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This paper seeks to interrogate the international business and management studies (IBMS) discourse via postcolonial theory. It demonstrates the value of applying postcolonial theory as a critical practice with respect to that substantive domain.

The approach is to draw on the critical and intellectual resources of postcolonial theory and apply them in an interrogation of IBMS.

The paper shows the value of applying postcolonial theory to open up the discourse of IBMS, which is revealed to deploy similar types of universalistic, essentialising and exoticising representations to colonial and neo‐colonial discourse. It is revealed to rely on functionalist orthodoxy, realist ontology and neo‐positivist epistemology. Furthermore, it masks its own power effects, fails to make explicit its research commitments, especially its political and ethical ones, and remains deeply unreflexive.

The use of postcolonial theory in relation to organisation studies is in its infancy with only a limited number of studies directly related to that critical practice. This paper, then, is a contribution to an important, but emergent arena of scholarship. The interrogation mounted here points to a radical reconfiguration of the field and indications as to where that might take us are made.

This special issue aims to address the complexities and dynamics in contemporary China’s citizen-making processes, with a focus on the educational dimension.

The four articles in this special issue present citizen-making processes in both educational and cultural arenas. Based on the rich, first-hand data collected inside and outside China, the researchers revealed the dynamics of the educative processes, as the interplay of different mechanisms produces new understandings of citizenship practice.

This special issue sheds light on the rise of new types of citizens, who are emerging at the grassroots level in China, beyond the state’s strict direct regulations, along with the rise of market forces and multicultural communities in Chinese society today. Contributors to this special issue have captured an ongoing change, in that the diversified citizen-making mechanisms are, to a certain extent, mitigating the party-state’s definitive monopoly on forging citizens and are creating new spaces for individuals to develop fresh forms of political subjectivity and citizenship practice. In this sense, we argue for the unpacking of the citizen-making processes in present-day China not only from the lens of state-dominated, top-down initiatives but also from that of participatory, bottom-up initiatives performed by grassroots groups with differentiated socio-economic statuses and cultural traditions.

This special issue can be regarded as a contribution to the growing field of Chinese citizenship studies, which constitutes an integral part of the unfinished project of citizenship after orientalism.

In research on non‐Western populations there is a tendency to limit analysis to only gross demographic differences. This has resulted in the serious misconception of an ethnically homogenous population in countries such as Japan and thus masks a critical dimension of the diversity truly extant. This article examines Western research on Japanese views of people of African descent evident prior to 1945. The argument by Western researchers that Japanese are inherently ethnocentric/racist is examined through primary and secondary sources dealing with Japanese contact with Africans. The alternative explanation offered suggests that while the basic structure of ethnocentrism existed before Western contact, there are indications that this structure was given direction and focus (i.e. became racial) with and through that contact. It is suggested that the view acquired by the Japanese of Africans was based in large part on the collective representations presented to them by Euro‐Americans.

This paper offers a critical discussion to contribute to sociological work by emphasizing deconstruction(s) of the markers of gendered and racialized borders and epistemological injustice(s) in theory and practice of contemporary global frames of representation and women's intersectional identities and rights. Through a postcolonial, situated feminist approach, the theoretical framework aims to scope and review literature from the South and North.

The research employs a mixed-methodology of a survey paper and media critical discourse analysis of media monitoring frames of Egyptian women's rights post–Arab spring. The content, layout and imageries produced by representations are assessed to explore whether there are lingering subtle and blatant hints of continued orientalism in knowledge canons.

The underlying causes for misconceptions and reductionist sociopolitical attitudes may be styled by patriarchal and orientalist imposition and are highly found to be somewhat maintained by persistent Western-centric epistemologies claiming to define or speak for the so-called other. The above-mentioned structures are evidently channelled through languages which essentialize and control women of the South, urging for further research in knowledge canons which calls oppressive frames into question.

More feminist contributions from non-Western gazes are needed to fill gaps in canons of knowledge and deconstruct patriarchal and colonial codes which impose inequalities on women as seen through the survey paper of theoretical representation and media politics.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the dangers of Orientalist framing. Orientalism (Said, 1979/2003) shows how “the West” actually creates “the Orient” as an inferior opposite to affirm itself, for instance by using imaginative geographical frames such as “East” and “West” (Said, 1993).

Qualitative interviews were conducted with the members of a German-Tunisian project team in research engineering. The interview purpose was to let individuals reflect upon their experiences of difference and to find out whether these experiences are preframed by imaginative geographical categories.

Tunisian researchers were subjected to the dominant imaginative geographical frame “the Arab world.” This frame involves ascribed religiousness, gender stereotyping and ascriptions of backwardness.

Research needs to investigate Orientalist thought and imaginative geographies in specific organizational and interpersonal interactions lest they overshadow managerial theory and practice.

Practitioners need to challenge dominant frames and Orientalist thought in their own practice and organizational surroundings to devise a truly inclusive managerial practice, for instance, regarding Muslim minorities.

