Teaching International Business: A View from Anthropology

Abstract

As an independent enterprise, international business has begun to achieve parity with such basic business disciplines as marketing, finance, and organization behavior. As the field matures, it will become increasingly judicious in its borrowing from other intellectual traditions, and both educational and research objectives will be profoundly affected. The current interest of anthropologists in business activity is one source of synergy that can be effectively harnessed. Applied anthropology has begun to achieve parity with the four traditional sub-disciplines of anthropology, and business has become a critical area of application. As this field is legitimated, the contributions of anthropology will be recognized by business academics and practitioners. This exploratory article frames this interest for teachers and researchers, and discusses ways in which an anthropological perspective might be used to enhance the teaching of international business.