EIBA-zine - Issue No. 1 - November 2004

1. The Forthcoming EIBA Conference

   1. An enlarged European Union... 

      ... Challenges to International Business and Management

      Between December 5th and 8th, 2004 the annual EIBA conference will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
      
      The theme of the 2004 EIBA conference refers to one of the major developments in Europe in the last few decades, i.e. to the integration of large number of once socialist countries in the EU. Central to the conference are the consequences and challenges the EU enlargement brings to International Business theory and practice, to the firms, to old and new member states, as well as to the European countries that will not (yet) become part of the EU as well as to all other countries.
      
      The conference does not only refer to the issues and challenges of EU enlargement, but is also related to the classical issues in IB research, such as knowledge management, creation and transfer in MNCs, management and organization in MNCs, internationalization strategies, international finance and accounting, cross-cultural management, legal and policy issues of international business, internationalization of small firms and countries, of emerging markets and transition economies, business ethics etc.
      
      For most of these topics, the issue of EU enlargement represents a specific aspect, which is extremely pertinent during the period that ten new countries enter the EU.
      
      The conference has invited both theoretical and empirical contributions that may help reach a synthetic understanding of the consequences and challenges of the EU enlargement both for the theory of the MNC and for their managers and policy makers.
      
      Furthermore, special sessions, led by eminent scholars, will be organized on topics like international business management education, on companies’ perspective on strengthening competitiveness by internationalization, on new trends in FDI and IB theories and on potential convergence of new trade theories and international business theories.
      

2. Letter from President Marjan Svetlicic

   1. Welcome to the 30th EIBA Conference in Llubljana, Slovenia Submitted by Marjan Svetlicic

      Ljubljana is waiting to welcome the participants to the 30th EIBA Annual Conference. The fact that Slovenia became a new member of the European Union on May 1, 2004, makes the venue of EIBA’s 30th conference even more attractive. I am convinced that you will find Ljubljana an exciting historic city. It dates back to Roman times when it was known as Emona. As the conference falls within the Christmas season, the city will be nicely decorated and emanate a festive atmosphere. It is not all that unlikely that there will be a snow decoration. All in all, the EIBA Conference should provide you with an enjoyable occasion for productive meetings with former friends from the EIBA family and allow you to make new friendships and connections.

      I am confident that you will enjoy your stay in Ljubljana and benefit a great deal from the academic part of the conference. We have put a lot of effort in designing a program that will be colored by the historic event of the enlargement of the EU and during which the challenges to new and old members, states and particularly firms will be discussed in more detail. The title: “Enlarged EU. Challenges to International Business and Management” should therefore be very appropriate. In planning the conference we aimed to maintain EIBA's traditional blend of social and academic activities and to combine them with the challenges of this particular event. The theme as well as the location attracted quite a high number of participants, as at the beginning of November already 250 had registered. We are looking forward to a pleasant and intellectually rewarding experience.

      The theme of this year's conference offers a special opportunity to discuss the challenges of adjusting to the EU enlargement for companies and governments. The two plenary sessions are dedicated to this major theme. The Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia has promised to attend and open the first plenary session, entitled "Enhancing Competitiveness of the Enlarged EU”. He will present his assessment of the implications and challenges of Slovenian membership in the EU.
      
      We are also privileged to inform you that Slovene EU Commissioner, Dr. Janez Potočnik, a colleague at our university and chief negotiator for Slovenia’s membership - now responsible for enlargement and proposed to become the Commissioner for Science and Technology in the new EU Commission – will also join us for the first plenary. As Science and Technology are crucial elements in strengthening competitiveness of firms and the ways in which they may respond to the challenges of enlarged EU, his intervention should be of special interest to the EIBA community. There is no need to introduce two other members of these plenary sessions. The two Johns - Dunning and Stopford - as they have been called - will present their views about these new challenges from a more institutional perspective (Dunning) and a more enterprise oriented - bottom-up approach (Stopford).

      The second plenary, the EIBA Fellows session, is entirely dedicated to the business approach, addressing highly challenging issues such as “Can we build up global companies in Europe” at this point of time. We are very happy that the vice president of Nokia, Mikko Kosonen, is joining us to share his hands-on experiences together with Stojan Petrič, president of Kolektor, a very successful Slovene company, which was initially a foreign investment, but which became a successful, totally Slovene owned multinational firm about a year ago. Professors John Cantwell, John H. Dunning, Seev Hirsch and Reijo Luostarinen will, in lively interactions with the practitioners, enlighten us on this matter from a more academic point of view.

