Purpose Cultural friction (CF) was introduced by researchers to overcome the issues and challenges of cultural distance measurement in the context of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (CBMAs). However, this construct has proved itself to be problematic to operationalize. To address this challenge, this paper aims to elaborate on a CF measurement instrument based on individual perceptions in CBMAs. This study used a microfoundation approach to measure CF, relying on managers’ interactions in CBMA settings. Design/methodology/approach To develop and validate a CF measurement in the context of CBMAs, this study followed a classical procedure including items development, lab tests and one field-study and an assessment of the construct validity. Findings The final instrument developed for measuring CF is composed of six critical incidents with three associated items each. The factor analysis revealed that the scale used in the field-test measures two factors of CF: internal and external. Reliability and discriminant validity are tested, demonstrating a good discriminant validity of “external” CF. The final measurement can be used as a valid and reliable scale in further studies to assess CF in the context of CBMAs. Originality/value This paper’s originality lies in developing and validating a CF measurement instrument that does not rely on cultural distance frameworks. The resulting scale shows the interest in considering micro-individual perceptions – the microfoundation level – for analyzing an organizational phenomenon as culture in CBMA contexts. Using a micro-founded approach, this study offers promising avenues for researchers who wish to study cultural interactions in international settings.

Purpose Market share gain is one of the key objectives for all firms for seeking growth. It is also a fundamental aspect of competitive rivalry. The extant review of the literature points to a gap among market share performances of emerging market multinationals (EMNEs) firms, advanced economy multinationals (AMNEs) and local firms. The purpose of this study is to delineate and contrast the market share performance of EMNEs, AMNEs and local firms in Africa. Design/methodology/approach The study used available longitudinal data (2013–2022) of six industries across four African countries from Euromonitor Passport, a rich, proprietary database. Findings Applying contingency theory, the study shows that, over time, there is no clear-cut winner in all markets and industries. Rather, market share gain is contingent on country and industry settings in Africa. Empirical analysis demonstrates that high-tech EMNE firms operating in Africa will exceed those of high-tech AMNEs and local firms. The findings also show that local firms generally performed better during the pandemic. Originality/value As Africa is a region of interest for scholars and practitioners, critical international business (IB) research contributions in Africa have predominantly focused on foreign investments from a particular nation. The present study enriches the literature by comparing the market share performance of AMNEs, EMNEs and local firms in this important region – during and prepandemic. The study offers theoretical and managerial implications for understanding the long-term performance of these three types of firms.

Purpose This paper aims to argue that the endogenous processes of profit shifting by MNEs and tax competition lead not just to inequality but constitute a case of global injustice. The provisions of the planned “two-pillar” reforms to global corporate taxation are then considered relative to the minimum conditions for background justice in taxation. Design/methodology/approach This paper is partly conceptual, based on relevant theoretical work in philosophy, and partly policy-focussed, based on an assessment of the OECD/G20 “two-pillar solution”. Findings The normative case for considering international tax competition as a global justice issue is developed, contrasting the cosmopolitan and non-cosmopolitan (“internationalist”) approaches. Three key minimum conditions for background justice in term of international taxation are established. This paper concludes that the two-pillar solution is likely to fail in global justice terms not because of its principles, which are sound, but because its redistributive scope is insufficiently great to have a major effect in correcting the inequality arising from tax competition. Originality/value This paper applies the philosophical concept of global justice to a specific issue in international business: MNE profit shifting and tax competition policy.

Purpose This paper aims to critically examine the role of women in the Japanese workplace and discusses its implications for gender studies within the context of diversity, equity and inclusion in international business (IB). Employing a social constructivism approach, this paper moves beyond conventional economic typologies and specific cases to offer an integrative and socially embedded perspective for understanding gender dynamics in the Japanese workplace. Design/methodology/approach This viewpoint paper critiques existing research on Japanese women professionals, drawing on factual evidence and literature to propose a double-loop gendering framework. This framework explores the socially constructed phenomenon of women in the Japanese workplace at multiple levels, providing a holistic interpretation of gender dynamics. Findings We identify five macro-level environmental factors that influence female labour participation, leadership positions and entrepreneurship. These factors are mediated by career motivation, corporate culture and men’s attitudes towards gender equality. Distinguishing between first-loop gendering, which focuses on problem-solving for improved gender equality, and second-loop gendering, which examines the underlying assumptions of social norms, values and beliefs, offers insights into the challenges Japan faces in achieving female leadership and equality. Second-loop gendering may help explain the paradoxical state of Japan’s women professionals, characterized by slow progress in gender equality despite significant political and financial resources. Our analysis reveals complex, multi-level interactions and influences within this socially constructed phenomenon. Originality/value This viewpoint paper provides a critical analysis of gender studies in the Japanese context, offering potential avenues for IB explorations. The insights extend to future IB studies, international comparisons of gender equality and the management of gender diversity in multinational corporations (MNCs).

