative workshops organized are provided below:

  Collaboration	Date of Event	Presenters	Topic
  Sussex-Surrey	19-01-2022	Prof. Shameen Prashantham (CEIB)	Gorillas can dance: Lessons from Microsoft and other corporations on partnering with Startups
  Sussex-Surrey	16-02-2022	Professor Keith D. Brouthers (Kings College London)	Charting New Courses to Enter Foreign Markets: Conceptualization, Theoretical Framework, and Research Directions on Non-traditional Entry Modes
  Sussex-Surrey	23-02-2022	Prof. Anu Phene & Prof. Heather Berry (George Washington University)	Global Innovation
  Sussex-Surrey	09-03-2022	Prof. Jonathan Doh (Villanova Bus. School)	Corporate Social Responsibility of the MNEs
  Sussex-Surrey	19-10-2022	Prof. George O. White III (Univ. of Michigan)	Laying down the law: Assessing the effects of ethical codes and legalism on MNE monitoring of foreign subsidiary supply chain partners in emerging markets.
  Sussex-Surrey	23-11-2022	Prof. Zaheer Kan (University of Aberdeen)	Exploring the influence of dynamic management capabilities on emerging markets SMEs business model innovation during external shocks.
  Sussex-Surrey	7-12-2022	Prof. Mirko Benischke (RSM)	Emerging Multinationals and Pro-Market Reversals: Escape OFDI In Response to Institutional Change.
  Sussex-Surrey	25-02-2023	Prof. Padaig Carmody (Trinity College of Dublin)	A Global Digital Reversal? Interrogating the Potential of Digital Technology in the Global South
  Sussex-Surrey	23-03-2023	Prof. Emmanuella Plakoyiannaki	Two sides of the Coin: Methodological Pluralism and Fit in Qualitative Research
  Sussex-Surrey	10-04-2023	Prof. Adam D. Dixon (Edinburgh Business School) and Dr. Javier Capapé (IE University Madrid)	Sovereign Wealth Funds: Between the State and Markets
  Sussex-Surrey	22-04-2023	Prof. Rebecca Piekkari (Aalto University, Finland)	Apples with Apples or Apples with Oranges? Comparative Reasoning and Theorising in International Business Research

  The IBD Hub hold regular research seminars with internal and external speakers. Find out about the group's most recent seminars.

• Academic conferences

  The IBD group has a long history and experience in organizing academic events and conferences. In specific:

  i)           Hosting the 46^th UK & Ireland Chapter of the Academy of International Business (AIB-UKI), April 2019. This was a highly successful international conference with more than 500 attendees. The conference theme was focused on “Multinational Enterprises and their Non-market Social and Political Strategies”, and Chaired by Dr. Vikrant Shirodkar.

  https://www.aib-uki.org/past-conferences.html.

   ii)          Hosting the British Academy of Management (BAM) Annual Conference, in September 2023. The conference is being chaired by Prof. Vassiliki Bamiatzi and Dr Marianna Marra both of the IBD group. The conference expects 1,000 attendees from the UK and around the world.

  https://www.bam.ac.uk/events-landing/bam2023-conference.html 

  

  iii)   BAM Special Interest Group on International Business and International Management

  Dr Marianna Marra of the IBD group is also the Chair for the Special Interest Group (SIG) on International Business and International Management at the British Academy of Management. In the fast-changing global economy, there is an increasing need for cross-disciplinary approaches to phenomena arising from across the globe which can cut across the fields of international management, economics, finance, and international business. The IB/IM SIG is meeting the challenges of managing in this rapidly evolving environment, by building up a strong academic community and identity that can lead the way to novel academic research that can address the new challenges posed while engaging actively with the non-academic community, in particular government and the commercial international business community.

  https://www.bam.ac.uk/bam-community/special-interest-groups/international-business-and-im.html

  

  In this light, the IB/IM SIG in collaboration to the IBD group organize workshops and panels in key conferences of focus, i.e. AIB, AIB-UK, BAM to promote aspiring ideas for development and extensions of the IBD themes with a focus on interdisciplinary associations and connections that can push even further the frontiers of IB research and our overall appreciation of the explored phenomena (i.e. Global Value Chains and Corruption: Operational, Managerial and Legal Perspectives).

For any enquiries, email Vasiliki Bamiatzi: v.bamiatzi@sussex.ac.uk