      Many interesting papers are going to be presented in parallel and working sessions. We have received 230 papers for reviewing. Thanks to the very efficient track chairs and the enthusiasm of many reviewers we have been able to select 82 competitive papers, 105 workshop papers and 43 papers that will be presented during the poster session. We regret that some papers had to be rejected altogether due to some shortcomings in the analysis. Nevertheless these authors were invited to join us in order to be able to benefit from the conference and submit improved versions to the next one.
      
      Thanks to the efforts of a large number of reviewers and particularly the track chairs, we were able to finalize the review process almost as planned. Therefore we would like to extend our sincere thanks to all reviewers, and particularly to the track chairs: Tamir Agmon, Jože P. Damijan, Philippe Gugler, Marko Jaklič, Rolf Jungnickel, Jorma Larimo, Maja Makovec, Lars Oxelheim, Marina Papanastassiou, Matija Rojec, Arnold Schuh and Alain Verbeke for their expertise and hard work. Without them this conference would not have been feasible.

      The annual conference is also an opportunity to celebrate and initiate discussions on some specific topics. This year we are going to have quite a number of special events and awards. Some of the new awards cannot yet be disclosed and should be kept secret until the Gala dinner.

      Special mention can already be made of panels commemorating particular events or contributions of great importance to the IB area. They range from celebrating 30 years of EIBA and of the first UN report of the group of eminent persons on multinationals, the 25 years of the influential Rugman’s book on multinationals, and Danny Van Den Bulcke’s contribution to International Business and EIBA at the time of his becoming emeritus professor. Participants such as John Cantwell, Yves Doz, John Dunning, Juan J. Durán, Robert Grosse, John Hagedoorn, Jean Francois Hennart, Jorma Larimo, Rajneesh Narula, Alan Rugman, Tagi Sagafi-Nejad, Karl Sauvant, Vitor C. Simões, John Stopford, Danny Van Den Bulcke and Udo Zander and many others, will make these events intellectually very exciting.

      I hope that you will find the EIBA 2004 Conference both an enjoyable as well as an intellectually stimulating experience. As in previous years we will host publishers who will exhibit international business books and journals. This year as many as 9 publishers are going to join us to supply us with new and relevant reading materials.

      I am looking forward to seeing you in Ljubljana on 5 December 2004. And don’t forget to use this opportunity to check out the conference tourist program that will allow you either before or after the conference to discover your host country. Slovenia is quite an interesting country where you can visit many interesting sites in a relatively short time. Tourist information is available on the web http://guests.fdv.uni-lj.si/eiba/.

      Dr. Marjan Svetličič
      EIBA President 2003-2004

3. Letter from Chairman Danny Van Den Bulcke

   1. Waking up in the Grand Union Submitted by Danny Van Den Bulcke, EIBA Chairman

      The Board members who flew into Ljubljana on April 30, to attend the Interim Board Meeting, stayed in the Grand Union Hotel, the venue for the 30th Annual EIBA Conference. When they woke up on May 1, they not only did so in a beautifully restored hotel with that name, but also in the Grand EUROPEAN Union of 25 instead of 15 member countries. After a whole day of meetings and hard work which started at 9 a.m. and lasted till 6 p.m. the national representatives who attended the meeting joined the festivities of the first day of Slovenia’s membership of the EU and mingled with the enthusiastic crowd of youngsters who were drinking beer and eating ice cream on the streets long after the midnight fireworks had dimmed.

      EIBA 30

      To celebrate one’s 30th birthday is an important event not only in a person’s life but also for an organization that groups hundreds of academics from 40 different countries of which 20 are represented on its Board of Directors. Although only one parallel session will be devoted to this anniversary, the whole Ljubljana Conference should be regarded as a birthday party. As EIBA combines tradition with attention for new challenges, Slovenia as a new member of the EU, offers an excellent location for the 30th Annual Conference. EIBA’s decision to have its meeting for 2004 in Ljubljana is part of its policy to try to integrate less centrally located countries into the organization and hopefully will bring in new members from the Balkan.

      Preparing for change

      Since a few years EIBA has been preparing for change by taking a number of different initiatives that should provide the Academy with new vigor and inspiration at a time when the international business discipline is being threatened by the internationalization of the core disciplines and new competing organizations. The attitude that at the age of 30 our mission has been accomplished would be totally misplaced. The interdisciplinary character of IB remains an essential element in business education and research that other organizations can not sufficiently ensure.

      Organizational restructuring

      The 2002 Athens conference shook EIBA into action and the 2003 Copenhagen meeting launched a number of initiatives that will be evaluated and continued in Ljubljana. The new organizational structure with a Chairperson and a Vice-Chairperson elected for 3 years and an Executive Committee with 4 members, the former two together with the President Elect and the Past President will have been functioning for one year at the time of the upcoming conference. The new structure with its rotating composition is supposed to bring more continuity and renewal into the organization. Both the Board and the ExCom are expertly assisted and supported by Nicole Coopman from EISM as Executive Secretary.

