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1 – 10 of 153Layla Branicki, Bridgette Sullivan-Taylor and Stephen Brammer
Drawing on Wendt’s (1995, 1999) thin constructivist approach to international relations this paper aims to critically examine how the measures taken by the Australian Government…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on Wendt’s (1995, 1999) thin constructivist approach to international relations this paper aims to critically examine how the measures taken by the Australian Government to protect the country from coronavirus (COVID-19) have prompted politicians and opinion-makers to mobilize globalizing and de-globalizing discourses towards divergent conceptualizations of national resilience.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines 172 Australian political and media articles, which focus on both COVID-19 and globalization/de-globalization published between February and June 2020. The data were imported to NVivo to enable in-depth thematic analysis.
Findings
The paper develops the concept of crisis protectionism to explain how COVID-19 has been mobilized in discourses aimed at accelerating selective de-globalization in Australia. Selective de-globalization is inductively theorized as involving material structures (i.e. border closures), ideational structures (i.e. national identity) and intersubjectivities (i.e. pre-existing inter-country antagonisms).
Research limitations/implications
The paper relies upon publicly available data about Australian discourses that relate to a unique globally disrupting extreme event.
Practical implications
Crisis protectionism and selective de-globalization are important to multinational enterprises (MNE) that operate in essential industry sectors (e.g. medical supply firms), rely upon open borders (e.g. the university sector) and for MNEs entering/operating in a host country experiencing antagonistic relationships with their home country.
Originality/value
The paper extends Witt’s (2019) political theorization of de-globalization towards a socialized theory of de-globalization. By rejecting liberal and realist explanations of the relationship between COVID-19 and de-globalization, this study highlights the importance and endogeneity of non-market risks and non-economic logic to international business and MNE strategy.
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This paper aims to examine the relevance of the theory of comparative advantage in the present realities of a world undergoing de-globalisation, that is, a retreat from closer…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the relevance of the theory of comparative advantage in the present realities of a world undergoing de-globalisation, that is, a retreat from closer integration.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents eight arguments that analyse the theory as posited by Adam Smith and David Ricardo and that theory remains the underpinnings for trade liberalisation as regulated by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Findings
The arguments do not contend with the role and achievements of the WTO in the era of globalisation. Rather, these call for an acknowledgement of the changing realities of countries in the face of changes in the political, economic and legal landscapes, across the globe.
Originality/value
This is an original submission by the author.
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Christoph Dörrenbächer, Mike Geppert and Aline Hoffmann
This paper addresses the so far hardly understood contemporary restructuring trends in European Multinational corporations (MNCs), their rationales and their labour-related…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper addresses the so far hardly understood contemporary restructuring trends in European Multinational corporations (MNCs), their rationales and their labour-related implications.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a systematic evaluation of academic and non-academic literature, as well as on more than 30 in-depth interviews with academic experts, management consultants, trade union consultants and workers’ representatives.
Findings
European MNCs continue to grow bigger, mostly through debt financed mergers and acquisitions. This triggers intensive cross-border standardization and reorganization activities that most prominently materialize as a sustained move towards global factories; a new wave of cross-border standardization in Human Resource Management, information technology and Big Data-driven, as well as compliance-induced reorganization measures.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to empirically map contemporary restructuring trends in European MNCs in a comprehensive way. Moreover, it addresses the managerial rationale underlying these restructuring trends. Based on these insights the paper assesses labour related implications that are both positive and negative.
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Jan-Erik Vahlne, Inge Ivarsson and Claes G. Alvstam
This paper aims to contribute to the debate concerning the asserted end of the globalization process.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to contribute to the debate concerning the asserted end of the globalization process.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a description of the evolution of all Swedish MNEs, the 50 largest companies and the ten truly global MNEs, building on data compiled by the authors, mainly from annual reports.
Findings
The largest Swedish MNEs have continued to globalize and have at the same time improved their financial performance during the period of study, 2010-2016.
Practical implications
The proposition that multinationals are heading home cannot be confirmed in the Swedish case. There is therefore a need to compare Swedish experiences with other national examples to better generalize the findings.
Social implications
The political decisions regarding external trade and foreign direct investment should support continuous liberalization and facilitation of cross-border economic interaction.
Originality/value
As Swedish MNEs are more globalized than the average in advanced economies, this study offers insight into the contemporary internationalization process.
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The purpose of this paper is to explain the reasons and development trend of the new round of restructuring of regional division of labor in East Asia after the global financial…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explain the reasons and development trend of the new round of restructuring of regional division of labor in East Asia after the global financial crisis and the role of China in the process.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper probes into four factors leading to the adjustment of regional division of labor in East Asia before analyzing its development trend trough comparing the change of roles of China and ASEAN in the process.
