So Close Yet So Far: Integrating Global Strategy and Nonmarket Research

Abstract

The reciprocal influence that market and nonmarket (governments and civil society organizations) actors exert on one another has grown more direct and forceful during the last decade. However, whether current global strategy research sufficiently accounts for nonmarket aspects of the global environment is still a contested issue. In this article, we provide some perspective to this debate through a three‐pronged approach. First, we evaluate the extent to which international strategy articles published in business and management journals from 2001 to 2011 integrate market and nonmarket aspects of the global environment. Our study reveals limited advancement in this direction, albeit with some encouraging signs. Second, we illustrate the potential benefits of more integrative research by showcasing the new insights provided by three articles of recent publication that explicitly chose to investigate the interaction of market and nonmarket actors in the global context. Finally, we suggest new directions for theoretical and empirical integrative research.