      Interim Board meeting

      To illustrate the important issues that were discussed in the long and well attended Interim Board Meeting last May, it might be useful to briefly summarize some of the principal ones.

      Membership:
      The Copenhagen conference ran by Torben Pedersen and Lars Häkanson of the Copenhagen Business School (CBS) was an immense success both in terms of the number of participants, but also because of the high level of the panels and quality of the papers. As participation in the conference implies membership, EIBA reached an all time record with 480 registrations. However, to have a substantial and minimum number of members in most of the countries inside and outside of Europe is equally important than sheer numbers.
      
      Financial situation:
      It is well known that the EIBA Secretariat is handled by EIASM and although other alternatives have been considered after the Athens meeting, the Board has decided to continue to work with EIASM, especially after more clarity was being given about the services being rendered.

      Over the years EIBA had accumulated a debt towards EIASM. Following negotiations between the ExCom and EIASM the debt has been reduced and rescheduled, making EIBA into a more viable organization than before. It should be mentioned that CBS and Maastricht University helped to alleviate the outstanding debt.

      Legal statutes:
      EIBA’s statutes go back to its very beginning. There seem to have been few adaptations over the years. Because of changes in the Belgian law and the fact that its secretariat is located in Brussels, it has become necessary for EIBA to adopt a legal structure and to submit its statutes to the Belgian Ministry of Justice for approval. A large part of the Interim Board Meeting in May was devoted to the discussion of EIBA’s new statutes and the result will be submitted to its members in Ljubljana. They will be put on the website before the Ljubljana meeting will be held in order to allow the members to check them out.

      Future venues:
      EIBA’s hosts for the next two years are known: Gabriel Benito (Oslo) and Philippe Gugler (Fribourg). As a result of my contacts and to think ahead there are now 3 potential candidates lined up for 2007, i.e. (in alphabetical order) Amsterdam (Ans Kolk), Catania, Sicily (Grazia Santangelo) and Tallinn, Estonia (Maksim Saat and Jorma Larimo). In order to allow for long term planning it would be preferable if the next location could be decided.

      The new conference guidelines prepared by Lars Häkanson on the basis of a proposal from Marina Papanastassiou will become a useful tool for future conference organizers.

      Website and newsletter:
      Most of you have already consulted the new EIBA website. Torben Pedersen and Nicole Coopman need to be congratulated for its creation and its presentation.

      While reading this you certainly became aware that this is the first issue of EIBA’s new internet newsletter. Although an Editorial Board was chosen in May and several Board and other members promised short articles and announcements, very few really delivered even after much prodding. It was decided that the newsletter, EIBA-zine, is accessible to non-members. EIBA-zine needs to be written by its members for its members, and if there is not sufficient interest it will have to be discontinued. Meanwhile the efforts of Tamar Almor merit the greatest appreciation.

      Journal and Book series:
      Both EIBA and IBR seem to be benefiting from their collaboration and to make the link with Elsevier as publisher even more intensive it was decided to introduce a best paper award at future conferences.

      Elsevier and EIBA have also signed an agreement for an Annual Book Series in order to make possible the publication of selected papers from the conference either about its general theme or a particular sub theme. It will be tried out for the first time on the basis of the papers presented in Ljubljana. Ulf Andersson and Torben Pedersen have been proposed by the Board as general editors for the series.

      EIBA Fellows:
      In their second year of activity the Fellows will be responsible for two panel sessions at the 30th conference, organized by Seev Hirsch. Other initiatives to support EIBA will be announced in Ljubljana. So it very much looks like the Fellows, with John Dunning as its dean and John Cantwell as its secretary, will play a stimulating role in EIBA

      EIBA needs to maintain this new momentum to fulfill the expectations of its founding fathers from 30 years ago, but also and even more so to ensure that its younger members can adapt and influence the organization in such a way that it remains sensitive to new developments and challenges in order to be ensured of an even longer future.