PurposeThis study aims to advance knowledge in international management research about how researchers’ cultural identity in fieldwork encounters may be grounded in the choice of language in multicultural and multilingual projects.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on critical reflections on the experience of two co-authors as Chinese nationals conducting research in overseas Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) in developing economies.FindingsDrawing on social identity theory, the authors demonstrate that the cultural identity and cultural insider/outsider positionality of both the researcher and research participants can be shaped by language, translation and other artefacts in cross-cultural interviews, constantly being shifted, managed and renegotiated during qualitative interviewing. This study highlights the politics of language which, when combined with other forms of power relations, such as the researcher’s perceived status, economic development of the MNCs’ home country and the participants’ organisational hierarchy, affect power distribution between the researcher and participants. Researchers often need to move from being an “insider” to an “outsider” and often to an “in-betweener” at different stages in an interview interaction to balance power.Originality/valueThis study contributes to international debates about the complex interplay of languages, politics and identity in multilingual and multicultural qualitative research. In contributing to these literatures, the authors focus on the relatively under-researched Chinese MNCs in other developing countries including Mongolia and Tanzania. Recommendations for researcher training and reflexivity are proposed.

Purpose This study aims to critically discuss and reorient the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) debate toward the idea of addressing and rectifying the pervasive structural inequalities that DEI, in its undiluted form rooted in social justice (SJ), aims to combat. Drawing on Bourdieu, the study first examines the diffusion and contestation of DEI into international business (IB). It then proposes a Bourdieu-inspired agenda to advance the transposition of SJ principles into IB. Design/methodology/approach The study interpretively reconstructs the process of DEI’s ideational diffusion. It examines how the interplay between ideas and field dynamics in IB shapes ideational processes and outcomes. Findings In response to rising global inequalities – to which multinational enterprises (MNEs) have significantly contributed – SJ movements have propelled DEI into the wider social and political arena, including corporate boardrooms. Within IB, a diluted version of DEI – IB-DEI – emerged as a paradigm to improve MNEs’ performance, but failed to address underlying structural inequalities. As the social impacts, utility and legitimacy of DEI have been challenged, the DEI debate has come to a flux. The study proposes conceptual and contextual extension of DEI within IB and advancing socially engaged research and practice that help reinforce DEI’s core SJ purpose – tackling structural inequalities. Originality/value The study is one of the few to openly tackle SJ-IB contradictions on DEI, while advancing the application of Bourdieu to critical studies of IB.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to share two Indigenous perspectives on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). It is grounded in aspirations for de-othering and de-colonisation. De-othering is the unpicking of the status of “other” bestowed upon us by the dominant culture, and de-colonisation involves the deconstruction of the ways the settler states in which we live have defined and oppressed us. Design/methodology/approach The methodology is a critical self-reflection, drawing on the lived experience of two Indigenous scholars in business fields outside of the international business discipline. Findings The findings explore policies, like affirmative action emerging in the 1960s, to the pantheon of DEI theory and strategies developed, as tools of the dominant culture, albeit well-meaning, that perpetuate the dependency of the “other” on the largesse of the “dominant”, which ultimately maintain relations of oppression. Research limitations/implications The limitations of the paper include, that we cannot speak for all Indigenous peoples. This paper is a personal viewpoint and is not a meta-analysis of theory and literature. The authors draw on the personal, which for Indigenous peoples is also the political, perspectives, that are steeped in their cultural histories and identities, and underpinned by their aspirations for social change and social justice for their peoples. Practical implications The authors offer practical implications for those Indigenous Peoples and allies looking to develop empowering strategies for de-othering individuals and communities defined by dominant cultures as “others”, which in turn has social implications for engagement in truly empowering work in social justice at the borderlands of power, particularly in terms of international business guided by ethics and social responsibility. Social implications In this paper, the authors use the following terms: Maori, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, First Peoples and Indigenous Peoples. They use the term Peoples to denote that they are not one homogenous People but a collective society that consists of many distinct communities, peoples and nations. Originality/value The authors offer practical implications for those Indigenous Peoples and allies looking to develop empowering strategies for de-othering those defined by dominant cultures as “others”, which in turn has social implications for those engaged in truly empowering work for social justice at the borderlands of power, particularly in terms of international business guided by ethics and social responsibility. They make no apologies for this paper, as it is entirely based on personal viewpoints.

PurposeAfter decades of hypergrowth, since the 2008 global financial crisis there has been a deceleration of globalization and a partial jamming of its main engines (trade and foreign direct investment [FDI]). This study aims to critically reflect on the current phase, labeling it as “win-lose globalization” characterized by firm-firm competition increasingly intertwined with that between the respective nation-states, which aim to be the relative winners, even at the expense of joint absolute gains. Acting as “strategists,” states implement policies to weaponize economic interdependences, which the paper analyzes.Design/methodology/approachThe approach is “problem setting” rather than “problem solving.” The latter offers well-defined solutions but often assumes unambiguous definitions of problems, which obscure their complexity. This phase is so intricate that the problem itself is problematic. Thus, to advance knowledge, the focus is given on nation-state policies: FDI screening and the politicization of international trade relations; protectionism; misuses of antitrust and regulation.FindingsThe intensification of firm-firm/state-state competition, seeking disproportionate gains over rivals, is the ultimate result of the contradictions and dissatisfactions accumulated over decades of globalization, the benefits of which have been far from equally distributed. Conflicts in international economic relations are bound to intensify, and a return to win-win globalization is unlikely. International cooperation to strengthen existing/new supranational governance institutions in the interest of absolute global inclusive benefits is urgently needed.Originality/valueThe paper integrates the international business debate on the fate of globalization with interpretations from industrial policy studies and international relations theory. This allows for suggestions for policymakers, corporate executives and scholars.