Hacking away at the conservatives: Michael Brooke and the development of international business at UMIST and the foundation of the UK Chapter of the Academy of International Business

Abstract

This paper reviews the founding contributions of Michael Z. Brooke to international business research and teaching, and to the professionalisation of international business as a discipline in the United Kingdom. Rather than be hidebound by preconceived models, Michael Brooke set out to create a “body of knowledge”. At UMIST, his home institution, he showed great enterprise and tenacity as a leader in introducing international business teaching in Britain at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. There he also created the International Business Unit (IBU), the first of its kind, to conduct research and to train Ph.D. students. His aim of building and sharing a body of knowledge led naturally to his desire to professionalise the study of international business in the UK. He promoted this by forming the UK Chapter of the Academy of International Business in 1973, and by leading the Chapter with great resolve until the mid 1980s. On retirement from UMIST he devoted himself fulltime to research, editing and publishing, freelance lecturing, and consulting. He continued to support vigorously the activities of the Academy of International Business (AIB) in the UK after stepping down as chairman, regularly attending the annual conference for as long as his health permitted. He leaves an invaluable legacy of writings, bridging business practice and academic thinking in a systematic way, model international business programmes at UMIST, and a vital UK professional association for the study of international business.