      Danny Van Den Bulcke
      EIBA Chairman

4. The EIBA Fellows

   1. The EIBA Fellows Submitted by Danny Van Den Bulcke

      The EIBA Fellows were created by the EIBA Annual Meeting in Paris in December 2001. Fellowships recognize outstanding achievements in research and education in the field of international business, and the number of Fellows is restricted to 20 worldwide. The Founding Fellows elected at the Paris meeting were Professors John Cantwell, John H. Dunning, Seev Hirsch and Reijo Luostarinen. The Fellows elected John Dunning as their first Dean, and John Cantwell was appointed as secretary/ Treasurer. The Fellows themselves annually elect new Fellows. The following is the full list of the ten current Fellows:

      • John Cantwell (Secretary/Treasurer)
      • Reijo Luostarinen
      • John H. Dunning (Dean)
      • Klaus Macharzina
      • Juan Duran
      • Lars-Gunnar Mattsson
      • John Hagedoorn
      • Francesca Sanna-Randaccio
      • Seev Hirsch
      • Danny Van Den Bulcke

      The full objectives of the Fellows are: (i) to recognize outstanding contributions to the scholarship and practice of international business, (ii) to exercise a leadership role in education and scholarship in the field, particularly among European-based teachers and researchers, (iii) to support and encourage the development of EIBA and (iv) to provide a forum for interaction among the Fellows as well as for the dissemination of knowledge in the field of international business. Between them, the EIBA Fellows represent a distinctively European contribution to the field of international business studies.
      
      The Fellows meet at least annually, and undertake to arrange one plenary or semi-plenary session at each Annual Conference of EIBA, with the agreement of the Conference Organizer. The intention of the Fellows is that the topic of the Fellows' Session will be broad, have a visionary purpose, and be open to multidisciplinary viewpoints. It is intended to deal with thematic perspectives rather than empirical details, reflecting the wider picture of scholarship and the global economy, but with some appeal to practitioners as well as to scholars. The Fellows are also engaged in a number of other initiatives in support of EIBA.

       

5. The EIBA Doctoral Tutorial

   1. Some background information Submitted by Danny Van Den Bulcke

      The EIBA Doctoral Tutorial is a yearly event that takes place the day before the annual EIBA conference.
      
      For the 18th consecutive year a Doctoral Tutorial for International Business students will be organized in conjunction with the Annual Conference of the European International Business Academy (EIBA). The 2004 Doctoral Tutorial will take place in the Grand Union Hotel in Ljubljana on 5 December, 2004 immediately before EIBA’s Annual Conference (6-7 December 2004). All participating students are required to attend the EIBA Conference.
      
      EIBA-EIASM has delegated the organization of this Tutorial to Professor Danny Van Den Bulcke of the University of Antwerp (Belgium) who will act as Chairman.
      
      The core faculty for the Tutorial is composed of leading scholars in the field of International Business. The 2004 Faculty consists of Peter Buckley, John Cantwell (co-chair), Yves Doz, Jean François Hennart, Rob Grosse, Lars Hakanson and Danny Van Den Bulcke (chairman). The secretariat is taken care off by Marion Hebbelynck in Brussels and Nicole Coopman during the sessions.
      The first objective of the Tutorial is to provide an opportunity to doctoral students in International Business to discuss their research plans and their work in progress both with a distinguished international faculty and their colleagues.

      The second purpose is to get them acquainted with the international EIBA-network of experts and colleagues working in the field of International Business.
      
      The students who are selected to participate in the Tutorial will be requested to present a short paper about their thesis proposal. Participating students are required to also attend the EIBA Annual Conference, immediately following the Tutorial. They will benefit from a reduction on the registration fee, however. An award of approximately 500 € will be given to the student who presented the most promising thesis proposal.
      
      For the previous EIBA Doctoral Tutorial 37 applications were received in total. The students who applied for the Tutorial came from 25 different countries and studied at universities from 20 different countries. Most students came from European universities; seven of the applicants were from Finnish universities.

      Sharing and transfer of knowledge and innovation scored highest among the subjects that the students had chosen. The next group of topics included cultural and HRM issues and Strategic Alliances (including M&As).

      The internationalization process and relationships between headquarters -subsidiary were tackled as well, as were a host of other topics. This year similar topics were chosen; the list of presentations can be found on:
      http://www.eiba-online.org/associations/eiba/index.asp

6. The EIBA Doctoral Tutorial 2003

   1. Report from a participant Submitted by Sabina Tachéva

      The Doctoral Tutorial at the EIBA 2003 conference was a very valuable and enriching experience for me, both from an academic and personal point of view. From an academic point of view, it was a great opportunity to present and discuss my own dissertation project within a small group of distinguished faculty and selected Ph.D. students. The tutorial was organised very professionally, starting from the application process to the actual workshop. Especially valuable was the opportunity to receive both a structured feedback in the twenty minutes discussion session and informal comments during breaks and social events.

      The limited number of participants allowed for a precise and highly valuable feedback. The different yet not opposing comments I received gave me a valuable guidance in further pursuing my research project. Especially the informal discussions with some of the faculty members were very insightful. Containing both, encouragement and warning, this feedback was the most valuable award to me.

