Letter from the interim editor

Citation

Narula, R. (2014), "Letter from the interim editor", Multinational Business Review, Vol. 22 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/MBR-09-2014-0047

Letter from the interim editor

Article Type: Letter from the interim editor From: The Multinational Business Review, Volume 22, Issue 4

At most jazz concerts, the headline band, the “big name” performer, comes in last and always closes the show. Lesser acts warm the crowd up and are generally selected for not being spectacular. They are there to whet the appetite for the main event, to highlight (through their own somewhat lacklustre talents or understated performance) the brilliance of the headliner.

Alan Rugman was just such a headliner, and as Interim Editor, his untimely passing creates a dilemma for me: exactly what does one do after the headliner exits the stage prematurely? How do I stop the audience from wandering towards the exits? The show must go on, yet I am aware that there is no mileage in trying to be Alan Rugman: tribute bands can only rely on nostalgia for so long, before unfavourable comparisons begin to circulate.

I have heard it said (not entirely in jest) that The Multinational Business Review was the “Journal of Alan Rugman Perspectives”, and given that I lack the primary criterion for editing such a journal, it seems to me that, while imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, this is not a viable long-term strategy to run a journal.

Instead, careful thought suggests the following course of action: not to imitate, but to focus on maintaining the spirit of the journal he had sought to establish:

• An academic journal that seeks to address issues relating to international business, both from a management and economics perspective.

• A deliberately interdisciplinary journal that is especially interested in papers that take a strong conceptual stand and are grounded in theory.

• A journal that publishes papers that challenge conventional wisdom and received theory.

• A journal that seeks to bring new ideas, debates and controversies to the attention of our audience rapidly, decisively and deliberately.

With this manifesto in mind, and with the help of Alain Verbeke of the University of Calgary and Mark Casson from the University of Reading, I propose to overhaul the journal. We reckon it will take three of us to fill Alan’s rather large shoes. From the first issue of 2015 (Vol. 23), we will lead a new editorial team that will reemphasise these four guiding principles.

Alan was justly proud of The Multinational Business Review, which he edited for almost six years. It is my hope that you, our audience, the raison d’etre for The Multinational Business Review, will see our ambition as noble and worthwhile, and join with us in making this endeavour a success.

Rajneesh Narula- Interim Editor-in-Chief