In times of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment in “the West,” this paper highlights the frames from which such sentiments might originate, and the need to reflect upon them.

The theoretical value lies in introducing a critical framing approach and the concept of imaginative geographies to perceived differences at work. For practice, it highlights how certain individuals are constructed as “Muslim others” and subjected to ascriptions of negative difference. By this mechanism, their inclusion is obstructed.

Crystallization calls for the interaction between mind, body and spirit. While the knowledge of the mind is how we are used to see knowledge creation, the body influences the co‐creation and the embodied experience between the researcher and the participant as a human instrument for understanding. Spirit refers to the sensitivity to ethics in preventing the reaffirmation of the stereotypical narratives. The purpose of the article is to demonstrate how body and spirit in addition to mind can provide alternative insights on a research topic.

The current study focuses on the body and spirit. Self‐reflective empirical narratives from China and India evidence interpretive findings that suggest that crystallization help us to create an emic understanding of those studied and affirms our commitment to them.

The interpretive findings demonstrate that with help of body and spirit research can move towards indigenous findings of the research site that can be put into action to improve the life of those studied. Two new quality criteria are established to trustworthiness namely indigenousness and action orientation.

The paper contributes to research methodology by demonstrating how in addition to mind generated findings reflections from body and spirit open new avenues to additional findings. It is proposed that knowledge from body and spirit is particularly important in Asian settings because of the Asian culture's holistic view on life and tolerance for multiple truths.

The purpose of this paper is to encourage a critical dialogue within the realm of Journal of Islamic Marketing. It invites marketing scholars and practitioners working on various topics related to Islam and Muslim societies to adopt fresh theoretical and methodological positions that would enhance the understanding of multiple marketing and market dynamics in Muslim societies.

The author uses a critical approach.

The author suggests that the advancement of knowledge in the area of Islamic marketing requires reflexivity and self‐critique.

The paper highlights the constructive value of critical approach to the development of marketing theory and practice.

This paper reflects the author's personal viewpoint on the production of knowledge and improving practice in the realm of Islamic marketing.

This paper aims to respond to the circumstances that have made hybridity both a popular term in cultural analysis and a contested, problematic concept. It promotes the need to look at what has been dismissed in discussions of hybridity, namely, mundane and un-exotic examples of cultural mix.

This study uses a conceptual and interpretive approach to theoretical and empirical work that engages with the theme of hybridity.

The findings highlight how a celebration of hybridity has limited the ways in which the concept can be used for empirical work. It proposes the paradigm of everyday hybridity to work with practical examples of cultural hybridity.

The implications are to decentre the Western bias that has theorised hybridity without exploring how the concept is relevant to other regions, such as East Asia.

The value of this work is in providing an audit of the concept of hybridity and a working paradigm for future qualitative research.

The paper details the construction of a postcolonial feminist approach to ethnography; providing insight into how the researcher developed her ethnographic approach based on her theoretical framework and demonstrating how she undertook this research. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to outline how the researcher identified positionality and representation as the primary challenges of undertaking a postcolonial feminist ethnography with marginalised Maya women in Guatemala, and how she addressed these complexities in the field.

This postcolonial feminist ethnography was conducted over a three-month period in the rural highlands of Sololá, Guatemala. This approach bridges the intersections of postcolonial, feminist, critical and reflexive research.

The account presented in this paper offers insight into the theoretical development of a postcolonial feminist ethnography and its implementation in practice. The researcher demonstrates the importance of addressing the issues of positionality and representation to overcome differences in position, privilege and power when building relationships with participants, and to ensure the participants and their knowledge are accurately represented.

This paper contributes to the growing interest in postcolonial research and proposes a postcolonial feminist ethnography as an alternative approach for engaging in research with the marginalised Other.

In the gift industry, there are many large enterprises with strong brand image, customer loyalty, marketing, or service, and they are also rich in retail channels and resources. In this situation, how can brand‐new or small companies thrive in a competitive market? The purpose of this paper is to present a case study from the experiences in Taiwan.

The paper uses intensive interviews with company managers; considers the opinions of experts; and collects useful historical data for analysis.

The paper summarizes eight key success factors for Franz: products and places; unique technology and process; unique business model; cost control capability; high growth in the gift market and popularity of orientalism; access to clients; small organizations; and human resources.

An intensive interview is a kind of oral questionnaire. The interviewee responds to the questions in his/her own way to provide significant answers but this may be considered too subjective.

In order to launch a global brand in the shortest time possible through open innovation strategy, some basic prerequisites need to be met. This must be achieved by creating an open company culture fostering the sharing of ideas and promoting innovative and creative skills, along with flexible management strategies leading to a flat organization structure. Only with the existence of such prerequisites an open innovation system can be integrated properly.

Franz is a classic example of Taiwan's brand‐new companies, which accumulate original equipment manufacturer, original design manufacturer, and own branding and manufacturing experience to succeed in their chosen market.