      The mixture of students’ topics, nationalities and research institutions was impressive, given the size of the group, and contributed well to two interesting half-day sessions. For students writing on similar topics, there were some synergies in discussing each other’s work. Even if my work was not related to many of the other projects, it was enriching to listen to the presentations and the discussions by the faculty about these topics.
       
      With regard to the social aspect, the doctoral tutorial was very helpful in establishing contacts not only with the renowned faculty, but also with other Ph.D. students. We found it a great experience to stay together as a group of Ph.D. students during the whole EIBA conference, i.e. also for most of the next two days after the Tutorial. We plan to stay in contact and meet at other conferences in the future.

      As a future improvement to the almost perfect organisation of the tutorial, I could suggest to introduce some runner-up incentives. One could easily see the disappointment of other students with good dissertation proposals for not winning the award. A runner-up list could increase the motivation of those doctoral students whose projects are good yet need further development.

      The doctoral tutorial not only met my expectations, but also surpassed them in many regards. I would strongly recommend participation in this tutorial to other young researchers. The warm and friendly atmosphere in the small group of faculty and Ph. D. students as well as the valuable feedback made it a lifetime experience for me. Herewith, I would like to thank to the faculty members for their time and commitment. And finally, winning the award for "best thesis proposal" is a strong motivator for me to continue working on my dissertation by taking into consideration the insights from the tutorial.

      
      Sabina Tachéva is from the University of St. Gallen Switzerland. She is co-award winner of the Best Thesis Proposal Award, 2003.

      
      

7. Upcoming Events

   1. 31st EIBA Annual Conference 

      31st EIBA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
      Oslo, December 10-13, 2005

      Landscapes and Mindscapes in a Globalizing World

      The theme of the 2005 EIBA Annual Conference – Landscapes and Mindscapes in a Globalizing World – is an acknowledgement of the multifaceted attributes of today’s international business. Landscapes evoke the structural and fairly objective aspects of international business, for instance the economic, geographical and spatial dimensions of cross-border activities. In contrast, mindscapes conjure imagery of the perceptual, and hence fundamentally subjective, aspects of such activities. Few international business scholars would deny that both aspects are important and that our field must necessarily encompass both, but because our scholarship seldom treats them in tandem we are left with partial and isolated insights. To understand an increasingly globalized world of business we need not only to comprehend its landscapes and its mindscapes, but also how they shape each other and together evolve into ever more complex patterns of reality.

      In addition to contributions focusing on the main theme of the conference, papers and panel proposals are – as always – invited on a wide range of international business issues. Ten conference tracks have been set up that cover both traditional topics and emergent fields of investigation in international business:

      • The economics and governance of multinational enterprise
      • Cross-cultural marketing and buyer behavior
      • International distribution and supply chain management
      • Historical and humanistic perspectives on international business
      • Cross-cultural management
      • Managing knowledge
      • International entrepreneurship and untraditional internationalization behaviors
      • International finance and management control
      • International strategy and organization
      • FDI, development policies and trajectories

      July 15, 2005
      Deadline for submission of papers and panel proposals.
      
      September 15, 2005
      Notification of acceptance of papers.
      
      October 15, 2005
      Deadline for early-bird registration and final papers due.

      Conference Chair: Gabriel R.G. Benito
      Secretariat: Lillan Steigum
      BI Norwegian School of Management
      E-mail eiba2005@bi.no

      For further information, guidelines for authors, submission of papers and panel proposals, and registration, please see the web site:

      www.eiba2005.bi.no

   2. Inaugural Conference on Globalizaion: Offshore outsourcing 

      INAUGURAL CONFERENCE ON GLOBALIZATION: OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING
      San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk, Texas, U.S.A.
      October 7 - 9, 2005

      This three-day conference initiates a conference series that will focus on the cultural, economic, ethical, historical, political and social implications of globalization from multiple perspectives. The first conference will focus on 'Globalization: Offshore Outsourcing'.

      Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

      • Political-economy implications of offshore outsourcing for donor and recipient countries, their enterprises, and their citizens;
      • Cultural and social implications of offshore outsourcing for donor and recipient countries, their enterprises, and their citizens;
      • The role of entrepreneurship in both donor and recipient countries in formulating and implementing offshore outsourcing;
      • Religious implications of offshore outsourcing for donor and recipient countries, their enterprises, and their citizens;
      • Educational implications of offshore outsourcing for donor and recipient countries, their enterprises, and their citizens;
      • Career implications of offshore outsourcing for donor and recipient countries, their enterprises, and their citizens;
      • Historical implications of offshore outsourcing for donor and recipient countries, their enterprises, and their citizens.

      A two-step process will be used to screen paper submittals.  Step one involves the screening and selection of three-page abstracts.  The abstracts will be blind reviewed by two appropriate reviewers.  Step two involves the completion of the selected papers two months before the conference is held.
       
      November 30, 2004
      Submission of three-page abstracts.  Please send electronic submissions to globalbusiness@stmarytx.edu.

      August 15, 2005
      Submission of final papers by authors of the selected abstracts.

      Additional details regarding the submittal requirements and the conference will be found at www.stmarytx.edu/outsourcing.

      Arrangements have been made with the San Antonio Marriott Riverwalk.  Rooms will be $139 plus tax per night for single and double occupancy.

      The registration fee will be posted in a few weeks at the above webpage address.  It is expected that the registration fee will include a reception on Thursday evening for early arrivals, continental breakfast for three days, two evening banquets, and a copy of all papers on a CD-ROM.
      
      For further information please contact:
      Jeffrey E. Johnson, Ph.D.
      Assistant Professor of International Business
      School of Business & Administration
      St. Mary's University
      One Camino Santa Maria
      San Antonio TX 78228-8607
      e-mail jjohnson6@stmarytx.edu
      fax 210-431-2115
      phone 210-431-2024

       

   3. Annual Conference on Corporate Strategy 

      March 11-12, 2005
      WHU - Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management
      Vallendar, Germany
      Call for Papers
      
      Conference Co-chairs
      
      Thomas Hutzschenreuter
      Chair of Corporate Strategy and Electronic Media Management;
      Dietmar Hopp Endowed Chair
      WHU - Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management
      
      Henning Kagermann
      Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
      SAP AG
      
      Conference Board
      
      Harry G. Barkema, Professor, Tilburg University
      Klaus Brockhoff, Professor, Dean, WHU - Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management
      Richard D’Aveni, Professor, Amos Tuck School, Dartmouth College
      Martin Glaum, Professor, Justus-Liebig-University Gießen
      Jean-François Hennart, Professor, Tilburg University
      Leif Melin, Professor, Jönköping International Business School
      Guenter Mueller-Stewens, Professor, University of St. Gallen
      Arnold Picot, Professor, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
      Andreas Rueter, Director, Booz Allen Hamilton
      Ursula Schneider, Professor, Karl-Franzens-University Graz
      John Stopford, Professor, London Business School
      
      Today’s competitive landscape is fundamentally shaped by globalization and technological change. The internationalization of markets makes it increasingly difficult to think of firms as domestic companies because they are facing a global marketplace. Firms are also impacted by dramatic changes in technology, especially information technology. The ability to access and use information effectively has become an important source of competitive advantage in virtually all industries.
      
      In this new competitive landscape, industries and companies have undergone dramatic changes during the last couple of years. Companies have faced challenges such as the consolidation of their industries or the emergence of new competitors playing new games by establishing new business models.
      
      Companies have to adapt their strategies to those new requirements in order to achieve sustainable success, and thus, have to face questions such as: How can companies successfully grow? Should companies diversify or focus to be successful? Are mergers and acquisitions still an appropriate mean for a company to grow? How should companies internationalize?
      
      The conference will build a platform that focuses on the discussion of the above mentioned strategic questions. Whereas most of the other conferences have a much broader scope, this conference focuses on corporate strategy topics. We aim at engaging academics and practitioners in this discussion and invite full papers, panel proposals, and dissertations addressing this topic. The author(s) of the best paper will receive the SAP Best Strategy Paper Award (€ 2500). Additionally, the author of the best dissertation will receive the SAP Best Strategy Dissertation Award (€ 2500). Furthermore, accepted papers will be suggested for publication in a Special Issue of the Schmalenbach Business Review (sbr).
      
      The “Growth, Focus, and Success” Conference Topics
      
      Submissions are invited that respond to any of the following topics. The questions for each topic given below are illustrative only and by no means preferred or exhaustive.
      
      1 GROWTH AND INTERNATIONALIZATION
      How to exceed domestic markets for growth?
      What are the research insights on the strategies and modes of internationalization? Is there a new wave of internationalization? What are the risks when growing internationally? Is there a difference in the internationalization paths of entrepreneurial vs. established companies and between small/medium-sized vs. big companies? Is there a relationship between domestic and international success?
      
      2 FOCUS STRATEGIES VS. DIVERSIFICATION
      Diversify or focus to be successful?
      How does globalization affect the question of focus vs. diversification? When should companies diversify or focus to be successful? Are diversified companies creating economic value? What kind of diversification strategy suits a certain context best? Is focus an appropriate strategy for successful growth? Do diversified and focused companies follow different ways for going international? How do management capacities affect diversification?
      
      3 GROWTH OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED COMPANIES
      How do small companies become big?
      What are the success factors for small/medium-sized companies compared to big companies? How can small/medium-sized companies internationalize? Under what conditions should small/medium-sized companies diversify or focus to be successful? Why are certain industries dominated by small/medium-sized companies? How do small/medium-sized companies’ stakeholders affect growth? How do small/medium-sized companies benefit from innovation? How can those companies learn from big companies?
      
      4 GROWTH AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES
      How can structures support growth?
      What organizational structures can be used to implement a specific growth strategy? How can the fit of strategy and structure be assured? Can existing structures limit future growth opportunities? What is the importance of alliances, business webs, or networks for organizational structure? How do strategies and structures differ for certain internationalization modes? How do structures for companies being in the process of internationalization differ from those of already internationalized companies? How do companies organize their knowledge transfer?
      
      5 BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING, DECONSTRUCTION, AND RECONFIGURATION
      How are industries and firms reshaped by deconstruction?
      How does the phenomenon of deconstruction impact different industries? How does the phenomenon of deconstruction impact different value chain functions? Which factors are influencing? Do certain growth patterns for companies specialising on deconstructed value chain functions exist? How do industries reconfigure after being deconstructed? Are there geographical differences in deconstruction? Are there certain developments questioning deconstruction?
      
      6 CORPORATE GROWTH AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
      How to grow in the digital age?
      How does IT affect growth? How can companies use IT to grow successfully? What influences the growth of IT-suppliers? What are the peculiarities of the IT-environment? What is the impact of information technology developments on industries? Does information communication technology support the growth of companies in the knowledge society?
      
      7 STRATEGY PROCESS
      How should the strategy process be managed to be successful?
      Which routines are used for strategy planning and implementation? How does the strategy process influence the outcome on the level of strategy content? Which capabilities do firms develop to overcome the dilemma of continuous change and efficiency? How can signals be effectively perceived and transformed into action? How does the formulation of strategic decision problems influence strategic directions?
      
      8 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
      Is the era of unsuccessful M&A deals over?
      Do mergers and acquisitions create or destroy economic value? Under which conditions should companies grow organically or by means of mergers and acquisitions? Are mergers and acquisitions an appropriate way to internationalize? What is the impact of corporate governance on mergers and acquisitions? What are the latest research insights on post-merger-integration? What are the objectives of mergers and acquisitions and how did they change over time? How does industry evolution affect the importance of mergers and acquisitions?

      Submission Guidelines
      
      We invite you to submit full papers, panel proposals, and dissertations addressing issues covered in the eight topics, or any matters of interest to the field of Corporate Strategy. Paper submission will be organized via an electronic submission form presented on the conference homepage (www.corporate-strategy-conference.com).
      
      All submissions must be received by November 15, 2004.
      
      Paper Submissions

      • Only original and unpublished work will be considered.
      • Please do not submit more than two papers, whether as an author or co-author.
      • Do not include any author’s information in the body of the paper.
      • All papers will be double-blind reviewed by two members of the Review Committee.
      • A selection of papers will be suggested for publication in a Special Issue of the Schmalenbach Business Review (sbr).
      • Paper submissions may be nominated for the SAP Best Strategy Paper Award.

      Panel Submissions

      • Panel submissions offer opinions and discussion on important issues and bring together scholars on the same panel.
      • Please submit an electronic panel proposal.
      • Panel moderators should provide us with complete contact information of each panelist.

      Dissertation Submissions

      • Please submit an electronic summary of the dissertation of no more than 15 pages.
      • Please send one print version of your dissertation to the mail address given below.
      • Dissertation submissions may be nominated for the SAP Best Strategy Dissertation Award, and can be submitted written in English or German.

      Important Dates

      • Submission deadline: November 15, 2004
      • Notice on acceptance: December 30, 2004
      • Conference in Vallendar: March 11-12, 2005

      SAP Strategy Awards

      The author(s) of the best conference paper will receive the SAP Best Strategy Paper Award (€ 2500). Additionally, the author of the best dissertation will receive the SAP Best Strategy Dissertation Award (€ 2500). The awards will be presented at the end of the conference on March 12, 2005. The best paper will be selected from the submitted conference papers. The best dissertation coming from the field of Corporate Strategy will be selected from separately submitted dissertations.
      
      Hosting Organization

      The Dietmar Hopp Endowed Chair of Corporate Strategy and Electronic Media Management deals with various aspects of corporate strategy, such as the management of company growth and crisis or the development of industries and value chains. The chair's activities are internationally oriented and aiming at developing applicable management innovation.

