The current global business environment is increasingly dynamic, creating a need for stakeholders such as firms, NGOs, and governments – and their leaders – to reassess how operations are conducted both across borders, as well as within home markets that are increasingly influenced by global events. Major players in the global economy are being pushed to reassess their processes, to be more adaptive to unexpected changes. Moreover, the abilities of companies and governments to deal with dynamics may differ based on factors at levels including the country, the firm, and even individual managers. This special issue of AIB Insights focuses on developing actionable insights for stakeholders to address dynamic challenges affecting international business, consistent with the theme for the 2024 Academy of International Business conference. This is our third issue focused on an AIB Annual Meeting theme, following ones on the 2022 theme of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (Newburry, Rašković, Colakoglu, Gonzalez-Perez, & Minbaeva, 2022) and the 2023 theme of International Business and Societal Resilience (Dau, Moore, & Newburry, 2023). Look for a call related to the theme of the 2025 AIB conference in the near future.
We also introduce a new AIB Insights publication category in this issue, with our first Perspectives article. Perspectives articles are reviewed using the same double-blind review process as our regular articles, with a similarly strong emphasis on developing actionable insights for international business stakeholders. These articles take a particular position on an issue, and we invite others with alternative viewpoints to submit manuscripts to the journal, which will be reviewed for publication consideration using the same process.
Our issue commences with an editorial by 2024 AIB Conference Program Chair, Catherine Welch, on the conference theme of Dynamics of International Business. Within the editorial, Welch first examines the progress of AIB since the organization’s prior conference in Seoul in 1995. She then overviews some of the major themes of the conference, which may help frame discussions on managing volatility and change among policymakers and multinational company leaders. The themes she examines include the dualities of change, multiple levels of changes, the importance of history, from statics to processes, and planning for uncertainty.
Our first two articles address the issue of regulations and their impact on international business. Looking specifically at risks associated with data and artificial intelligence, these articles link, and add new dimensions to, our 2023 special issue on geopolitical challenges in international business (Ciravegna, Hartwell, Jandhyala, Tingbani, & Newburry, 2023).
The first article, “When Digitalization Meets Regulation across Borders: An Explainer with Actionable Insights”, by Eugénie Coche and Ans Kolk of University of Amsterdam Business School, The Netherlands, examines regulations regarding the transfer and storage of data, an increasingly complex issue in our digitally-driven world. Considering the European Union, the authors review five important digital laws and their implications for firms. Coche and Kolk also provide recommendations for firms, with a particular focus on extraterritorial rule-setting, both within and beyond the EU, and other cross-border (future) digital regulations.
The issues’ second article, “Artificial Intelligence Regulatory Models: Advances in the European Union and Recommendations for the United States and Evolving Global Markets”, by Miriam F. Weismann of Florida International University, USA, complements the first by looking specifically at regulatory models pertaining to artificial intelligence. Weisman reviews the EU’s risk-based AI regulatory framework and compares it to U.S. efforts in this area, and proposes a novel five-step AI Integrative Risk-based (AIRB) model to help provide a roadmap for regulators.
Our third article, "A ‘Necessary’ Component in Advancing International Business Research by Daniel S. Andrews, Georgia State University, USA and Stav Fainshmidt, Florida International University, USA, provides advice to researchers in the international business field. Recognizing the ever-increasing interdependencies and context-specificity of phenomena, the authors propose necessity-based research as a complementary approach to existing approaches, to help enhance the rigor and relevance of academic scholarship. They provide guidance for how research using this approach can develop actionable theories that account for the complexity of international business and better resonate with firms. They further use multinational environmental performance as an example to illustrate the advantages of necessity-based thinking.
Our final two articles relate to social issues in international business. “Adapting During Unrest: How International Businesses Navigate the Social Movement Landscape”, by Aureliu Sindila and Xueyong Zhan of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China, examines the economic impacts of, and MNEs’ adaptive strategies, in response to social unrest, within the context of the 2019 Hong Kong social movement. Extending the economic opportunity structure (EOS) framework, the study develops recommendations associated with the four types of response associated with the framework: accommodators, vacillators, conformers, and resisters. The insights provide guidance regarding the strategic adaptability of firms operating in volatile environments, and have strong links to our earlier special issue on societal resistance (Dau, Moore, & Newburry, 2023).
The Perspectives article, “To Fly or Not to Fly? Why We Should Walk our Own Climate Crisis Talk”, by Arjen van Witteloostuijn of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands, examines the travel behavior of academics, with a focus on conference organization and attendance, in the post-pandemic period, when the research community generally reverted to pre-pandemic conference organization. van Witteloostuijn makes the case that academics could reduce their carbon footprint quickly by using a combination of online annual conferences (which he terms as “hubs”) with regional and smaller offline events (referred to as “spokes”).
We thank all of the authors and reviewers who contributed to the development of this issue. Congratulations to everyone involved with planning a fantastic 2024 AIB Conference in Seoul, including Program Chair Catherine Welch, Local Committee Chair Geon-Cheol Shin, AIB Executive Director Tunga Kiyak and all of the fantastic AIB staff, among many others! Please also look for more content from the AIB 2024 conference in our annual awards issue later this year, featuring the Peter J. Buckley and Mark Casson AIB Dissertation Award Finalists, and interviews with the recipients of the three awards selected each year by the AIB Fellows. We look forward to seeing everyone again next year at AIB 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Please continue to consider AIB Insights as an outlet for your applied international business research.