Findings
After the flying-geese division and regional production network, East Asia’s regional division of labor is getting a new round of structural adjustment. The analysis of this paper shows that this adjustment is mainly due to global financial crisis, post-crisis de-globalization, the rebalancing of East Asian economies and China’s economic transformation. From the adjustment direction, the main trend is ASEAN gradually replacing China to become the new assembly plant area, while China becomes a new manufacturing power by its rising status in the global value chain.
Originality/value
The paper describes the development trend of the new round of restructuring of regional division of labor in East Asia in the future and gives the policy implications for the East Asian countries.
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This article aims to provide a timely examination of and reflection on the impact of COVID-19 on the neo-liberal paradigm that has been prevalent in international higher education…
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to provide a timely examination of and reflection on the impact of COVID-19 on the neo-liberal paradigm that has been prevalent in international higher education (HE) for two decades since the late 1990s.
Design/methodology/approach
Methodologically, this paper deploys conceptual mapping as an analytical tool to explore and examine the global news updates that provide timely (i.e. early 2020) record of the fast-moving pandemic.
Findings
It unfolds four pairs of contradictions occurring in the Western universities during the pandemic outbreak, i.e. HE as cross-border services vs border control, the state's shrinking public funding vs universities under financial threat, increased reliance on foreign students' tuition fee vs decreased international enrolment and the user-pays philosophy vs the rising force of user says.
Research limitations/implications
It is argued that the pending crises facing Western universities are not merely financial issues; they reveal the shortcomings that are inherent in business model of HE driven by economic globalisation but triggered by coronavirus pandemic to erupt. The pandemic should be temporary, but its spill-over effects may alter the overarching landscape of the international HE relations, which is part and parcel of the changing geopolitical order featured as de-globalisation.
Practical implications
The paper has practical implications for acting on international HE in the time of coronavirus pandemic. They mainly consider four aspects: (1) travel distance as new determinant of study abroad, (2) the renewed significance of a state's role in policymaking and financial undertaking, (3) shortcomings in market mechanism and (4) East Asia as an emerging regional hub of study abroad.
Social implications
This paper is expected to leverage three lessons learned from the upending situation. First, it is conceptually misleading to define international HE as a form of market-led “transnational service” and cross-border tradeable product undermining a state's control. Second, a state's supervising model needs to be reviewed, to embrace the renewed relationship between a state and universities in the new context of global pandemic. Third, the global landscape of international HE may be altered.
Originality/value
This conceptual paper provides a timely critique of the neo-liberal paradigm in HE and shedding light on the changing global landscape of international HE along with the changing geopolitical relations reshuffled by COVID-19 and its spill-over effects.
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Maike Andresen, Vesa Suutari, Sara Louise Muhr, Cordula Barzantny and Michael Dickmann
This paper aims to examine the early aftermath of Britain’s Referendum to leave the European Union. The study addresses three areas: British public opinion and sentiment with…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the early aftermath of Britain’s Referendum to leave the European Union. The study addresses three areas: British public opinion and sentiment with regard to Brexit, Britain’s economy and outlook, and migration.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is exploratory in nature, examining data and information available in a variety of public sources that include government statistics, media reports and scholarly research findings.
Findings
Analysis of published data and research studies suggest growing disenchantment among the public with regard to Brexit and its consequences, economic and cultural influences on the Referendum, economic uncertainty and potential deterioration, and opposition to and moderation in migration.
Research limitations/implications
The study has not generated original survey data about economic and demographic variables that would make possible statistical analysis of hypothesis.
Originality/value
Recent political developments in developed Western societies point to a rise in popular dismay with globalization, regional integration and multiculturalism. The present study explores and identifies some of the reasons for the trend and the potential consequences to breaking up cross-national alliances as they pertain to the United Kingdom in particular. Similar studies may alert policy makers to the causes and potential economic and political consequences of de-globalization.
Par la dynamique incessante à laquelle il est soumis, le tourisme, aujourd'hui discipline à part entière, implique un redéploiement de la recherche touristique. Le tourisme…
Abstract
Par la dynamique incessante à laquelle il est soumis, le tourisme, aujourd'hui discipline à part entière, implique un redéploiement de la recherche touristique. Le tourisme actuellement subit les transformations de l'espace d'appui sur lequel il se déroule : il y a tout à la fois, une mondialisation spontanée des activités, qui redistribue les dotations en ressources touristiques et une européanisation voulue qui redessine les contours des régions touristiques.