Challenging the orthodoxy in international business research: Directions for “new” research areas

A strong critique of the international business field is that it has been “running out of steam” because IB scholars have failed to engage with emerging paradigm shifts in IB practice and management theory. IB research requires rejuvenation with timely, unique, controversial, and challenging new research questions. IB scholars need to move beyond incremental improvements to existing research agendas and focus on questions that are fundamentally new to the field. With this essay, we address four pressing topics (Buckley, Doh, & Benischke, 2017), namely: (1) the resurgence of populism, decoupling, and globalization; (2) disruptive technologies and digitalization; (3) sustainable development goals; and (4) the changing power relationships between firms, and between firms and governments. Our aim is to provide direct avenues for relevant new research that challenges the existing orthodoxy across the IB field. As part of this process, we introduce the papers in this special issue.