The demise of the American hegemony in international business research has been greatly exaggerated

Abstract

The drivers for the internationalization of business teaching and research were multinational corporations, the Cold War, and the relative price advantage of non-America business schools. Yet, the internationalization largely failed to reflect local contexts. The consequent paucity of original local business thought, international or not, exposes non-American business schools to the raid of American-based massive open online courses which will prune off the mainstay courses at emerging market business schools. Deprived of a substantial share of their fee-paying students, the remaining docents at those schools will be less likely to publish altogether, including in fields that might sustain independent thought. Therefore, American-like international business research is likely to have a longer life, more narrowly focused on English-speaking countries and Europe, with even less of a contribution from emerging markets.