Paper info

Challenging internationalisation theory: Some new trends forming the international and global business

Jan-Åke Törnroos

The paper was published at the 16th IMP-conference in Bath, U.K in 2000.

Some specific change aspects from late 1970s onwards have profoundly affected theenvironment of international business. In this paper some prominent trends are highlightedand put forth from an international business perspective. Some tentative questions emanatingfrom these trends are developed in the paper as follows:How do international/global trends impact on internationalisation processes for businessfirms? How does this affect internationalisation theory, especially the internationalisationprocess of the firm? Which new avenues for explaining the internationalisation of the firmcan be given due to the environmental changes? What role does business networks play incontemporary management and marketing? The paper critically examines some coreproponents of classical internationalisation theory due to the changing techno-economicenvironment and new types of business strategies pursued in the globalised, moreinterconnected economies and due to new constellations and the emergence of new playerson the market.