The intellectual core and structure of international business strategies (IBS): A co-citation analysis
Review of International Business and Strategy
ISSN: 2059-6014
Article publication date: 23 August 2019
Issue publication date: 10 September 2019
Abstract
Purpose
International Business Strategies (IBS) literature deliberated on the strategic planning and strategy implementation of home country firms in foreign markets. IBS had become a very potent growth strategy for firms. IBS as a body of knowledge had become substantial in the last few decades of research. To this end, and as a complex field of study, this paper aims to conceptually map this IBS literature. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to present a visual mapping of intellectual structure in two dimensions and to identify the subfields of IBS through co-citation analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
All the citation documents were included in the Web of Knowledge (WoK) database between the years 1993 and 2018. For the multivariate analysis, this study applied a sequence of statistical analyses including factor analysis, multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis. Through these techniques, this research study tried to summarize the condition and status of IBS research by classifying the IBS literature into four categories.
Findings
IBS literature has been classified into four categories, namely, evolutionary aspects of IBS; firm strategic objectives and IBS; institutional theory and IBS in emerging economies; and foreign market entry strategies for internationalization.
Research limitations/implications
Based upon the basis of the analysis of extant research in IBS, the current and future extension research topics have been presented. This would help future researchers to understand the white spots for undertaking research in future.
Originality/value
This was one of the very first studies that mapped the International Business Strategy literature and categorized IBS literature.
Keywords
Citation
Bhattacharyya, S.S. and Verma, S. (2019), "The intellectual core and structure of international business strategies (IBS): A co-citation analysis", Review of International Business and Strategy, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 180-206. https://doi.org/10.1108/RIBS-01-2019-0013
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited