The International Business Environment: A Proposed Analytical Framework

Abstract

International business environment (IBE) literature is characterised by the lack of a holistic analytical framework. Drawing on a wide range of perspectives, this study aspires to fill the lacuna by offering a holistic, dynamic analytical framework for the systematic study of the IBE. The IBE is broadly conceived as a spatial-temporally multilayered, multi-actor context imbued and stitched up with ideas, institutions and non-institutional structures wherein international business (IB) actors, activities and processes are constituted and occur. Application of the proposed framework will potentially ensure a better understanding of the IBE, support endeavours that focus attention on the IBE as an object of inquiry in its own right, and ultimately foster better managerial and public policy decision-making.