A review of location, politics, and the multinational corporation: Bringing political geography into international business

Iiris Saittakari; Tiina Ritvala; Rebecca Piekkari; Perttu Kähäri; Sami Moisio; Tomas Hanell; Sjoerd Beugelsdijk

doi:10.1057/s41267-023-00601-6

A review of location, politics, and the multinational corporation: Bringing political geography into international business

Iiris Saittakari^*
, Tiina Ritvala
, Rebecca Piekkari
, Perttu Kähäri
, Sami Moisio
, Tomas Hanell
, Sjoerd Beugelsdijk

^*Corresponding author for this work

University of Helsinki
Migration Institute of Finland
University of Groningen

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review Article › peer-review

36 Citations (Scopus)

80 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

How has international business (IB) research evolved to account for the politicization of the context in which multinational corporations (MNCs) operate? To address this question, we review research at the nexus of location, politics, and the MNC from 2000 through 2021. Rooted in classic IB theories, our review reveals three directions in current IB research: (i) expansion of MNC agency in shaping the political environment, (ii) a wider diversity of actors involved in the business–government–society interface, and (iii) extension of the levels of analysis from country level to sub- and supra-national levels. This three-fold evolution has moved IB research closer to the field of political geography, but the shift has remained largely implicit and its theoretical linkages are few. Drawing on key theoretical insights from political geography, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of bringing political geography into IB research.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	969–995
Number of pages	27
Journal	Journal of International Business Studies
Volume	54
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1057/s41267-023-00601-6
Publication status	Published - Aug 2023
MoE publication type	A2 Review article, Literature review, Systematic review

Funding

We would like to thank Jo Angouri, Ingmar Björkman, Sarianna Lundan, and Catherine Welch for their insightful comments on our paper. We are also very grateful to our research assistants and colleagues at Aalto University School of Business for their contributions. We highly appreciate the feedback from Frank Dobbin and colleagues of the SCANCOR Weatherhead Initiative at Harvard University. This paper is part of the Headquarters’ Location project funded by the Academy of Finland and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation for which we are very grateful. Finally, we would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful feedback and Consulting Editor Gabriel Benito for his excellent editorial guidance.

Keywords

Location
Multinational corporations
Place
Political environment
Political geography
Politics

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10.1057/s41267-023-00601-6Licence: CC BY

s41267-023-00601-6Final published version, 611 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "A review of location, politics, and the multinational corporation: Bringing political geography into international business",

abstract = "How has international business (IB) research evolved to account for the politicization of the context in which multinational corporations (MNCs) operate? To address this question, we review research at the nexus of location, politics, and the MNC from 2000 through 2021. Rooted in classic IB theories, our review reveals three directions in current IB research: (i) expansion of MNC agency in shaping the political environment, (ii) a wider diversity of actors involved in the business–government–society interface, and (iii) extension of the levels of analysis from country level to sub- and supra-national levels. This three-fold evolution has moved IB research closer to the field of political geography, but the shift has remained largely implicit and its theoretical linkages are few. Drawing on key theoretical insights from political geography, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of bringing political geography into IB research.",

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note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank Jo Angouri, Ingmar Bj{\"o}rkman, Sarianna Lundan, and Catherine Welch for their insightful comments on our paper. We are also very grateful to our research assistants and colleagues at Aalto University School of Business for their contributions. We highly appreciate the feedback from Frank Dobbin and colleagues of the SCANCOR Weatherhead Initiative at Harvard University. This paper is part of the Headquarters{\textquoteright} Location project funded by the Academy of Finland and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation for which we are very grateful. Finally, we would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful feedback and Consulting Editor Gabriel Benito for his excellent editorial guidance. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s).",

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N2 - How has international business (IB) research evolved to account for the politicization of the context in which multinational corporations (MNCs) operate? To address this question, we review research at the nexus of location, politics, and the MNC from 2000 through 2021. Rooted in classic IB theories, our review reveals three directions in current IB research: (i) expansion of MNC agency in shaping the political environment, (ii) a wider diversity of actors involved in the business–government–society interface, and (iii) extension of the levels of analysis from country level to sub- and supra-national levels. This three-fold evolution has moved IB research closer to the field of political geography, but the shift has remained largely implicit and its theoretical linkages are few. Drawing on key theoretical insights from political geography, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of bringing political geography into IB research.

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A review of location, politics, and the multinational corporation: Bringing political geography into international business

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