      The WHU - Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management, founded in 1984, is a top ranked German business school. It is the first German business school to have received the European Quality Improvement System (EQUIS) Certificate in 1998. The joint WHU/Kellogg Executive MBA Program has been accredited by the FIBAA (Foundation for International Business Administration and Accreditation).

      Main Sponsor

      Founded in 1972, SAP is the world’s largest inter-enterprise software company, and the world’s third-largest independent software supplier. The German company employs more than 28,000 people in more than 50 countries and delivers its products and services to more than 12 Million users.

      Co-Sponsor

      Booz Allen Hamilton was founded in 1914. Booz Allen Hamilton provides services to major international corporations and government clients around the world. Booz Allen Hamilton's major areas of expertise include Strategy, Organization and Change Leadership, Operations, Information Technology, and Technology Management. Booz Allen Hamilton employs more than 14,000 members located in offices on six continents.

      Associated Academic Center

      The Center for Strategic Negotiations (CSN) at the WHU - Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management was established in 2003 and deals with negotiations in today's business environment.

      Contact Information

      Chair of Corporate Strategy and Electronic Media Management
      WHU - Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management
      Burgplatz 2, D-56179 Vallendar, Germany
      Phone: +49-261/6509-201
      Fax: +49-261/6509-209
      E-Mail: contact@corporate-strategy-conference.com Website: http://www.corporate-strategy-conference.com

   4. 8th Vaasa Conference on International Business 

      8th Vaasa Conference on International Business, August 21-23, 2005
      University of Vaasa, Finland
      For details see   http://www.uwasa.fi/ibconference

      International Doctoral Tutorial on International Business, August 21st, 2005
      University of Vaasa, Finland
      For details see http://www.uwasa.fi/ibconference

       

8. New Books

   1. Marketing International - Ulrike Mayrhofer 

      Ulrike  Mayrhofer, MARKETING INTERNATIONAL
      Paris, Economica. 2004.
      ISBN: 2-7178-4833-9

      This book explains key concepts and techniques used in the field of international marketing. The author reviews recent contributions and presents a theoretical and managerial approach to major issues of international marketing. The concepts are illustrated by practical examples and case-studies. The book is divided into three parts:
      (1) the development of international activities (2) strategic and organizational aspects of international marketing (3) marketing-mix decisions in an international context. It provides guidelines of how to identify opportunities in foreign markets and of how to optimize the management of international activities.

       

9. The Perspective of Time

   1. The Perspective of Time Submitted by Danny Van Den Bulcke & Tamar Almor

      At the time of the first issue of the online EIBA-zine, it might be interesting to refer briefly to the first stenciled EIBA-Newsletter that was sent out in May 1978, even though the organization itself had been launched 4 years earlier in 1974. The first issue of the EIBA Newsletter which appeared until 2002 consisted of 20 pages, of which no less than 12 were announcements of papers published by the universities and research centers of its members.

      The Newsletter was proud to mention that at the 1977 Conference in Uppsala "no less than 42 research papers were presented during 2 1/2 days meeting. The number of participants was 88, 44 of which came from 16 countries, not including Sweden".

      In the introductory note to the 1978 Newsletter, signed by Hans-Günther Meissner and Sylvain Plasschaert as President and Vice-President it is stated that: "It is clear that in order to realize such an ambitious (publication) program, we need the full cooperation of all EIBA members. May we therefore ask you to send us all the material you deem relevant, including criticisms and comments."

      We would like to repeat this request. As communications have improved enormously since 1978, we count on your immediate reactions to past and future EIBA events as well as the announcements of activities and publications of relevance to your colleagues. We would also like EIBA-zine to be used as a discussion platform for particular research and educational issues especially from an interdisciplinary angle. Also EIBA-zine offers the possibility to focus on specific research teams and individuals who have influenced our discipline.

      As already stated implicitly in 1978, a Newsletter should be made by its members for its members about topics, persons, publications, events that might interest our interdisciplinary membership.

      Danny Van Den Bulcke
      Editor-in-Chief

      Tamar Almor
      Editor
      

10. Info about EIBA-zine

    1. Editorial Board 

       EIBA-zine is the official on-line newsletter of the European International Business Academy. It is published as part of the EIBA website.

       Editorial Board

       Editor-in-Chief
       Danny van den Bulcke

       Editor
       Tamar Almor

       
       How to contact us:
       Nicole Coopman
       EIBA Executive Secretary
       c/o EIASM
       Place de Brouckère Plein, 31
       B - 1000 Brussels, Belgium
       Tel: +32-2-226.66.60, Fax: +32-2-512.19.29
       E-mail: coopman@eiasm.be