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The purpose of this study is to propose a methodological approach for modeling catastrophic consequences caused by black swan events, based on complexity science, and framed on Feyerabend’s anarchistic theory of knowledge. An empirical application is presented to illustrate the proposed approach.

Thom’s nonlinear differential equations of morphogenesis are used to develop a theoretical model of the impact of catastrophes on international business (IB). The model is then estimated using real-world data on the performance of multinational airlines during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic.

The catastrophe model exhibits a remarkable capability to simultaneously capture complex linear and nonlinear relationships. Through empirical estimations and simulations, this approach enables the analysis of IB phenomena under normal conditions, as well as during black swan events.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first attempt to estimate the impact of black swan events in IB using a catastrophe model grounded in complexity theory. The proposed model successfully integrates the abrupt and profound effects of catastrophes on multinational corporations, offering a critical perspective on the theoretical and practical use of complexity science in IB.

This paper aims to address the relationship between critical and mainstream international business (IB) research and discuss the ways forward for the former.

The paper empirically maps critical IB scholarship by analysing more than 250 academic articles published in critical perspectives on international business (cpoib) from 2005 to 2017. The paper also includes a citation analysis that uncovers how critical IB research is recognized and discussed in mainstream IB studies.

The extant critical IB research can be broken into five main topical clusters: positioning critical IB research, postcolonial IB studies, effects of international business activities, financialization and the global financial crisis and “Black IB” and corporate social responsibility. The citation analysis demonstrates that critical IB research is rarely recognized in mainstream IB academic outlets.

This paper is the first to empirically map critical IB research and to measure its impact on mainstream IB research. Based on these insights, as well as discussions of the more critical voices within mainstream IB studies and the debate over critical performativity in critical management studies, ways of developing critical IB research are examined.

Conventional international business (IB) theories generally view multinational corporations (MNCs) as agents of economic exchange and as ethically benign or neutral. This article explores a darker side of IB, with numbers of IB firms involved in activities that could be considered unethical or illegal, or both. Drawing on a taxonomy of ‘black international business’ (black IB), and both historic and recent examples, this article outlines such MNC activities. It explores impacts of these activities on stakeholders, including nation-states, businesses and individuals. The authors call for academics within the field of organizational studies to create awareness and understanding of such activities.

The purpose of this paper is to identify risk factors that discourage Chinese consumers from adopting internet banking services (IBS). This market is experiencing fast growth; however, an in‐depth understanding of Chinese consumers within this is lacking. Perceived risk is a key construct in Western consumer decision making, whereas whether this is true in China's IBS market is rarely researched. An exploration of this dynamic market is therefore critical to develop theoretical and practical implications.

To maximise the comparability with existing Western findings, the current research adopts a quantitative approach to measure Chinese consumers' risk perception. However, as the existing literature provides limited guidelines associated with the current context, exploratory research was conducted to establish a general understanding and to identify additional elements of this particular market. A detailed instrument was developed and examined Chinese consumers' risk perception in depth. Primary data were collected by self‐administered questionnaires containing 504 respondents from southern China. Exploratory factor analysis is employed to identify critical risk factors.

Results indicate that the concept of perceived risk has merit in explaining Chinese consumers' decisions on whether to use IBS. Results clearly reveal that the significant risk barriers identified are influenced by culture and do not simply follow predominant Western patterns. Suggestions for banks are developed in an attempt to overcome these risk barriers.

The current research adds value to the existing literature in that findings reinforce the need to (re)examine Western theories from a more critical perspective. This also leads to a discussion addressing further areas for open debate and research.

This article takes stock of interdisciplinary research on Multinational Corporations (MNCs) by elucidating paradigmatic shifts in the world of MNCs in the new millennium and analysing more recent developments in the disciplines of International Business (IB) and Organization Theory (OT). The article also introduces the altogether 14 individual contributions of this 49th volume of the Research in the Sociology of Organizations series. It closes by looking into the questions of where interdisciplinary OT/IB research on MNCs is now and where it is likely to go in the future.

In this study, the situation strength theory (SST) has been applied to assess the predictability of empowering leadership (EL) in explaining intrapreneurial behaviour (IB) under the strong situation effect of job autonomy (JA).

The proposed theoretical framework was assessed using cross-sectional survey data from 237 engineers employed in Pakistan's automotive firms. Covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) was used to analyse the survey data.

The study's results revealed a positive relationship of EL with JA and IB. Drawing from the conceptualisation of SST, JA serves as an organisational strong situation by offering sufficient cues and significantly intensifies the relationship between EL and IB.

The study contributes by establishing the requirement of strong organisational situations for nurturing IB in organisations. The study's outcomes are useful for academia, practitioners and industry to identify strong situations for employees' organisational behavioural outcomes like IB to dampen the personality impacts of employees on organisational processes. Hence, the study offered a major shift or an alternative in existing human resource practices, from personality assessments to creating cues from strong situations for fostering human behaviours. This will impact organisational human resource management scope during talent management, selection, promotion and employment.

The present study is novel from the IB investigation due to situational response in organisations, as assessed by employees. The study contributes towards SST by extending its epistemology to explain IB as an outcome of EL. The present study offers important empirical evidence for the role of the strong organisational situation of JA.

International business (IB) and strategy research in the context of emerging economies (EEs) has focused traditionally on the strategies of firms in and from those markets to seize opportunities arising from their economic growth. This paper aims to demonstrate that declining industries in EEs are an important but overlooked research context for critical IB scholarship and to illuminate special considerations for strategising under those conditions.

This paper provides an overview of declining industries in EEs and includes an illustration of a sample of such industries in major EEs. This paper then critically reviews research on firms’ strategies in declining industries and extends that critical discussion to the EE context.

Firstly, this paper provides evidence relating to declines in industries in EEs. Secondly, this paper identifies three major strategies that firms use in response to an industry decline and critically discusses those strategies’ manifestations and special considerations in the context of EEs.

Industry decline in EEs and the resultant responses of multi-national enterprises and local firms, such as business exit, market competition and firm diversification strategies, cause significant social challenges. This paper calls for further research on the phenomenon, especially regarding its distinctive ramifications compared with those in the context of developed countries.

This paper contributes to the critical IB scholarship by questioning the assumptions around high economic growth in individual EE industries and by challenging a universalistic approach that applies findings grounded in declining industries in developed countries to the distinctive context of EEs. This paper also provides forward-looking expositions concerning industry decline in EEs.